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Location: "Silicon Valley" (part of San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA)
4,375 posts, read 4,067,341 times
Reputation: 2158
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Quote:
Originally Posted by livinfairfax
neutrino - what online community do you belong to?
Lots of them, just Google my username, I'm all over. I'm here, YouTube, angelfire, etc. I go on IRC a lot and also PalTalk. I used to go on Yahoo Chat, beginning in the 90s, but they closed that one down.
I've been chatting/posting online in one form or another since 1989; I was 11, and that was the year I started using my dad's IBM PC model 5150 more often. Then we got a 386, followed later by a Pentium 166. I joined the Navy in 1999 and bought an IBM Aptiva with a Pentium III. When I got out I bought a PC Power and Cooling prebuit system (assembled in the USA, case and power supply Made in USA) with a Pentium 4. My current machine is another prebuilt, assembled in the USA machine. Intel Core i5, 2.7 Ghz, 8 GB RAM, 930 GB hard drive. Windows 10 and Red Hat Fedora Linux 24. I don't have FreeBSD on here right now but will probably put it on here too at some point.
I chatted/posted on BBSs, then AOL, then Usenet, then web forums, IRC, Yahoo Chat, web chat...I've done it all, baby.
Location: "Silicon Valley" (part of San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA)
4,375 posts, read 4,067,341 times
Reputation: 2158
Quote:
Originally Posted by WizardOfRadical
You live with your parents and makr minimum wage. Stay out of the conversation and let the grown ups discuss the issue.
lol I was US Navy. I've seen more of the real world than you ever have, little man.
I don't "live with my parents". My name is on the lease and I pay the property owner directly. My mother passed away in 1989; I'm sharing the apartment with my dad because if I moved out again, I couldn't keep helping him with the rent here. So I'm working on a higher wage so I can do both. Growing up we lived in a five bedroom house with a big yard and a large swimming pool and large spa, here in Silicon Valley. But my father was laid off while I was in the Navy, and he eventually had to give the house back to the bank.
Edit...oh yeah and I don't make minimum wage. I make $14/hr right now. The minimum wage here in San Jose is $10.50.
In any case, Mr. Conspiracy, no, the price of housing is not manipulated. It is supply and demand. This area is more desirable than Chicago, hence the higher price. Simple as that. Other desirable areas with high costs of living include New York City, London and Paris.
Last edited by neutrino78x; 08-20-2016 at 10:35 PM..
Reason: specified that parent's death was many years ago
I was gainfully employed in tech in the Bay Area in 2009 and could have purchased a condo when prices bottomed. Even then it did not make sense. The first rule of investing is diversification, and living in the Bay Area requires you to put too much money into your primary residence. It's imprudent.
Now if I had bought in 2009 and sold now the price would have doubled, and with leverage I would have made like a 5x return. I was happy to move away instead and invest in the stock market which also doubled but without leverage so I only saw a 2x return. That's fine because where I live now I feel comfortable with my finances rather than feeling like I am gambling with my house, which a generation ago was just a home for most people and not some do-or-die get-rich-quick scheme.
I'd much prefer to get rich slowly in a normal place. Much less stress.
Lots of them, just Google my username, I'm all over. I'm here, YouTube, angelfire, etc. I go on IRC a lot and also PalTalk. I used to go on Yahoo Chat, beginning in the 90s, but they closed that one down.
I've been chatting/posting online in one form or another since 1989; I was 11, and that was the year I started using my dad's IBM PC model 5150 more often. Then we got a 386, followed later by a Pentium 166. I joined the Navy in 1999 and bought an IBM Aptiva with a Pentium III. When I got out I bought a PC Power and Cooling prebuit system (assembled in the USA, case and power supply Made in USA) with a Pentium 4. My current machine is another prebuilt, assembled in the USA machine. Intel Core i5, 2.7 Ghz, 8 GB RAM, 930 GB hard drive. Windows 10 and Red Hat Fedora Linux 24. I don't have FreeBSD on here right now but will probably put it on here too at some point.
I chatted/posted on BBSs, then AOL, then Usenet, then web forums, IRC, Yahoo Chat, web chat...I've done it all, baby.
lol. i asked because i saw another NERD reference in another forum that i go to.
windows 10 AND fedora? not sure what that means, can only be one or the other. interesting how linux on ubuntu on windows came out couple of weeks ago. microsoft is losing marketshare.
lol I was US Navy. I've seen more of the real world than you ever have, little man.
I don't "live with my parents". My name is on the lease and I pay the property owner directly. My mother passed away; I'm sharing the apartment with my dad because if I moved out again, I couldn't keep helping him with the rent here. So I'm working on a higher wage so I can do both. Growing up we lived in a five bedroom house with a big yard and a large swimming pool and large spa, here in Silicon Valley. But my father was laid off while I was in the Navy, and he eventually had to give the house back to the bank.
Edit...oh yeah and I don't make minimum wage. I make $14/hr right now. The minimum wage here in San Jose is $10.50.
In any case, Mr. Conspiracy, no, the price of housing is not manipulated. It is supply and demand. This area is more desirable than Chicago, hence the higher price. Simple as that. Other desirable areas with high costs of living include New York City, London and Paris.
Location: "Silicon Valley" (part of San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA)
4,375 posts, read 4,067,341 times
Reputation: 2158
Quote:
Originally Posted by Avondalist
I was gainfully employed in tech in the Bay Area in 2009 and could have purchased a condo when prices bottomed. Even then it did not make sense. The first rule of investing is diversification, and living in the Bay Area requires you to put too much money into your primary residence. It's imprudent.
Incorrect. You are supposed to spend 33% on housing maximum. As long as you are doing that, you are not spending too much on housing. 33% of my income is $500, so that's what I spend. And I live here. I don't even have a room to myself, but I do live here.
If you make about $20/hr, you can spend about $1000 on housing because your total pay is about $3000/month. $1000/month gets you a nice room to yourself in an apartment shared with other people.
If you make 100k, you can spend about 3000/month on housing, which will get you your own small apartment/condo. Although many singles who make that salary still share so they can save more money.
Anyway, that's why the median rent is 3k and the median home price is one million. There is a sufficient number of people wishing to live here who can pay each of those amounts.
Location: "Silicon Valley" (part of San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA)
4,375 posts, read 4,067,341 times
Reputation: 2158
Quote:
Originally Posted by livinfairfax
based on your background $14 per hour seem a bit too low.
well, I have a CompTIA A+ certification, right. I got it shortly after I got out of the Navy. It is still valid; the new ones have to be renewed every three years, but mine is grandfathered. But, most employers want experience in the field, as a job, on your resume. The ones who don't require that do require you to drive to different client sites. Embarrassingly, I haven't learned how to drive yet. The stuff I do with computers, like this:
is just a hobby. I've never done it as a job. To be honest, I don't really WANT to do it as a job...well, maybe certain roles. But those roles, again, require some documented experience, in most cases. I did talk to a famous IT services provider recently, a couple times. They called me in for a second interview a year later. The first time, I just barely failed their IT skills test because I didn't know some of the ports associated with services (for example, I forgot the one associated with FTP). But the interviewer was very impressed by other answers on the test. For example he said that I could run circles around some of the senior guys who worked under him in terms of my knowledge of the UNIX command line/scripting. So he went to his boss and asked if he could hire me anyway. The boss said no. When I came in the second time, I passed the test, but the interviewer (a different guy) said I'm "a really promising candidate" but they were looking for somebody with a CCNA.
He said if I came back with that, they would pay at least $20/hr to start.
But ultimately, that was a customer facing job, where I would be answering phones all day and interacting with the public, and it isn't an ideal fit. Also, it is hard for me to study in my current living environment.
What I need is something that pays well enough that I can rent my own room to myself (about $700/month at least) and still send my dad $500/month to help with his rent. Then I could study for that CCNA and possibly go work for that IT service provider.
I'm really conflicted, though, between doing that and joining the Merchant Marine. It's all union and very well compensated. The lowest enlisted man makes 50k and the lowest officer makes 140k. These are just US Flag container ships. I hated the Navy as a job, but I loved going to sea. But doing that does have a higher barrier to entry. I have to get: passport, TWIC, merchant mariner credential, and a STCW95 course. All those things cost money. The course is $1500. It's all stuff I learned in the Navy, but the law requires that I get it, if I want to work on a civilian ship that goes outside of US territorial waters. Plus, here's the other big negative aspect: you don't get any kind of notice, doing that. You have to go up to San Francisco and check with the union hall, and if they have a ship available, off you go. No two weeks notice. So I'm interested in both these things, I guess (computers and working on ships).
There's Military Sealift Command too, which is part of the Navy, but they staff the ships with civilian federal employees who are Merchant Mariners. It pays more than the Navy (and is probably another example of overcompensated federal workers) but still less than half what the commercial container ship people are paid. So the Navy doesn't let the unions browbeat them as much as BART does, lol. I talked to a recruiter for that. He said he thought they would be hiring entry level in January, but it never was listed. He said the entry level jobs only come up once a year. He said everything is done on the computer, just like the Navy, so if it isn't listed on their web site, they aren't hiring. But it is a lot more structured than working on the commercial ships; you get notice, months of advance, of when they need you, and they fly you out for training and pay for everything.
Edit: right now I'm working at a temp agency. My last position was $12/hr and my current one is $14/hr. It pays better, but it is hard for me to get to on transit. It on the other side of Silicon Valley and I have to get on the bus at 0540 in order to arrive at 0740. Last time I walked the wrong way for a while, since I'm not familiar with the neighborhood yet, and ended up being 15 minutes late! The boss just said "we need to work on getting you here on time", but I told him in the interview that 0800 would be harder, and I would prefer the 0830 or 0930 start times (they have different teams that start at different times), but for whatever reason, they put me on at 0800. Although he said he has another project at a site further south that might be easier for me, and it looks like it would be. Same pay but it's temporary, and after it is over I would go back to the location where I am now. I work in a warehouse for a major medical device manufacturer. (I'm not doing IT or anything that requires a degree/special training.)
Incorrect. You are supposed to spend 33% on housing maximum. As long as you are doing that, you are not spending too much on housing. 33% of my income is $500, so that's what I spend. And I live here. I don't even have a room to myself, but I do live here.
If you make about $20/hr, you can spend about $1000 on housing because your total pay is about $3000/month. $1000/month gets you a nice room to yourself in an apartment shared with other people.
If you make 100k, you can spend about 3000/month on housing, which will get you your own small apartment/condo. Although many singles who make that salary still share so they can save more money.
Anyway, that's why the median rent is 3k and the median home price is one million. There is a sufficient number of people wishing to live here who can pay each of those amounts.
You are making assumptions about my finances as they were then. I would have been spending over 33% of my income on housing even in 2009.
The price/income ratio in the Bay Area is closer to 5/1, not 3/1 which is normal in the US. The reason prices in the Bay Area are so high is not all because of higher incomes. It's also because many people break the 33% rule, which is imprudent.
I don't know why you're so doctrinaire about this.
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