Salary advice please family of 3. Bay area (Sacramento, Sunnyvale: apartment complex, rental)

[Mossy]

Husband was offered a good job in Palo Alto...185K. We are a family of 3. We use to live in Sacramento but moved away 4 years ago. Don't know the Bay Area that good as far as where to live. We will be renting. Live in PA? Daughter is in middle school.

Feel crazy for asking but is 185k good to have a comfortable life there? There is stick and bonuses but our concern is base salary. We max our 401k currently. Thanks so much!!!

[Mossy]

Wanted to know if 185k salary is good for a family of 3? We lived in Sacramento four years ago and moved back east and husband got a nice job offer in Palo Alto. I don't have my finger on the pulse anymore with coat of living in the Bay Area. We would be renting but am afraid 185k would t be enough for a comfortable lifestyle. We max our 401k put as well. Thanks!

[BRinSM]

Does the 185 also come with any sort of company stock? What does your current debt load look like? What kind of housing are you looking for? What is your commute tolerance?

I moved my family of 4 here from LA six months ago at a lesser salary and we're getting by just fine. Having said that, if you need to live in a detached home in Palo Alto that may change things.

[Mossy]

No debt. And would like a detached home to rent but would be fine in a nice apartment complex. Would like to start out in Palo Alto as this is where my husbands job is. Commute tolerance is 20 min. I don't know the Bay Area at all even though we lived in Sacramento for 15 years. I also don't know school districts either and didn't know if there is overcrowding which means we would have to transfer to another school.

[Mossy]

Yes, we were offered stock. Thanks!!☺️

[marcopolo666]

You don't HAVE to rent in Palo Alto (which, face it, is expensive). The next town south (0-3 miles) is Mountain View, and the town south of that is Cupertino - both GREAT places to raise a family (great schools, for example).

Anyhow, good rule of thumb is to not spend more than 25% of gross income on housing (or 33% of net). It's not always possible, but ... (and the more you make, the less you really have to pay attention, because you would have the actual $$$ for spending afterwards - less in %, same in actual coinage). So 25% of 185 is 46K/yr, or about 4K/mo. (33% is 61K/yr or about 5K/mo.) You could BUY a house in Cupertino for $2M, have 'about' $5-6K/mo in payments (and deduct the interest from taxes).

You will have NO problem finding a place to rent in Mtn View or Cupertino for that price, and most likely not much of a problem finding a rental in Palo Alto in that price range.

[BRinSM]

I'm not sure if the housing situation has changed in the past 6 months, but you'll probably be spending at least $6k/month for a detached house in Palo Alto. Check out Mountain View as well, which is close to Palo Alto and a bit cheaper.

[Mossy]

Originally Posted by marcopolo666

You don't HAVE to rent in Palo Alto (which, face it, is expensive). The next town south (0-3 miles) is Mountain View, and the town south of that is Cupertino - both GREAT places to raise a family (great schools, for example).

Anyhow, good rule of thumb is to not spend more than 25% of gross income on housing (or 33% of net). It's not always possible, but ... (and the more you make, the less you really have to pay attention, because you would have the actual $$$ for spending afterwards - less in %, same in actual coinage). So 25% of 185 is 46K/yr, or about 4K/mo. (33% is 61K/yr or about 5K/mo.) You could BUY a house in Cupertino for $2M, have 'about' $5-6K/mo in payments (and deduct the interest from taxes).

You will have NO problem finding a place to rent in Mtn View or Cupertino for that price, and most likely not much of a problem finding a rental in Palo Alto in that price range.

I saw some housing in PA for under 4K but first thoughts are what's wrong with it? I don't know much about mountain view or Sunnyvale but will look into it. I don't know if we will definitely take this offer now. I'm just nervous about COL. my husband loves this opportunity but I'm a stay at home mom so it's perspective. Also, it's much different when we are there living the daily grind. Would love to buy a home. It don't have a huge down payment.

Do you rent and what city do you live in? How is the healthcare out there? Are physicians closed to new patients or is there plenty to choose from? My husband says we will camp and go out but I think it will be much more expensive than we think.

[Mossy]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

I'm not sure if the housing situation has changed in the past 6 months, but you'll probably be spending at least $6k/month for a detached house in Palo Alto. Check out Mountain View as well, which is close to Palo Alto and a bit cheaper.

I was looking on craigslist. Don't know where else to look. Doing the yelp search as well. I'm very reluctant to move into a apt complex. Haven't lived in an appt for years.

[Semiworker]

Besides Craiglist, you can also look at Zillow for rent.


Here is a link filter for Mountain view for Detached or town house for 3 bedrooms.

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_ren...48_rect/11_zm/

Good luck!