Patrick, why don't you leave the Bay Area?
invite response
2011 Dec 22, 11:52pm 38,118 views 115 comments
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B.A.C.A.H.
2012 Jan 12, 4:06am
any that's decent and move-in ready is probably around 700K - 800K
It depends on what you consider "decent".
We live in a neighborhood that Hipsters and techie immigrants would probably sneer at, but where a couple of years my oldest kid got accept to all the UC's she applied to except UCB and UCLA, even though she went to K-12 that did not have the "elite" API's that so many yuppies/techies worship. Several classmates of hers did go to Berkely/UCLA though, and a handful to Ivies/Stanford/Cal Tech; so I cannot blame the K-12 for holding back my kid.
It's OK to live around Hispanics and it's OK if your kids don't go to the most elite API score K-12. Just need to be open minded about the ethnicity of your neighbors, and pay very close attention to the opportunities offered by the K-12's. Just looking at the API is a cop-out.
freak80
2012 Jan 12, 4:26am
I didnt see sunlight for 6 weeks in Austin in winter - mind cannot comprehend how that is possible but crappy weather is the norm in the world.
Try living downwind (southeast) of the Great Lakes in the winter. You won't see sunlight for 6 MONTHS ;-)
But hey, at least I'm not a debt serf like I would be in CA.
RedStar
2012 Jan 13, 6:05am
I moved out from the Bay Area in late 09 and bought my home in Sacramento in 2010. I don't miss the bay at all except on those super hot summer days, but I'm close enough to the Sierra that we can escape just as easy. My mortgage is almost under 200k and I just refinanced to 3.875, so I now pay less for it than I paid for my last apartment in Santa Clara. Anything decent down there would be double the price easily
Also the mexican food in TX is crap by CA standards. How in the hell that can that happen with a high hispanic population? Tex-Mex. its crap. They replace the good parts with chili and corn, blah. just a rant. BBQ there is top notch though so it evens out.
I have lived in Austin, ABQ and SF Bay Area. I have to say that you just weren't eating in the right places if you didn't like the Tex-Mex or Mexican. So many choices. Authentic, trendy, open all hours. Did you ever eat at Chuy's? More on the trendy side, but awesome food.
RentingForHalfTheCost
2012 Jan 25, 7:53am
Renting
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/apa/2815195851.html
Here is another. That makes 2. I can find at least 1 a day on craigslist with a simple search. When I was looking to rent about 2 years ago there were many that I checked out, not just one.
The problem in your thinking is that people should put in great effort when renting money, but should not shop around when renting a house. To me they should be the same effort.
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That's probably the toughest housing market in the US to live in. At least in NYC there is modest housing in the outer boroughs, but in the Bay Area everything is expensive.
I'd agree northern California is also probably the nicest place to live in the US. But you have to start somewhere and the circumstances of most people's birth doesn't give them a big head start.
Why don't you move someplace like the Research Triangle or Austin? You could move back to the Bay Area and buy after saving money in a less expensive rental and purchase market. I agree renting is better for now in the Bay Area, but renting someplace else would be even cheaper.
You talk a lot about how the housing market is rigged, but that's partly due to price inelasticity from people not wanting to make long moves. One way to rationalize the market is to move away from high-priced areas and save up cash in low-cost areas.
#housing