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San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

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Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#361

Post by cubano »

Falcon9 wrote: post #275
rconti wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't argue against that being the best thing Vegas has going for it.

Cheap housing, cheap decent food options, access to all-you-can-eat-entertainment, relative proximity to SoCal/beach all factor in as well. But the Summer is miserable (IMO) and the people here just don't give a crap about life, so it can be pretty draining to live in Vegas as well.

>...and the people here just don't give a crap about life

Yes and to finish my OP thought, I would argue that this was without a doubt the worse of it as well.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#363

Post by jimminy »

mountaineer22 wrote: post #349
jimminy wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lewisburg, it means getting fast food or going to a tavern, but the choices are more than I had in the peninsula. Morgantown also has late hours in my experience, though you might have to walk to High St.

The Irish Pub?

That's one of them, though the food after 10 is a little more iffy. Sometimes there's pizza and bread from the bakery brought over for the pub's patrons.

I'm there fairly frequently.

The Asylum serves regular bar food til about 11 I think. Still later than what I was seeing in SF.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#364

Post by dennisgorelik »

x0x0 wrote: post #331
whitenoice wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Up-voted, Are average SF rents that high? Boston is probably less than half that cost, with salaries comparable to the west coast and similar cultural events and excellent public and private schools. Weather is not that great though. Genuinely asking - So what makes SF so worth it, that it justifies its high cost of living? in comparison to other top class states, is it just the weather?

jobs. You can be a half-assed engineer here and be employed; if you're good, you have dozens of choices of place to work. Whenever I ponder leaving (and I'm a data scientist, so more specialized) I look around at cities like Salt Lake or Denver or other places close to good skiing and see like 3 employers. Total. What happens if I don't like my job / my boss changes / whatever? I'd probably have to move. It's just a…

If techies are pushing away others from San Francisco, then why they do not elect better city government that would fix things for them?

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#366

Post by bogomipz »

coderholic wrote: post #217
kabes wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a guy from Europe I don't know much about the US tax system. If somebody mentions he earns $120k, I assume that's gross salary? What does he usually end up with net? From what I understand it depends on the state. Is that 4.25% you talk about the only tax there is?

There's also federal tax, which is around 25%. You then pay state tax on top. I moved to the US from the UK, and the total tax is roughly the same.

Well federal can be as high as 28%. The US likes to point at various "socialist" countries in Europe but when you talk to someone from the UK or some of the Nordic countries you realize the difference is nominal. The difference is that you get health care and affordable university for those taxes on the other side of the Atlantic.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#367

Post by ryandrake »

mahyarm wrote: post #345
maxsilver wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except higher-density buildings still equally price people out. There's no such thing as new urban apartments/condos that are cheaper than the houses they replaced. A 500k house never gets torn down to become 3 400k condos. It becomes 3 600-800+k condos. We should build more, because we need it. But "build more" can't be the only tool to lower prices, because simple observation shows us that it doesn't work.

No, quite the opposite. A 500k house becomes 12 $250k 1000sqft condos is the actual math in SFH -> highrise conversion.

Maybe in some other Bay Area, but not here. New construction in the SF Bay Area is almost always "luxury" townhouses and apartments.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#368

Post by ghaff »

nunez wrote: post #228
timr wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"a well-governed San Francisco could have positioned itself as the next NYC. The hub where all of tech gathers, the same way all of finance gathered in Wall St. Replace the 70 year old 2-storey homes with Manhattan style apartment buildings, and rent in San Francisco would have remained very reasonable, despite the rapid economic growth. This would have prevented exactly this problem where tech workers are forced to…

> I live in SF, but I wouldn't make the choice to move here today. It simply isn't worth Manhattan prices to live in a city full of tech bros where you can't get a good meal after 9:30. This one took me by surprise when I visited SF for the first time five years ago. I thought it would be booming with activity just like NYC, so I thought nothing of trying to find food when I arrived at ~11pm. NOTHING. Nothing was ope…

NYC is really the outlier. Not that I'm typically out eating late in the city but what you describe isn't all that different in Boston/Cambridge (and Cambridge bars closed at midnight until relatively recently). And, last time I got into downtown Chicago late (11pm or so) on a business trip, the only food available near the hotel was takeout delivery from some pizza place.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#369

Post by zavi »

vinceguidry wrote: post #236
qntty wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry if this is off-topic (and maybe a bit personal), but as a recent graduate, I'm not sure what I would do with all that extra money. What do you (or most people) generally spend it on? I make less than that, but if I didn't have student loans, I wouldn't know what to do with it besides leave it in the bank.

If you're not already married, you should be using it to date. College is hands-down the best place to find a significant other. Once you've graduated, the social life you took for granted quickly fades away and finding people to spend time with and then actually spending time with them becomes vastly more difficult. If you're a cisgendered male, it can be absolutely brutal. Cisgendered female, much less so but still…

What are some smart dating strategies for a straight white male new grad in the Bay Area with 6 digits of disposable income? Dating market seems extremely competitive here.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#370

Post by x0x0 »

dennisgorelik wrote: post #364
x0x0 wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

jobs. You can be a half-assed engineer here and be employed; if you're good, you have dozens of choices of place to work. Whenever I ponder leaving (and I'm a data scientist, so more specialized) I look around at cities like Salt Lake or Denver or other places close to good skiing and see like 3 employers. Total. What happens if I don't like my job / my boss changes / whatever? I'd probably have to move. It's just a…

If techies are pushing away others from San Francisco, then why they do not elect better city government that would fix things for them?

The answer is a small book, but

1 - there aren't that many techies in sf;

2 - many people don't vote;

3 - sf has a huge set of entrenched laws that would have to be overthrown, plus relatively dysfunctional state government (see, eg, proposition system)

4 - some of this genuinely isn't sf's fault, but rather the entire peninsula dumping their housing problems on sf and san jose. See eg mountain view approving 2-3 million ft2 of new office space and maybe potentially possibly pondering allowing a couple thousand new homes. They're gonna study it. And then there's environmental review. Ground will not be broken before 2025 is my guess. Meanwhile, where the hell are all those employees gonna live? Not in mv.

5 - sf is a spendthrift city, and it needs techies. Besides all the jobs supported indirectly, sf has a 1.4% payroll tax (well, it's complicated, but 1.1 - 1.4%).

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