Would you leave the Bay Area if you could? (San Jose: rent, condos)

[andyadhi01]

I am ready to move with a week notice and without a relo package to several of top favorite metro areas but I am professionally trapped! I am getting increasingly higher paid jobs in bay area but not getting any on east coast. But my biggest dream is few years down the line I will get a job in DC area or Philly area or somewhere else and move the hell out of the overpriced and overrated bay area (and CA in general) for good. There are zero advantages of living here setting up new companies here!

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

I am ready to move with a week notice and without a relo package to several of top favorite metro areas but I am professionally trapped! I am getting increasingly higher paid jobs in bay area but not getting any on east coast. But my biggest dream is few years down the line I will get a job in DC area or Philly area or somewhere else and move the hell out of the overpriced and overrated bay area (and CA in general) for good. There are zero advantages of living here setting up new companies here!

Smart thinking! DC is well known to be cheap as hell! Look it up. Here, I'll do it for you:

Washington D.C.
Cost of Living: 40.1% above U.S. average

New grads and established millionaires alike find a worthwhile home in the nation's capital. At 2.5 times the U.S. average, local housing expenses can be onerous

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Smart thinking! DC is well known to be cheap as hell! Look it up. Here, I'll do it for you:

[dalparadise]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

I am ready to move with a week notice and without a relo package to several of top favorite metro areas but I am professionally trapped! I am getting increasingly higher paid jobs in bay area but not getting any on east coast. But my biggest dream is few years down the line I will get a job in DC area or Philly area or somewhere else and move the hell out of the overpriced and overrated bay area (and CA in general) for good. There are zero advantages of living here setting up new companies here!

In-n-Out does place some heavy golden handcuffs on its fry cooks, paying what it does.

Don't worry, they'll open locations on the east coast sooner or later.

[andyadhi01]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Smart thinking! DC is well known to be cheap as hell! Look it up. Here, I'll do it for you:

I don't care if it's expensive as long as you get what you pay for. For the insanely high price you get ugly, tiny houses, bad schools, terrible commute and a public transit system that's a joke compared to DC/NYC/Boston.

[PinaCarlotta]

No way. I love the Bay Area. I didn't grow up here, but it's home now.

[andyadhi01]

Originally Posted by dalparadise

Of course it is.

This OP doesn't live in SF. I knew that the moment Mill Valley came up. First off, Mill Valley is hardly a long commute. It's not even out of the question for a bicycle commute (there are people I work with who do exactly this)! .

For alcoholic jobless bozos I guess bike commute from Mill Valley will work.. They have all the time to bike around all day For professional people who have to work regular works it doesn't work.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

I don't care if it's expensive as long as you get what you pay for. For the insanely high price you get ugly, tiny houses, bad schools, terrible commute and a public transit system that's a joke compared to DC/NYC/Boston.

So, in other words you are the least informed contributor to this forum?

[dalparadise]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

For alcoholic jobless bozos I guess bike commute from Mill Valley will work.. They have all the time to bike around all day For professional people who have to work regular works it doesn't work.

Really? The best you can add to the conversation is to hurl a juvenile insult at people I referenced, whom you don't even know? Why would you assume these people are alcoholics? Why would jobless people be commuting to San Francisco from Mill Valley? Weird post, even for you. I'm not sure how else to respond.

[likealady]

Originally Posted by botticelli

And exactly how expensive is it? People say it is expensive because they expect to own a 2000sf detached single family home with two car garages and a massive backyard 10 miles away from work. They complain that a house costs 1.5 million dollars only because the house you look at is too fr**ing big and occupies too much land. You think it is too expensive? a two bedroom condo in Shanghai or Beijing costs US$1 million, how about that? How much does a two bedroom apartment cost in the Bay area? There is plenty under 800k even in the city of San Francisco.

Actually no, I don't expect a 2000 sq ft home with a 2 car garage, a new SUV and an Audi, and an acre backyard. I'd even settle for a modest 2 bedroom condo with parking for one car. Fat chance. I live near a real estate office, I see the postings daily. Few 2 bds are going for 800K or less. That said, 800K is not cheap either, many will save for a decade to get the downpayment for that and will probably require a double salary to pay the mortgage. Then you start to consider value. Is a dated home in the outskirts worth it? You can live in the outer parts of SF and it'll take you longer to get to downtown than some stops in Oakland or Berkeley.

Now throw kids into the mix...
There's a good chance we'll be leaving when that time comes unless we a) save a huge amount of money to coast on when I inevitably leave a job to care for the newborn or b) husband gets a large pay raise. Option A is more likely than option B.

Media outlets don't report on the Bay Area being the most expensive in the country for no reason.

After you move, you will complain about the weather in the east coast and pretty much anywhere else in the country, or life too boring in the south, or wages too low in the cheap middle of nowhere, or crime too high in Chicago.

True. Weather was my biggest complaint before I moved here, but I actually like seasons. I will say the lack of rain here has me weirded out.