If you make $250k in SF (sounds high, but about average for the people I know that are leaving SF), state income tax alone is $19,996. If you make that in Texas, state income tax is $0. That $20k/year is for many people a bigger deal than the cost of living. Most people I know leaving were home owners or rent controlled. Source: moved to Austin in June.
lmao at the idea of caring about $20k when you make $250k
what if I'm trying to save 75% of my income? $20k is very significant when I'm working with 62.5k a year.
I am living in SF now and this confirms a very clear pattern that I have seen emerging, particularly of tech workers. I would say that >50% of the people I know who were living in the city have left, or are in the process of leaving. Some examples (there are countless): 1) All three of the roommates that I had are choosing to leave either permanently or temporarily. 2) A friend who works for google who is going on a…
FWIW, it seems similar in the Seattle area. Lots of people moving out of the big cities. I assume it's a combination of being able to work from home and people no longer being able to afford their incredibly expensive in-city homes due to furloughs and layoffs.
Seattle, I don't think as much, or even at all. Home and rent prices at least in Seattle seem stable or even increasing (for buying homes). Not clear why, maybe we're just behind the curve, or maybe it's because Seattle doesn't suffer from as serious of quality of life issues as SF area does.
San Francisco (and the general bay area) is one of the shittiest places in the US I have ever lived. Not because there is trash everywhere, the infrastructure is crumbling, the goverment is dysfunctional, the housing mafia won't let high rises rise and provide public transportation for higher density - all these things are true, but mainly because it stays shitty in this feedback loop - more talent leads to more comp…
The article actually notes this: > It should be noted that San Francisco had an unusually low inventory relative to other large cities prior to the pandemic. Historically, the ratio of homes for sale relative to total housing has been a quarter of New York's. But then they go on to assert that this is important regardless, but don't actually provide any information to back it up. > Regardless, the 96% year on year ch…
If you're a renter and you when lease renewal time comes up and you see twice as many open units in your apartment, wouldn't you also bargain more aggressively with your landlord? Conversely, if you're a building manager and you an X% occupancy rate target, you're going to need to cut prices in order to maintain that rate if a bunch of tenants don't renew. This is pretty much textbook microeconomics 101. Going a bit…
Simple supply and demand is a one-time game model. Property is a repeated, long term subgame component of the much larger repeated long term game that is the financial system. Dynamics are completely different.
One example, it makes more sense to give someone 3-6 months free at price $X than to get them in at .5 or .75 $X.
lmao at the idea of caring about $20k when you make $250k
8% of income is significant for almost everyone. It could be easy for someone living on a lot less to assume that a marginal 20k doesn't matter to "rich people", but lifestyle inflation and regional cost of living differences should be considered.
I'm in Europe and we generally pay between 33% to 50% of our income in tax.
So, yeah, i can't really imagine being angry that you're being asked to contribute back to the society. Especially when you make 250k.
FWIW, it seems similar in the Seattle area. Lots of people moving out of the big cities. I assume it's a combination of being able to work from home and people no longer being able to afford their incredibly expensive in-city homes due to furloughs and layoffs.
Except home prices are rocketing up rather than down ATM. If people are moving out, you’d think more of them would be selling their houses.
What's becoming increasingly clear is that the submarkets of urban condos, urban SFH, suburban condos, and suburban SFH are dissociating and exhibiting their own dynamics.
I've lived in San Francisco for 15 years, and I won't miss these tech workers that are leaving. They can flee to their plot of land in Minnesota and make everyone out there angry instead when rents rise and their carpetbagger ideas show up on the local ballot. Anyone moving away isn't set on urban living and the type of community that's here. A city offers a mix of cultures, personalities, and ideas that don't form a…
Please show me these "once in a generation housing discounts".
Been a professional IT worker since 1999. Most of my sysadmin roles have always been on site with occasional remote work. Over the years, I've been able to swing working for a few weeks at a time while traveling abroad. Currently based in Los Angeles and my organization is allowing us to work remote. Looking to just move abroad to Ukraine and lower my costs of living while immersing myself into a new culture and esca…
> as someone in NYC NYC is a legit megacity - New York has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world. SF is small by comparison. Only a small portion of SF is walkable and even then the blocks are long. Transit is sparse and dirty and most people end up owning cars. Despite this housing is more expensive than NYC. Unless you think it's reasonable to pay $4k a month for a one bedroom in…
Except San Francisco has nature (and even more nature close by) which makes all the difference to me. The few times I’ve been in NYC, I found the sheer amount of gray concrete and steel to be unnerving and dystopian; I’m legitimately amazed that humans can live in such an environment for so long without becoming depressed. That’s not to disparage the city or people who like it; there’s just many of us who need at lea…
You're not paying rent to the forest or the scenery but it's not like those are so unique to SF to justify the prices.