Why I'm Moving My Business From San Francisco To St. Louis • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I'm Moving My Business From San Francisco To St. Louis

#81

Post by doorhammer » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 2:32 AM UTC

clavalle wrote: post #24

I love St. Louis. Certain parts have a European feel that no other city outside of Canada has. There are a lot of extremely bright, hard working people there too. It is odd. It is a city that seems to not know how much untapped talent it has. That being said, there are parts that are rundown and sketchy. There are huge problems with drugs like methamphetamine outside of the 'normal' urban drug issues that most cities…

There are definitely some bad parts of st. louis, but I have to say, the one main rule: stay out of east st. louis. It's pretty bad news.

Luckily, if you're in the missouri section of saint louis, you'd have to stumble pretty badly to accidentally cross the Mississippi and end up there.

Re: Why I'm Moving My Business From San Francisco To St. Louis

#82

Post by zobzu » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 2:33 AM UTC

pkinsky wrote: post #41

timr wrote: post #18

The current San Francisco influx is unsustainable. If you're somewhere else in the world and thinking about coming here to do a startup, I wish I could convince you to change your mind. San Francisco is incredibly expensive. Rents have shot up by ~50% since 2008, office space is following the same trend, and competition for (even mediocre) programmers is intense. Worse, a lot of the cultural diversity that made San F…

>Which brings us to a very important point for all the young programmer dudes: when you all crowd into the same tiny city and bid up the rents into the stratosphere, your available dating pool shrinks to a puddle (yet another consequence of the skewed gender balance in tech. sigh.) All the pour-over coffee in the world doesn't make you happy when you can't get a date, and those artisan cocktails are far less cute whe…

to be honest i keep bumping into homesexuals (of either sex) in SF. I think its a pretty large part of the population, compared to other cities. if you swing that way, I'm pretty sure the dating scene is quite above average.

note: im straight

Re: Why I'm Moving My Business From San Francisco To St. Louis

#83

Post by beachstartup » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 2:34 AM UTC

if i had a business based in SF and wanted to move, i would move to west LA.

actually, i already did that, years ago.

SF is a pain in the ass to live in, even if you have lots of money.

Re: Why I'm Moving My Business From San Francisco To St. Louis

#84

Post by NDizzle » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 2:35 AM UTC

carsongross wrote: post #2

> If you’re trying to bootstrap, being based in San Francisco is awful. Especially if you have a family. I rented a four bedroom house in a great neighborhood in Sacramento that was a bike ride from Midtown for $2900/mo. We ended up buying a bigger house in the same neighborhood for even less per month. No commute, food is cheap, etc. The cost savings are enormous, and I'm sure it's more expensive than St. Louis... Y…

I did the same thing but I skipped past Sac to Yuba City.

13% cheaper housing here according to the same site.

I'm renting a 4/3 2500 sq ft house on an 8k sq ft lot 3 blocks away from an 8/10 greatschools.org K-8 (I have 3 kids.) for $1600/mo.

I telecommute to my Bay Area job.

Re: Why I'm Moving My Business From San Francisco To St. Louis

#85

Post by pyoung » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 2:36 AM UTC

timr wrote: post #35

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SF used to be known as good woman-hunting territory, because of the predominance of gay males. Has that changed because of the tech influx?

That was always a little exaggerated IMO, but in the 20-something demographic, yes. SF feels like a giant frat party right now. At an all-boys school. If you're 30+ things are less bad just because of the basic demographic realities of single life. But my friends from NYC still laugh at the dating scene here.

A buddy of mine had a theory that the lack of acting and fashion industries (compared to LA and New York respectively) had a significant negative impact on the overall attractiveness and gender balance of the general SF population.

Re: Why I'm Moving My Business From San Francisco To St. Louis

#86

Post by zobzu » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 2:36 AM UTC

brosco45 wrote: post #74

SF is all about making money fast for yourself.

and sleeping in your car then. because if you rent, no luck.

Re: Why I'm Moving My Business From San Francisco To St. Louis

#87

Post by zobzu » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 2:37 AM UTC

nilsimsa wrote: post #21

Why do you have to live in San Francisco city itself. There are many places in the Bay Area more affordable than San Francisco.

they're pretty close to the price of SF. else, please mention one that is less than an hour of commute away.

Re: Why I'm Moving My Business From San Francisco To St. Louis

#88

Post by doorhammer » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 2:49 AM UTC

ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #13

If you're looking for "San Francisco" feel, crowd, look, shops, and trendy neighborhoods in St. Louis. Go to the "Central West End" District. If there's one thing St. Louis can be proud of it's that district. That whole area from Forest Park (bigger than Central Park in New York) including the neighborhoods around it, Barnes Jewish Hospital, Children's Hospital Complex, GasLamp District, Central West End is really ni…

I miss tower grove park, forest park, and the botanical gardens most about having left stl. Partly because I could see the botanical gardens from the balcony on the back of my apt, though

Re: Why I'm Moving My Business From San Francisco To St. Louis

#89

Post by lostcolony » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 2:50 AM UTC

sabbatic13 wrote: post #34

The problem with these places is what happens, when you need to hire people to build your company. The tech world is full of impressionistic statements like 'they have a startup scene,' but when you start getting numbers on available talent, you'll see you're putting yourself in a bad position. To take an example where I have better data, people have commented on the vibrant and growing startup scene in Santiago, Chi…

That's why you offer relocation.

If a startup has a cool mission, a cool tech stack, -and- operates in an area with a low cost of living, low congestion, and plenty of culture, art, and restaurant variety/quality, it can compete quite nicely with yet another Silicon Valley company when it comes to attracting talent.

Re: Why I'm Moving My Business From San Francisco To St. Louis

#90

Post by mahyarm » Sat, Jan 25, 2014, 2:54 AM UTC

mjn wrote: post #39

zinssmeister wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"sun tax" is cheaper in Texas. It's zero as in 0% income tax.

The average property tax rate is 4x California's, though. On the other hand, the average property value is lower. How all those factors combine depends on your income/location/etc. The group that comes out worst is the middle class in cheaper areas, around 40th-70th percentile incomes. If you make mid 5 figures, and live in a $150k house, your tax situation would be better Bakersfield than in Houston.

The price of a house usually translates into how much the monthly/annual payments are for the house since it directly effects the demand curve. Up property tax prices and house values go correspondingly down. Up average incomes, house prices go up, etc. Decrease interest rates enough and housing prices can go up significantly.