patrick.net

This past decade was a disaster in terms of capital formation and good governance, job and wage growth, though we did get iPods out of it so it wasn’t all bad.

Ah yes, shiny slivers of vastly inferior sounding compressed music (even to cassette) with the added feature of built-in obsolescence. It is an appropriate gadget for our times -- slick looking packaging with an overemphasis on convenience, but with not much inside and totally disposable. A quantum step backward in terms of advancing fidelity.
b

Nobody discusses one thing: landlording/slumlording will kill your soul. A small thing perhaps, all things considered, but it WILL disease you.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/201838

I also don't see how the rents are sustainable, even for San Jose, considering the median incomes for the area. Somebody posted an address up above of a really dismal looking hovel. No offense to you, but my honest take away was, 1700 bucks a month??? For that?

I have been to San Jose numerous times, (about twice a year over the last six or seven years) and other than the fact that you are about an hour and a half away from Carmel, I simply do not get what all the fuss is about.

Austin, these guys here seem to be doing it themselves, but if it got too bad, you could always just hire a property manager. You lose a little $ but save mentally.

All of the other benefits aside, jobs are what is so nice about SJ. I know unemployment may be high right now, but you still have 3 major cities and plenty of small cities within about 50 miles of each other. I don't think that exists anywhere else in the US. And if it does (NY, Philly and Northern NJ is the closest thing that comes to mind), their prices aren't exactly cheap.

The guy featured in the article I pasted above had a property manager, but his property was still a monkey on his back -- and despite the rents being higher than his mortgage, the repairs and missed rent were sending him into the red. My takeaway was that easy money is rarely not a misnomer.

As for SJ, I think the Bay Area is a great place to visit, (particularly the coastal areas), and I think if the Bay Area was anything like it was 40 years ago, it would be a no-brainer to want to live there. But it just isn't. I've been all over this country, (including the impoverished, cruddy bits), and there are numerous beautiful cities with their own unique landscapes and homespun character. As for places with loads of jobs, there's always Texas, Montana, Washington, Idaho (parts of), Utah, etc. Also, when you live in a good city that isn't particularly easy to live in (meaning, for instance, inclement weather -- NOT high prices/usurious tax rates/overcrowding), you typically get people who really WANT to be there, which likely contributes to a sense communal solidarity, rather than the highly atomized society you have there in the BA. That seems like a good thing.

Not comparing the two at all. Very distinct creatures. Sort of. SJ is mostly boring-looking neighborhoods with outrageously priced, hyper-average looking homes (outside of Palm Haven) and the same congestion/strip malls as any average American city has. Austin has mostly ugly neighborhoods and growing congestion, (better radio and food), thanks in part to equity vultures and the nerd bird diaspora over the years. What a drag.

Can't we just put all of the major tech employers in the middle of some centralized shitpit state where nobody would want to live (rural Missouri anyone?) and let everyone remote VPN or use Virtual Presence from wherever they choose to live?

I hope so. It's high time the 21st century started looking something like the 21st century.

...by the way, I think the only thing going for Apple in Austin is I-Phone tech support.

Austinhousingbubble says

Can’t we just put all of the major tech employers in the middle of some centralized shitpit state where nobody would want to live

I was thinking Apple should take their $30B and buy Lanai or something. Now THAT would be a corporate campus!

Campus in Hawaii would be a pretty nice perk but Austin?
That's a tough sell to get top talent to move to Austin when they're making enough to afford the BA.

Loads of Californians move to Austin. Loads. I do not go a day without seeing at least two CA plates. Usually more.

I don't really get it. If your connection to the BA is of an elemental nature (flora fauna) then I don't think Austin is going to fit the bill for you. BA (coastal areas in particular) has Austin beat. The people in Austin are miles better, though. Less atomized and tribal.

thomas.wong89 says

Austinhousingbubble says

I don’t really get it.

You will have to excuse them Austin. Most of the “Californians” are from the east coast anyway.
They never saw the ocean before.

You do understand that on the east coast there is another ocean right?

E-man,

The SevenTrees neighbor with the pit bulls who the landlord felt intimated by was not on the lease, nor were his dogs. See, the tenant on the lease was a hardworking steadyworking middle aged lady who was grateful to live there. The problem was the adult son who showed up, with his pit bulls and tatoos, after his incarceration ended. After he showed up, his "friends" also spend A LOT of time there. The landlord vetted his tenant well, but later on was not comfortable to confront them when I gave him warning that I would hold him accountable for anything that may happen with those dogs.

Can't say that I blame him. He lived a few miles away in Berryessa; it was no secret to his "new tenant" where he and his family lived.

You have tenants in some really rough areas. I think we both know that is gangland turf. Maybe some of them even read this website. Last thing I would do is boast that I have 100K cash sitting around. Please, for your own sake, a little bit of humility.

Wong, are you insulting me because you made a stupid comment that I pointed out or is this some form of humor that's not funny?

Anyway, Austin, another possible reason why the BA has ridiculous prices is that people are much more willing to double-up here (multi-generational living). In most parts of the country, sure some kids live with their parents maybe a few years after college to get on their feet. Here, there are lots of families that go into buying a house knowing that it's either two separate families or two generations of workers under the same roof. Then, you no longer have 2 workers for income, rather you have 4 workers who can support the mortgage. It's unfortunate for those of us who don't want to live that way. I don't know what percentage this is of the market, but it's not helping things.