In the strangest of places

Pause to imagine that your $700K house is a smallish 2 bedroom with no amenities and you'll fully grasp the suck that is the Bay Area...

(I try not to see these articles, just like I try not to think about the fact that I'm in my late 30s and don't own a house).

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Oh, now wait a minute. By "Bay Area" you're really talking about San Francisco proper. Why, over here in the East Bay you can get a smallish 2 bedroom w/no amenities for a mere $520k, plus or minus $50k. ;)

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Which would still require an annual income of about $180,000 according to the study referenced in the article. That's assuming one has 10% to put down and can devote 28% of one's monthly income to the mortgage. I'm out, on all counts, even for the East Bay!

Boo hoo, again.

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I was, um, trying to make a joke. It's all completely insane out here.

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Well, I took your joke damn seriously! ;-)

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I once told my mom it would be great if she could move out here and live close by. And she snorted. "Sweetie, I could never afford to live there on my retirement income."

Of course she was right. It made me very sad; she'd have actually considered it otherwise.

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I know--that part really DOES suck. Wouldn't it be so awesome to have our moms here? I am so jealous of people who live close to their parents. I never in a million years anticipated feeling that way.

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And then rent an apartment for your husband so that he can work from Monday to Friday on the peninsula. ;) ;)

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Or never see him because he's in ANOTHER STATE four out of five days every week. :(

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I know. It's so lame that our income, which sounds "rich" for just about every other area, doesn't really keep us out of the hole here--with no hope of buying a house on our own, ever.

A $700k house in SF is no great shakes, either. Our little 1950's house is decent, about 1500 square feet with a yard and a garage (rare amenities here) and it would probably sell for about a million. We are renting it, of course, and rents are still much MUCH lower than mortgages in this area. Which is why it makes no sense to buy an investment property, either!

Oh well, there are worse things in life than not owning a home, for sure! And it's all just numbers on paper, especially at that scale. And I really, really love it here. Just wanted to whine a little.

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two-roads.livejournal.com

That makes me feel better about living in Minneapolis.

But it is utterly, absolutely ridiculous. How does anyone afford a house there? Do jobs pay better? They must....?

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They do pay better, but not better enough for anyone normal to afford a house.

(And I hear Minneapolis is actually very cool)

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Oh, sure, the pay is better, but not THAT much better. Not good enough to afford a house. That's why "affordable housing" is a big political issue in this area--less than 10% of our population can afford to live here, technically. San Francisco has a citywide minimum wage of, um, I think it's around $9 an hour compared to $5.15 federal, but of course against our mortgages and rents that's nothing.

As for how anyone affords a house here... I really don't have much of a clue. But I think some of them make a killing in the .com industry (yes, people still do, though fewer of them), or they bought before the latest boom and trade up, or their parents help them or something.

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There's a lot of buying before the last boom and trading up. And there seem to be a lot of people whose parents help.

My parents don't have that kind of cash, and even if they did, their attitude about helping pretty much comes down to: You don't have to live in San Francisco. (My mom has been talking about how the house they rented as impoverished PhD students in Ohio gave them a better standard of living than J and I have now...)

And you know, they're right. Though I have no plans to leave just now. :)

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