Moving to the Bay Area?

[Slew Foot]

We've been here 14yrs - Don't do it!

Have you factored in California income taxes, property taxes, $4/G gas, high energy prices and the obscene cost of housing.

A 3400 sq/ft home on a 10,000 sq ft lot will cost you well over $1M in San Jose or Fremont. In Palo Alto that's $1.5 - $2M.

This place has amazing weather, great jobs, tons of stuff to do, a cultural melting pot, amazing food.

Schools are so-so, people aint the friendliest, traffic is horrendous,

Your wife and kids will hate you.

Dude, a 3400 sqft house on a 10k lot is around 1.7 in San Jose. Try 2.5-3 mill in Palo Alto. 10k lots on the peninsula is enormous

 

[mikegg]

Dude, a 3400 sqft house on a 10k lot is around 1.7 in San Jose. Try 2.5-3 mill in Palo Alto. 10k lots on the peninsula is enormous

A 3400 sf house in Palo Alto is 3-5 million or more if it's fully remodeled. Palo Alto. It has turned into Facebook/Google town.

 

[zoiks]

I would avoid Sunnyvale as well. Traffic there is not nice and it's expensive.

Not sure how the traffic in Sunnyvale is worse than in Fremont or in Palo Alto. Sunnyvale is actually a lot cheaper than Mountain View and other areas nearby if you want to rent. The reason Palo Alto, Los Altos, Cupertino etc are expensive is primarily due to the school system there (besides having big houses). Parts of Sunnyvale that have moderate or so-so schools are better in price.
If you want better rent, go for Santa Clara or Sunnyvale. If you want to live close to the city, choose Daly City since rent in SF is atrocious.

 

[Hugo Drax]

According to the calculators I am seeing online the only thing significantly more expensive than where I am now is housing, things like utilities and insurance are a good deal less.

Yeah but the biggest expense is housing, and 5-6k a month for 30 years ain't chump change.

 

[mikegg]

Yeah but the biggest expense is housing, and 5-6k a month for 30 years ain't chump change.

There are plenty of really nice houses in Fremont/Union City for about $3k/month. $5-6k/month is what you'd pay if you bought a good house in San Francisco.

 

[zinfamous]

125k in the Bay Area is like earning 28k somewhere else.

Think about it a 725k mortgage means assuming you put 100k down, a mortgage of 3355 a month not even taking into consideration taxes and insurance.

You would be paying about 5000-6000 a month.

Add the cost of electricity etc and you would end up house poor.

lol

 

[zinfamous]

When are you moving out? D:

The bolded part is what we're interested in. We're tired of the east cost (neither of us is from here), you haven't seen unfriendly people until you've lived here. :o

Definitely going to be down sizing on the house unfortunately.

I have to admit housing wise, I have to adjust my expectations. Something like this appears to be reasonable (for the area generally speaking).

http://www.realtor.com/realestatean...ott-Ave_Sunnyvale_CA_94089_M22018-33775?row=1

waaaa?

east coasters are the best--southern ones, anyway.

I can say, living out here, I've never been surrounded by a more self-serving, rude, stuck-up class of people. There are some good people out here, obviously, but many are like the worst parts of AT--they think they own the world because they developed an app that will help you order a pizza and have it delivered to your cubicle, and sold it for $1 million.

Chicago was great, but still nothing like those back home. Even if you disagree with them, they'll treat you like family (the natives, anyway. Lots of northeastern pricks flooding into the Raleigh area the last couple of decades! )

 

[Dirigible]

It's just you we don't like, zinfamous. We'll be nice to MrCassdin.





And sounds like you're moving here, MrCassdin. Congrats! Despite me saying don't come earlier, I love it here. It's only the housing that sucks. Figure out where you're working and try to live close to work.

 

[K1052]

If your wife's job is in San Fran, think about moving there as well. There are very nice and cheaper places in San Francisco such as the Richmond District and Sunset District where you can raise a family but it's close enough to commute to downtown in 25 minutes.

I am convinced the 38-Geary bus is one of the lower levels of hell. The N-Judah line is only marginally better. Neither are generally admired for their speed.

 

[jhu]

Or Mountain View or Santa Clara.

Or Gilroy or Hollister.

 

[jhu]

Yeah but the biggest expense is housing, and 5-6k a month for 30 years ain't chump change.

What are you talking about? This is ATOT for fuck's sake. 5k-6k/month is loose change for most people here.

 

[Michael]

I live in Pleasanton. Ok commute to Sunnyvale. Sucks to Palo Alto. BART to SF is very doable. Schools are pretty good as well.

Michael

 

[Craig234]

Yes, you can. There are a variety of prices available, a realtor can tell you. Some in not such nice areas, but they're there to move to.

 

[mikegg]

I am convinced the 38-Geary bus is one of the lower levels of hell. The N-Judah line is only marginally better. Neither are generally admired for their speed.

If you work in downtown SF, there is the 1AX, 1BX, 38AX, 38BX, 31AX, etc that will take you straight downtown without stopping. It's almost like a shuttle service.

 

[jpiniero]

I can say, living out here, I've never been surrounded by a more self-serving, rude, stuck-up class of people. There are some good people out here, obviously, but many are like the worst parts of AT--they think they own the world because they developed an app that will help you order a pizza and have it delivered to your cubicle, and sold it for $1 million.

That's kind of the impression I've gotten about SV - it's really for people who want to score the big one by working at a startup or at Facebook/Google/Apple/etc and get the big stock options... and get out before they burnout.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

When are you moving out? D:

The bolded part is what we're interested in. We're tired of the east cost (neither of us is from here), you haven't seen unfriendly people until you've lived here.

Definitely going to be down sizing on the house unfortunately.

I have to admit housing wise, I have to adjust my expectations. Something like this appears to be reasonable (for the area generally speaking).

http://www.realtor.com/realestatean...ott-Ave_Sunnyvale_CA_94089_M22018-33775?row=1

That house you linked to is in a shitty area of Sunnyvale. $700K for a shitty house on a tiny lot. Prices are absurd.

I've been here 14yrs, make significantly more than you and its still sticker shock. Why haven't I moved, because I have a family and my wife has a job and its really difficult to replicate my work/job elsewhere. And I plan on early retiring in 5-7yrs, so might as well live frugally while maximizing my saving.



Your family will not like it -

 

[Dr. Detroit]

One more thing Mr. Cassidin - you both plan on working and you have kids -

How in the hell do you plan to get your kid from school to home or from daycare to home with both of you working?

It's Silicon Valley, people expect more than 8hrs a day from you for that $125K.

It can take upwards of 30-minutes to go 6-8 miles in the 4-6pm rush hour traffic. The best living in all of the Bay Ares is in San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton.

I love it here, I really do - but buying in at 2014 home prices, OH FUCK NO!

This is absurd.

 

[TridenT]

One more thing Mr. Cassidin - you both plan on working and you have kids -

How in the hell do you plan to get your kid from school to home or from daycare to home with both of you working?

It's Silicon Valley, people expect more than 8hrs a day from you for that $125K.

It can take upwards of 30-minutes to go 6-8 miles in the 4-6pm rush hour traffic. The best living in all of the Bay Ares is in San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton.

I love it here, I really do - but buying in at 2014 home prices, OH FUCK NO!

This is absurd.

The guy just bought a new Chevy Volt too. (Check ATTG) I think this guy is just trolling.

 

[postmortemIA]

only OPs future employer will have good deal off his move...

 

[SSSnail]

The guy just bought a new Chevy Volt too. (Check ATTG) I think this guy is just trolling.

Why? Because he consolidated his cars to get ready for the commute.

Don't project yourself upon others. Shouldn't you be fixing your A/C so you can cry about every other city you drive to?

 

[MrCassdin]

Hey guys, appreciate all the feedback (good and bad). As for having kids and working? I work about 55 hours a week now, sometimes 65. Not that big a deal, you find ways to deal with kids - people have been doing it for a long time.

Yes, I did buy a Volt yesterday. So far I have charged it twice, both times for free (city museum and city library). Being called a troll by captain fruit loop is pretty funny though.

 

[zinfamous]

It's just you we don't like, zinfamous. We'll be nice to MrCassdin.

I'm surrounded by ketchup-eaters! D:

 

[Slew Foot]

The best living in all of the Bay Ares is in San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton.

Assuming you like being surrounded by old, rich, white, pretentious, conservative, assholes. Not to be confused with Marin which is full of old, rich, white, pretentious, liberal, assholes.

Anyway, the big shock from people moving here is not just the housing prices, but everything else. CA State tax of 10-13%, your higher salary puts you into the higher federal tax brackets, property tax is easily 10-15k/yr, sales tax over 9%, electricity at 36 cents kw/hr, bridge tolls of $5-6 a pop. If theres a way to squeeze blood out of a turnip, a CA democrat will find a way.

 

[zinfamous]

Assuming you like being surrounded by old, rich, white, pretentious, conservative, assholes. Not to be confused with Marin which is full of old, rich, white, pretentious, liberal, assholes.

Why do people keep bringing up electricity/gas prices?

This is one of those magic places that you rarely need AC (never, actually--haven't had it in 6 years. don't know anyone that does), rarely need heat. I find my gas/electricity bills are far, far cheaper here than anywhere else I've lived.

The other benefit is the access to food--tons of great, fresh produce and the choice. And very good, reasonable-priced markets around here, depending on where you live (eh, not Palo Alto)

 

[K1052]

If you work in downtown SF, there is the 1AX, 1BX, 38AX, 38BX, 31AX, etc that will take you straight downtown without stopping. It's almost like a shuttle service.

If you happen to live near the express stops and can work with what is a pretty constrained weekday peak only schedule. IIRC, last outbound buses leave just after 6PM which if you're tech working a lot of hours is sub-optimal. There is a reason stuff is cheaper in the Richmond and Sunset...because the transit sucks even worse than most of the rest of the city.