[quote=UCGal]Back on the topic of silicon valley prices… Friends moved up there last year when he left Qcom for Goog. They sold their paid off Carmel Valley 4Ksf home for well over $1M. They are renting a 1600sf beater house in Palo Alto for almost $4k/month. They are having no luck finding a house for $2.5M or less in Palo Alto.
The increased google salary was not enough to compensate for the HUGE increase in housing costs.[/quote]This is why I’m still in SD and completely rule out the bay area as a possible relocation spot, unless something change (either income there has to go up EVEN MORE, say 50% more, or housing has to decrease). A year ago, as I was pondering moving up there, I ran the numbers and look at housing cost for comparable areas (for me, it’s distance to work and school). For anything that have the distance to work and school like Mira Mesa, you’re look at 2x the price. The salary was higher @ ~25-35%, but with that higher W-2 income, you’ll be paying more taxes, and potentially losing out on some government perks for making less $, so to me, the income increase turn out to be only ~10-15%. There’s no way the number work out.
