$100K+ elitists can't afford living costs

[madoka]

$100K isn't what it used to be, at least in the Bay Area.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/03...t-cost-living-increases-in-san-francisco.html

A tech worker in Silicon Valley said his six-figure salary is not enough to support a family in the famed California region.

The Guardian reported that a Twitter employee, whose base salary is $160,000, is finding it difficult to raise a family in San Francisco.

“Families are priced out of the market,” the man said.

The Twitter employee pays $3,000 for rent for a two-bedroom home. The man was one of several tech workers who spoke to the Guardian about the financial situation in Silicon Valley.

Most of the workers spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of repercussions from their companies.

“I didn’t become a software engineer to be trying to make ends meet,” the worker told the Guardian.

One digital marketer said she and her partner “make over $1 million between us, but we can’t afford a house.”

Another tech worker told the Guardian he accepted a job in San Diego because he had had enough of his two-and-a-half hour commute to work. The man made $700,000 last year and took a 50 percent pay decrease when he relocated.

A recent study showed senior-level engineers need to pay 40 to 60 percent of their annual income to live close to their work.

According to a recent report on Numbeo, the cost of living in San Francisco is just over three-percent lower than New York, but ranks first for the most expensive apartment in the world.

 

[allisolm]

Stopped after reading this "One digital marketer said she and her partner “make over $1 million between us, but we can’t afford a house.” Zero sympathy from me.

 

[ponyo]

I read The Guardian article yesterday. It's worse than any millennial entitlement mentality. Dot bomb crash 2.0 can't come soon enough so these whiny overpaid brats come back down to reality. Hopefully Snapchat IPO will mark the top.

 

[purbeast0]

Ummm if you can't afford even rent on $700k or $1 million a year, you're doing something SUPER fucking wrong.

 

[K1052]

The not being able to afford a house on $1M a year thing can't possibly be right. Even if most of that is RSU eventually you'd be able to buy a house.

The rest of the article is a relatively common refrain of people in SF and the Bay Area generally. We left SF after the landlord moved rent up for our 2br/750 sq ft shoebox up to $4500/mo (plus another 500/mo of parking and pet rent) . Lot of other people have bailed or simply not taken tech jobs there instead going to Seattle/Portland/Austin/etc. It's become something of a recruiting problem for the big tech companies that rely on these skill sets. Most of them have started opening satellite offices in more affordable cities or allowing greater remote work.

 

[Grooveriding]

Ummm if you can't afford even rent on $700k or $1 million a year, you're doing something SUPER fucking wrong.

Agreed. No matter where you live that is ridiculous. Smells to me of trying to maintain a lifestyle beyond your means, rather than accepting what you can manage within your budget.

 

[ponyo]

That Guardian article quoted someone who said they lived in a closet for $1,400 a month. Another said they paid $1,000 a month to rent a bunk bed with 5 other people in the room. So they're paying $5,000 to rent a room.

If that is the case, they should live a hotel. I can go on Priceline and rent a hotel room for $75 a night with taxes and everything included around the San Francisco area. That works out to about $2,300 a month. With 3 other roommates, that's $575 a month.

 

[K1052]

That Guardian article quoted someone who said they lived in a closet for $1,400 a month. Another said they paid $1,000 a month to rent a bunk bed with 5 other people in the room. So they're paying $5,000 to rent a room.

If that is the case, they should live a hotel. I can go on Priceline and rent a hotel room for $75 a night with taxes and everything included around the San Francisco area. That works out to about $2,300 a month. With 3 other roommates, that's $575 a month.

If that were actually the case lots of people would do it already. $75/nt year round basically gets you into transient lodging. God forbid when something like Dreamforce is in town and you'd be lucky to get a piss soaked cardboard box in an alley for less than $300/nt.

 

[ponyo]

If that were actually the case lots of people would do it already. $75/nt year round basically gets you into transient lodging. God forbid when something like Dreamforce is in town and you'd be lucky to get a piss soaked cardboard box in an alley for less than $300/nt.

The longest it would let me book is 22 nights and it's little more expensive. It came to $2,142 for 22 nights. Still that's not bad considering all taxes, utilities, gym, and cleaning are included. Split that 4 ways and it's better than living in a closet. If you're willing to move to new hotel every couple days, I bet it would be even cheaper.

 

[Ns1]

so...800 less than the 2br that one Twitter guy was paying and no address to get your stuff mailed to.

sounds...bad?

 

[K1052]

The longest it would let me book is 22 nights and it's little more expensive. It came to $2,142 for 22 nights. Still that's not bad considering all taxes, utilities, gym, and cleaning are included. Split that 4 ways and it's better than living in a closet. If you're willing to move to new hotel every couple days, I bet it would be even cheaper.

As I said this is not something I've heard of people successfully doing so I'm presuming it really isn't that simple. Given that people are renting out tents in their backyards I think this option would have been explored.

 

[Red Squirrel]

That's insane. My mortgage is 1,200/month, and that's because I pay $400 extra. Can't imagine living in those crazy expensive and busy places and have nothing to really show for it. I own property AND live 5 minutes from work. (and pretty much anywhere else)

I find costs of living in general still keep going up at a very fast rate though, but not quite at the unaffordable stage yet. There are smaller communities in the area where taxes are much lower, so that's my fallback if ever taxes here are too much.

 

[Ns1]

As I said this is not something I've heard of people successfully doing so I'm presuming it really isn't that simple. Given that people are renting out tents in their backyards I think this option would have been explored.

also, hotel parking costs and/or other transportation costs.

 

[ponyo]

Get a PO Box. Or is that too expensive in the Bay Area as well. Whining about Bay Area housing prices is old. You don't hear so much from NY City or Chicago folks and their housing prices are expensive too. I booked Intercontinental Hotel in downtown San Francisco for $171 a night. It would cost me more to rent similar hotel in Chicago or New York or even parts of Atlanta. Prices might be expensive and unaffordable if they want to live 5 minutes walking distance from their Bay Area work. Tough shit.

 

[K1052]

Get a PO Box. Or is that too expensive in the Bay Area as well. Whining about Bay Area housing prices is old. You don't hear so much from NY City or Chicago folks and their housing prices are expensive too. I booked Intercontinental Hotel in downtown San Francisco for $171 a night. It would cost me more to rent similar hotel in Chicago or New York or even parts of Atlanta. Prices might be expensive and unaffordable if they want to live 5 minutes walking distance from their Bay Area work. Tough shit.

Median 1br apt rent in SF is $3600/mo. Chicago is $1600/mo.

People complaining Chicago is expensive are from the rest of the midwest where shit is even cheaper. They've never lived on either coast.

Edit: I still travel semi-frequently to SF for work. Hotel pricing is extremely variable . Far more than any other place I go. A place that was $175/nt for one trip will suddenly be $600/nt for two weeks solid. Then back to $200/nt. Then up to $700/nt. Prices swing much less in Chicago due to the sheer number of rooms. SF has 35K rooms, Chicago has 120K.

 

[brainhulk]

i blame rich Chinese property buyers. They offer way over asking price and pay in cash.

 

[Exterous]

I didn’t become a software engineer to be trying to make ends meet,” said a Twitter employee in his early 40s who earns a base salary of $160,000. It is, he added, a “pretty bad” income for raising a family in the Bay Area.

The biggest cost is his $3,000 rent

Wat? Where does the other 75% of his money go that makes it so bad?

<another worker>He said he won’t miss some of the more mundane day-to-day costs, like spending $8 on a bagel and coffee or $12 on freshly pressed juice.

So maybe don't make an $8 bagel or $12 freshly pressed juice a day-to-day cost?

 

[quikah]

Rent is stupid in the Bay Area, really it is the only thing that is crazy, everything else is pretty reasonable (well, daycare is pretty ridiculous also). I am lucky I bought a place in 2010, I don't know what I would do if I still had to rent here.

 

[Ns1]

@brainhulk

The Chinese money is finally starting to dry up

 

[NesuD]

Stopped after reading this "One digital marketer said she and her partner “make over $1 million between us, but we can’t afford a house.” Zero sympathy from me.

Pretty sure they forgot to qualify that with can't afford the Palatial Oceanfront Mansion we feel entitled to or something along those lines.

Between them they make a million a year and can't get a mortgage on a nice 5-6 million dollar home. I just searched up a beautiful a home on a half acre Oceanfront lot with 3 bedrooms 4 baths 4,268 sq ft in Carmel for the low low price of $5,995,000. Of course a similar home on prime Great lakes Shoreline here in Michigan would only cost $600,000 - $700,000

 

[Ns1]

Yeah but Michigan.

 

[brainhulk]

@brainhulk

The Chinese money is finally starting to dry up

?? Trump hasn't started his trade war yet?

 

[K1052]

Yeah but Michigan.

I must agree with this even though I love the lakefront.

 

[rh71]

The suburbs of a big city seem affordable given the high salaries. Our mortgage is $3200 but the household income makes it livable. Why does everyone NEED to be in or so close to the city? Sacrifice is the commute. Or don't do it at all. Entitled is a good word.

 

[Ns1]

@brainhulk

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-san-gabriel-housing-20170223-story.html