Article in Seattle times talks about people in their 20s and 30s leaving Seattle due to high housing costs. (lease, living)

[jm31828]

The article is a little misleading. It sort of wants to insinuate that we have a brain drain, or a loss of younger people due to the high cost of living. But in reality, like all big, desirable, expensive cities there will be a rather big outflow of younger people who cannot afford to stay- but there is also an even bigger influx of people of that age coming in who CAN afford it who are coming for jobs here. So you are just trading one group of people of a certain age for another group of that same age.

It's not like the Midwest or rust belt where they lose people in this age group for another reason (lack of opportunities and lack of interest in staying in what they feel is a boring area) and there is really no influx to replace them- creating a true brain drain.

[CrazyDonkey]

Well, if the young are pushed out, to be replaced by "brogrammers", Seattle will become a very boring place, just another Bellevue.

[Flightoficarus87]

Originally Posted by jm31828

The article is a little misleading. It sort of wants to insinuate that we have a brain drain, or a loss of younger people due to the high cost of living. But in reality, like all big, desirable, expensive cities there will be a rather big outflow of younger people who cannot afford to stay- but there is also an even bigger influx of people of that age coming in who CAN afford it who are coming for jobs here. So you are just trading one group of people of a certain age for another group of that same age.

It's not like the Midwest or rust belt where they lose people in this age group for another reason (lack of opportunities and lack of interest in staying in what they feel is a boring area) and there is really no influx to replace them- creating a true brain drain.

This.

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Well, if the young are pushed out, to be replaced by "brogrammers", Seattle will become a very boring place, just another Bellevue.

It's people of almost all other walks of life being pushed out by the "brogrammers" moving in.

Puget Sound (at least the central sound) is becoming Bay Area/Silicon Valley north. Great if you work in tech, but terrible for those not in such high paying professions. I'd expect COL to get worse, and Seattle to lose even more of it's soul in the coming years.

I'm planning to bail next year. Mostly for other reasons, but partly because of COL increases (i.e - It's getting high enough that I'd rather pay high COL to live elsewhere).

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by Flightoficarus87

This.

It's people of almost all other walks of life being pushed out by the "brogrammers" moving in.

The thread is about "people in their 20s and 30s leaving Seattle"...

That doesn't mean other groups aren't being pushed out, which is pretty much anybody not making well above the average income. They are faced with stepping down (to a postage-stamp micro-apartment or a room-share) or moving out, unless they can qualify, and negotiate waiting lists, for an inadequate supply of subsidized low(er)-income housing:

aptfinder | Low Income Housing at AptFinder.org

[noah]

Probably true but there is more to the high cost of housing than just the influx of tech jobs. If you look at Spokane, historically a sleepy real estate market, they are at all time highs for prices and inventory looks similar to here (down 25% from last year) no more than 3 months of inventory (of course higher than here but very low by historical standards). No one would say this is due to high paying jobs there.

Originally Posted by Flightoficarus87

Puget Sound (at least the central sound) is becoming Bay Area/Silicon Valley north. Great if you work in tech, but terrible for those not in such high paying professions. I'd expect COL to get worse, and Seattle to lose even more of it's soul in the coming years.
.

[CrazyDonkey]

No, it isn't just "brogrammers", although they are having a large impact in Seattle proper, especially in Seattle's core neighborhoods, which are where many of Seattle's Millennials live. I'd say the same if only brogrammers, professional families, and real estate agents called Seattle "home" - boring.

[annonymous0381]

This real estate bubble could pop in a year or 2. Who knows

[mkdude_08]

What are the most affordable, yet family-friendly, suburbs of the Seattle area with a somewhat reasonable cost of living (i.e., suburbs which are close enough to downtown Seattle yet not within Seattle city limits)?

[modc]

You should start your own thread.

What's reasonable cost of living for you? What's considered a short distance from downtown for you? For commuting or for weekends? What hours?

The question is: How much do you want to spend for a home or condo and how far do you want your drive to Seattle to be? Most of the suburbs are family friendly: bellevue, issaquah, Redmond, sammmamish, north bend, black diamond, snoqualmie, Kirkland, bothell, mill creek, shoreline are all family friendly.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by noah

Probably true but there is more to the high cost of housing than just the influx of tech jobs. If you look at Spokane, historically a sleepy real estate market, they are at all time highs for prices and inventory looks similar to here (down 25% from last year) no more than 3 months of inventory (of course higher than here but very low by historical standards). No one would say this is due to high paying jobs there.

Some of that is just "spring back" from the drop in demand from the real estate crash. On the other hand, huge tax cuts for the rich under Bush, only partially rolled back under Obama, combined with continuing high trade imbalances, have led to increased speculation in real estate, which drives up prices, even in "sleepy" Spokane. Prices spiking up can depress supply, because sellers wait for even higher prices.

The logic here is that taxes can be too high or too low. If too high, stagnation occurs; if too low, speculation and over-heated markets occur.