When you say you need a "lot" of money to live in the Bay Area... (San Francisco: middle-class, foreclosures)

[Huckleberry3911948]

i mean if ita all a matter of you deciding how much to ATM this morning from the range you gave, it wont matter much will it.

[mdwstrnkid]

Originally Posted by Radical347

Car insurance is actually cheaper than in Minnesota or Nebraska.

My car insurance dropped when I moved from the Twin Cities to the South Bay. It probably had to do with the fact that Minnesota is a no-fault state.

[RockhetHD]

Originally Posted by HumanUnit

What does that mean?

Just curious. People seem to say that a lot around here. Obviously that is going to mean very different things to different people, so I was wondering if most people are thinking like $100,000 or like $10,000,000!!

So, when you say a "lot," what do you mean? Do you mean income? Do you mean savings? Or net worth? All three?

From what I found , a single person can live quiet well off of 100,000 a year! Heck I did it off 85K. Sure you cant buy a house but you can rent a decent apt or get a place with 1 good roommate! It feels to me that The Bay is just at expensive as SOCAL, to find a safe neighborhood in i Socal expect to pay way beyond Norcal prices! Socal has some nasty gangs all over that damn place, The Bay does not have that problem.................

[bayarea-girl]

Rockhethd, The Bay does have gang problems but not as bad as Socal. It is unbelievable how expensive Socal has gotten. I agree and think the rents are probably more expensive in Socal than Nocal.

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

To add to what clongirl is saying, parking in the bay is more. You have to pay either to park at your building which in other parts of the country you get free parking. You most likely have to pay to park your car at bart or at your work which in other parts of the country there is no fee.

This is not true, I've been to many apartment buildings an I've never seen one that doesn't provide at least 1 assigned covered space per unit, except when visiting friends in the city or Berkeley. Having a car is practically a necessity in the Bay Area except for Berkeley, parts of Oakland and SF. If you check out craigslist you can see a good idea of what rents are like. Here in the peninsula they start from $1100 for a studio, $1200 for a 1bd, $1600 for a 2 bd and so on, older buildings usually having the lower rents. From what I've seen about half of them have pools, and all of them provide covered parking. The East Bay is cheaper, and the city is way more expensive.

Houses also vary in rent. I find that for a single person renting an apartment here I'm spending about $150/month more in rent than I would in the DC suburbs. The food is more expensive around here I've found. It is comparable, but if I wanted to buy a condo, over there I would spend $230k for a 4/5 year old condo. Over here I would have to spend $300k for a 40 year old condo. So then it is not as comparable, you will find a similar issue with house prices, here I would say if you want to live in the peninsula, and buy a house not in EPA, you would want to have an income of around $200k/yr. It all depends on what you want to do.

As for BART, most stations provide free parking, 15 stations charge parking, 13 of those only charge $1.
BART - Parking

[18Montclair]

Its very easy to get caught up with living it up in SF. When I was living in the City, it got to a point where I was spending at least a thousand dollars a week just on eating out and entertaining myself.

[bayarea-girl]

Cardinal2007, some apartment buildings provide 1 parking space that is true but usually build the space cost into the lease. Secondly, you will find where parking is an issue (which is most of the Bay area) that you do have to pay for additional for 1 parking space. At least that was a fact when I first moved to the Bay. When I first moved to the I had to spend $80 for parking it wasn't given to me. Then when I moved in with my husband he was already paying $50 for his parking space and there wasn't a space available for me to park my car, so I had to park it outside. Couple of friends of mine that bought a condo had to pay for a parking space.

You are providing miss information to people if you say that you can rent a place in the East Bay for less than the rates you provided. You can do so but how would you be living? Probably in not of a so nice area. Rents in the East Bay are higher than the figure you are providing.

DC is just as expensive as the Bay true. But who is comparing the Bay to DC?

It is true that you have to pay to park at the BART station. Most BART stations are NOT FREE. I'm not sure how often the Bart parking site gets updated but the cost is more at Ashby and Richmond/El Cerrito stations. The daily costs add up so it is not cheap to park. Also most employers make their employees pay for parking which in other parts of the country it is free to park in the company parking lot.

Living in the Bay just is not cheap.

[ImRandy]

Originally Posted by cardinal2007

This is not true, I've been to many apartment buildings an I've never seen one that doesn't provide at least 1 assigned covered space per unit, except when visiting friends in the city or Berkeley.

I just moved out of an apartment (Daly City) that didn't provide parking. You could rent a carport or garage but it wasn't included.

[ssmaster]

the bay area is expensive to have a family in -kid ,DETACHED house in nice neighborhood (noe valley),private school,nice, vacation somewhere nice in sf or sausilito= $360,000 min -in oakland hills $270,0000 -in castro valley hayward fremont $160,000- in faifield vacaville $80,000.

[ssmaster]

the bay area is expensive to have a family in -kid ,DETACHED house in nice neighborhood (noe valley),private school,nice, vacation somewhere nice in sf or sausilito= $360,000 YEARLY min -in oakland hills $270,0000 YEARLY -in castro valley hayward fremont $160,000-YEARLY in faifield vacaville $80,000.YEARLY
someone from omaha might have thought my 1st post was home prices