[quote=flu]. . . Biggest deals happen in Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, buddy and VC is in Palo Alto. The tech market here is stale frankly, because the common feedback about San Diego is that the talent pool sucks here. That’s why even in this downmarket, Silicon Valley is doing great…Expensive, yes…Hiring expensive? Yes…People who can actually deliver…Yes…La Costa? WTF is this a joke? Biggest deal gets done in Palo Alto. Dude, if you don’t got your Southwest Airlines tickets booked most friday’s for the next 2-3months up to San Jose, you’re not in the game.[/quote]
flu, even though the northern part is built up now, SD IS still a “branch-office town” in many respects. Your post (above) could apply to any number of fields, including law. SF on down to San Jose is headquarters to hundreds of firms and also fortune 500 companies. Even my old “stomping ground” of (formerly semi-rural) East Bay (Alameda County), which used to have just enough large companies in the ’50’s-’60’s to count on one hand (incl. LL Labs and the Fed. Corr. Inst, where most everyone worked) is now home to an unbelievable amount of firms! Consider that my old zip of 94566 used to belong to one small “city” plus three adjacent towns with a total pop. of <16,000! With the I-580 and I-680 coming thru, this area has absolutely turned into a "megalopolis." Shocking, really.
If I could move to SF or Silicon Valley now, I would. I looked into the RE prices of Sunnyvale and Cupertino as early as 1999 and their RE asking prices (SFR) were comparable to South County San Diego. The typical lots were not as big, however. The bigger lots in SV (not inside a covenant) tend to be in San Mateo, Pacifica, Saratoga and San Jose.
In addition, the housing market in the bay area seems to be recovering faster than here.
I just looked again a few days ago and the current asking prices of a spacious 2/2/1car >1000 sf cosmetic-fixer flat in several ‘hoods of SF is about $350-550K, which I think is quite reasonable given their locations. In the bigger-lot SV areas mentioned above, the current asking prices of most 1600 – 2000 sf SFR’s are in the $450K – $700K range, some fixers and some turnkey.
Note: Regarding construction <30 years old, there is little to none on the peninsula, until you get to South and East SJ (50+ mi from SF). So for those who *must* have "newish" SFR's, yes, their commute could involve congested bridges or a long daily gridlock on Hwy 101.
The majority of salaries there are 45% higher than SD for the same job and housing IS NOT 45% higher, and in many cases, is not higher at all than SD County. Gas can be slightly higher in certain areas, though.
Life can be TRULY FINE living in SF Bay if you are NOT a commuter. The same applies to the LA area. Yes, flu, my family and I are both SW Airlines FF’s and also road people.
My kids and I have come to the conclusion over the years that paying SD’s “sunshine tax” is really not worth it anymore :=[.
