San Mateo/Foster City job, rents too expensive

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by gray horse

An acceptable salary for a single in the Bay Area is $120K. It is very tough to make it on less. You may want to look into roommate situations.

That's not true. Even in the overpriced Bay Area you can survive on far less and still live a decent lifestyle. Getting married and having kids is when it's necessary to make that much around here. If a single person with no kids can't survive here on $120k/year there's something wrong with their spending habits.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by mstnghu2

That's not true. Even in the overpriced Bay Area you can survive on far less and still live a decent lifestyle. Getting married and having kids is when it's necessary to make that much around here. If a single person with no kids can't survive here on $120k/year there's something wrong with their spending habits.

I agree whole-heartedly. You don't HAVE to have a brand new Prius, and whatever else some people think you just have to have to have any quality of life in CA.

My daughter makes $112,000/year, and she was able to buy a home in Oakland with a view of the bay (granted it's on the edge of a sketchy neighborhood and the bay is kind of far away- lol! But, the lights at night are gorgeous!), she drove her Toyota Corolla until it was falling apart, and didn't buy a new one (a Camry this time she also intends to drive for many years) until after she got into her home in Oakland. And before buying the home in Oakland, she had bought a home in Salinas while she was working in Monterey (making $80,000). She actually rented that one out for a year, then decided to sell it, which she just did, at a profit.

She's single with no kids, and she also pays into her retirement plan. She goes out, but she's frugal.

Even when she was living in Salinas and working in Monterey, she would tell her friends who insisted on living in Monterey and Pacific Grove or Carmel (all renting) that they could buy in Salinas. They turned up their noses at Salinas. They all had car payments on fancy cars, too, and were always struggling financially - in order to be able to buy Gucci bags and go out to fancy restaurants, etc. My daughter shops at Ross and has people over for barbecues, rather than go out to dinner often.

So, she's like the turtle in the race. Her friends all lament that they can't buy houses, while she's purchased two. And their rents keep going up, and her house payment stays the same. They'll never see their rent money again, and she'll get hers back in equity.

It's a matter of choices and priorities.