Austin or San Francisco (Redwood: to rent, buying a house, buying)

[lindseyrepp143]

Hi All,

We just moved here from February from Seattle, so we're still newbies, however my husband got a very nice offer from a company located in Redwood Shores (about 10 miles from San Fran), which would allow us to live very comfortably (although buying a house is out of the question for now).

If you could choose which city to live near, which would it be?

[Mike78613]

Price wise, Austin is much cheaper. That for sure I know. Austin has plenty of techY jobs here. I was in it for 7 years and wife for 10 years. Samsung, Motorolla, Freescale, IBM, Dell and HP are some of the few that are here in Austin, TX.

Seattle as for friendly people is very comparable to Austin. You'll see...

[AustinGuy]

I've got a simple solution to this problem:

If you make more than 500k a year: SF
If you make less than 500k a year: Austin

[Mike78613]

Originally Posted by AustinGuy

I've got a simple solution to this problem:

If you make more than 500k a year: SF
If you make less than 500k a year: Austin

I make 60K a year and I know of people whom make over 100K a year and don't have what I got. 6th street party life can burn your wallet

[lindseyrepp143]

Company will pay comparable to what my husband makes now, which is very good (software industry).

So let's say you'd be making enough that San Fran is totally do-able....still Austin?

[lindseyrepp143]

AustinGuy,

We are planning on renting and keeping our home here in Austin to rent out. Your 500k/yr to live in San Fran doesn't still apply, does it?

[AustinGuy]

I've done both, and I like both places for different reasons. How important is owning a house to you?

Living in the bay area definitely has its advantages over Austin, but if you want to raise a family and buy a house, Austin is probably the better choice.

[AustinGuy]

Originally Posted by lindseyrepp143

AustinGuy,

We are planning on renting and keeping our home here in Austin to rent out. Your 500k/yr to live in San Fran doesn't still apply, does it?

Obviously, it was a bit of a joke. If the job opportunity is a career advancement, I say go for it. You can't beat being in Silicon Valley for opportunities in the tech industry. Austin has a nice little subset of tech companies here, but we don't quite have the silicon valley culture of constant startups, vcs, and new possibilities.

If the job opportunity is good enough, and the pay is good, and you don't care about owning a house, then I think it is worth moving.

[lindseyrepp143]

We're both 28, and we started our family very early at 21 - we lived in Seattle until last year, and I remember just being distraught that we didn't own a house. One of the reasons we moved to Austin was for housing, but honestly, we didn't do our research on taxes and WOW was that an eye opener (we're here in Steiner Ranch).

Now that we own a home, I'm sort of....I don't know. Over it. It wasn't as big of a deal as I thought, and I thought I'd really be over the moon about it, but I'm not. I wonder about the environment out here in the suburbs for the kids, and wish they were getting exposed to different things. I know people really dig on the whole suburb living (REALLY don't want to start a suburb vs. city debate) - so I guess I will say that after living here in Steiner, I've come to miss living in a city and feel like we're much more city folk than suburb folk.

We have 2 kids - ages 6 and 3. I didn't come to visit Austin before moving, didn't know quite what I was getting into. Will plan on visiting SF if the job becomes set in stone, but thought I would get opinions on both places first. Pros/Cons. I already know 'prices' = con on SF.

[rogramjet]

I've lived in both places - currently in Austin. If you are a city person, and money and homeownership are not an issue - in my book, San Francisco wins hands down, no contest. I don't mean to rag on Austin, but it's not even remotely in the league of San Francisco, which is generally regarded as one of the most beautiful and interesting cities in the United States. Plus, your kids will be exposed to much greater cultural diversity there. And the weather is superb most of the year. Why aren't you packed yet...!