391–400 of 542 posts
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Just curious: How did you manage to transfer your Bay Area salary to Austin? I would imagine that $120K is a ridiculous amount there. How did you even ask for it with a straight face? Are you making 2X all of your co-workers or something?
HIRED indicates it's not unreasonable at all: http://get.hired.com/rs/348-IPO-044/images/Hired-State-of-Sa...
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Vitriol really? Because I said "BS"? It certainly wasn't meant to be vitriolic, I didn't think there was anything abusive in my post. Exasperation? Yes. Cynicism. Ditto.
Well... the poster suggesting your vitriol does go by the name "Tranquil". If you must know, dismissive phrases such as, "people like you", isn't a mature way to strengthen a counter argument.
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I don't know why I'm getting downvoted! Don't you want to hear WHY people paying those rents or you want to believe everybody paying those rents are just plain stupid?! Markets are smart!
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?
It's hard to overstate the impact this is going to have on San Francisco, long-term. As Technology becomes the most important industry in America, 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…
Boston is not "just another city..." It is possibly the best educated metropolitan area in the world. "Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, come out on top — attracting more than twice as many citations per paper as the global average." http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101020/full/467906a.html
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Same in Denver. Realtor told me 1/4 of properties don't make the MLS, they're bought with cash before they can get listed.
Here's a tip for Denver real estate that just worked very well for my wife an myself (who are closing on a house this week): Do not use a buyer's agent (get real estate attorney to help you instead), and make your offer 2.5% lower than the asking price. When making the offer just say that since there is no buyer's agent commission to pay out from the funds at closing you are choosing to offer less. Don't worry if the…
Redfin's realtors are generally pretty tech savvy as well - prefer email to phone, responsive to email, etc.
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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?
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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?
4.25% in payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare), federal income taxes range based on how much you make and how big your family is. Large family making little, 0%; Single making $120k, your highest marginal rate is 28% but it will average out to an effective rate around 17% in my experience. State taxes range from 0% in Texas to what the other posts say about California.
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Did the same math for living in San Jose... With the price difference in rent, you could literally hire a private car plus driver to take you to-and-from the city every weekend. The most insane part is the people who commute down to MTV (eg. Google) and only really get the benefit of the city on weekends anyway...
I've just come back from two weeks in the Bay area to see a bunch of friends and they all do that. Even though I find it insane as much you do, I understand. There are a few good reasons though, from our very European and biased point of view: * No need to own car, or at least no need to drive everyday. * For a spouse on a H-4 visa and who thus cannot work, living in the city makes things easier and a lot less boring…
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Did the same math for living in San Jose... With the price difference in rent, you could literally hire a private car plus driver to take you to-and-from the city every weekend. The most insane part is the people who commute down to MTV (eg. Google) and only really get the benefit of the city on weekends anyway...
Mountain View is expensive, and to many people, boring. SF is at least less likely to be the latter. Remember also that Mountain View despises mixed use and refused to rezone areas currently designated commercial-only in order to let Google workers live near their jobs. Of course, it also would have meant people who bought in the 70's would have some tiny amount of competition for their asset.
I just strongly agree with many of the academic articles showing strong correlation between long commutes and unhappiness. By the time you factor in a 90-minute SF-MTV commute, you really don't get many benefits of the city on weekdays anyway...