Big government and absurdly strong unions destroyed Greece and Spain. Expect no less for California.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=AN]…You providing data just reiterate my point. The San Mateo area have WORSE school than MM’s school. So, thanks for disproving your own statement about school. Similar properties in MM would go for low $300k. So, that’s ~50-60% higher. So, where’s the 0-25% higher you’re talking about?[/quote]

AN, I didn’t look at the school scores there but I can’t imagine that they’re that much lower than MM.

btw, I thought you posted somewhere that your kid was going to private school. If they are still attending private school, do you EVER plan on sending them to public school?

If not, why are you so focused on “school scores?”

And btw ~$320K / ~$455K is NOT “50-60%.” It is actually 29.3%. And you never even considered the upside potential of the $455K SM fixer (IF they get that much for it) vs a MM fixer for $320K.

If I was a GEN Y with the skills SV firms are currently looking for, I wouldn’t waste a second in moving up there, but that is just me. However, I never had any parents living here to help me with kids.

[bearishgurl]

I have a theory about moving to SF Bay area (for work) from So Cal. If you don’t like it, you can always move back. Meanwhile, you will likely have:

MORE $$ from the sale of your residence there (IF you don’t keep it as a (lucrative) rental;

MORE $$ in your 401K acct (as a percentage of your salary there plus employer match, if any;

Your last position was likely HIGHER (due to being in the right place at the right time), so you got more experience;

And most importantly, your LAST WAGE was HIGHER, so that is NOW the benchmark on what you are worth on your next gig . . . .

Ideally, if you are Gen Y and in high tech, accept a position there as early as possible in your career.

***************************************

Trying this in reverse doesn’t work out nearly as well.

[an]

[quote=bearishgurl]
AN, I didn’t look at the school scores there but I can’t imagine that they’re that much lower than MM.

btw, I thought you posted somewhere that your kid was going to private school. If they are still attending private school, do you EVER plan on sending them to public school?

If not, why are you so focused on “school scores?”

And btw ~$320K / ~$455K is NOT “50-60%.” It is actually 29.3%. And you never even considered the upside potential of the $455K SM fixer (IF they get that much for it) vs a MM fixer for $320K.[/quote]
There’s no longer any need to discuss about me. Lets focus on the data. You’re wrong about the school. San Mateo’s schools are worse than MM, not better.

Do you need to go back and study basic math again? $455k is 42% HIGHER than $320k. How the heck did you get 29.3% higher?

There’s no point in upside potential, since my crystal ball is broken.
[quote=bearishgurl]If I was a GEN Y with the skills SV firms are currently looking for, I wouldn’t waste a second in moving up there, but that is just me. However, I never had any parents living here to help me with kids.[/quote]Yep, that’s just you. You’re not Gen Y and I am. I disagree which is why I’m here. I’m sure those who agree with you are already there. So, for those who chose here vs there, there are reasons you don’t know about. Anyways, it seems like you’re miserable living in an area you don’t want to, while I’m living in the exact area I want. I had plenty of opportunity to move to the “MECCA” of tech, but the numbers just doesn’t work.

[an]

[quote=bearishgurl]I have a theory about moving to SF Bay area (for work) from So Cal. If you don’t like it, you can always move back. Meanwhile, you will likely have:

MORE $$ from the sale of your residence there (IF you don’t keep it as a (lucrative) rental;

MORE $$ in your 401K acct (as a percentage of your salary there plus employer match, if any;

Your last position was likely HIGHER (due to being in the right place at the right time), so you got more experience;

And most importantly, your LAST WAGE was HIGHER, so that is NOW the benchmark on what you are worth on your next gig . . . .

Ideally, if you are Gen Y and in high tech, accept a position there as early as possible in your career.

***************************************

Trying this in reverse doesn’t work out nearly as well.[/quote]
Sorry, data would disagree with you.

BTW, you won’t be able to use your wage from the bay to bargain. There’s no way companies here would match that pay.

[spdrun]

AN: You’re ass-u-ming that the average residence for a family with 2 kids is the same in both cities, and thus are attempting to compare apples to apples. Again: floor space and number of thrones isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of housing quality. A castle in a burbclave and two foreign cars seems to be the San Diego dream, but it’s not everyone’s dream.

Oh, and my cousins grew up in Vienna (the one in Austria). Small 3/1.5 apartment, and they both turned out fine – one works for the UN, the other is a teacher in Japan.

[an]

[quote=spdrun]AN: You’re ass-u-ming that the average residence for a family with 2 kids is the same in both cities, and thus are attempting to compare apples to apples. Again: floor space and number of thrones isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of housing quality. A castle in a burbclave and two foreign cars seems to be the San Diego dream, but it’s not everyone’s dream.

Oh, and my cousins grew up in Vienna (the one in Austria). Small 3/1.5 apartment, and they both turned out fine – one works for the UN, the other is a teacher in Japan.[/quote]
I’m not assuming anything. Everyone have their priorities and what they want most for their money. I will never say my priority is right for you. Just don’t expect me to agree that your priority is right for me either. But, it’s true everywhere is that, the more money you have for housing, the bigger the space you want. Even in NYC, the rich’s apartment is much larger than the poor. You never going to find anyone that would say, although I can afford a 5/5 apartment in NYC, my living standard would be better in a 3/1 in NYC.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]AN: You’re ass-u-ming that the average residence for a family with 2 kids is the same in both cities, and thus are attempting to compare apples to apples. Again: floor space and number of thrones isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of housing quality…[/quote]

Good point, spdrun. In fact, the average sf of the housing stock in SM county is smaller than SD County but I don’t know by how much (400 sf is my “educated guess”). This is due to age of the stock. SM county has been under a “low or no growth” moratorium for quite a number of years. In addition, only about 40-45% of the county’s land space was even buildable. The rest is public lands.

SM County is obviously not the place for buyers who feel they need ~2000 sf (in “move-in condition,” lol) within their ~$400K price range to raise their family of four in. It’s a free country and there are many other alternatives. There are plenty of other buyers back in SV (yes, even with families), who will eventually pick up all the slack.

[spdrun]

AN:
Smart people underbuy and live below their means all the time.

Why would you want to burn down all of your equity and put it into a place that’s not producing income?

[an]

[quote=spdrun]AN:
Smart people underbuy and live below their means all the time.

Why would you want to burn down all of your equity and put it into a place that’s not producing income?[/quote]
Who said anything about living above their means? You’re saying if you have $100M to spend on a house, you’d still rather have a 3/1 and that 3/1 will give you better standard of living?

[bearishgurl]

[quote=AN] . . . You never going to find anyone that would say, although I can afford a 5/5 apartment in NYC, my living standard would be better in a 3/1 in NYC.[/quote]

Actually, you will. No matter how much money a person has, often a 3/1 (or 3/2 or 2/2) is all they need. A one or two-person household often doesn’t need a lot of space and likely won’t use it. ESPECIALLY a retired person/couple. A person who has had four bathrooms, 35′ long LR’s and pools in the past is TIRED of cleaning and landscaping chores.

LOTS of people have been there, done that and wrote the manual. After one has all the space they can possibly use, more space doesn’t equal any more happiness.

[an]

[quote=bearishgurl][quote=AN] . . . You never going to find anyone that would say, although I can afford a 5/5 apartment in NYC, my living standard would be better in a 3/1 in NYC.[/quote]

Actually, you will. No matter how much money a person has, often a 3/1 (or 3/2 or 2/2) is all they need. A one or two-person household often doesn’t need a lot of space and likely won’t use it. ESPECIALLY a retired person/couple. A person who has had four bathrooms, 35′ long LR’s and pools in the past is TIRED of cleaning and landscaping chores.

LOTS of people have been there, done that and wrote the manual. After one has all the space they can possibly use, more space doesn’t equal any more happiness.[/quote]
So you’re saying, you’re fine living in a 200 sq-ft studio vs a 3/1? BTW, if you have money, you wouldn’t be cleaning and landscaping.

[an]

[quote=bearishgurl]SM County is obviously not the place for buyers who feel they need ~2000 sf (in “move-in condition,” lol) within their ~$400K price range to raise their family of four in. It’s a free country and there are many other alternatives. There are plenty of other buyers back in SV (yes, even with families), who will eventually pick up all the slack.[/quote]or[quote=bearishgurl] I also feel it is entirely worth it for a young San Diegan college grad to relocate there for work, even one with a family. Most of the public schools there are better than here, as well.[/quote]
Which is it? Or are you saying it’s entirely worth it, if you get rid of all your wants and needs and adopt your wants and needs?

[spdrun]

AN: Honestly, given unlimited money for a primary residence in the US, I’d buy something like a 4-bedroom row house in Brooklyn, Fort Greene within spitting distance of Manhattan. Taxes are damn cheap, about $250/mo, I’d have a back yard for a garden/fresh veggies, no HOA/condo/co-op board to worry about, and proximity to an gorgeous park.

No reason to go extravagant as far as floor space. Lots of floor space needs to be cleaned, yet I hate the idea of having maids and workers invading my private space.

Maybe I lack imagination, but so it goes.

[SK in CV]

[quote=AN][quote=bearishgurl][quote=AN] . . . You never going to find anyone that would say, although I can afford a 5/5 apartment in NYC, my living standard would be better in a 3/1 in NYC.[/quote]

Actually, you will. No matter how much money a person has, often a 3/1 (or 3/2 or 2/2) is all they need. A one or two-person household often doesn’t need a lot of space and likely won’t use it. ESPECIALLY a retired person/couple. A person who has had four bathrooms, 35′ long LR’s and pools in the past is TIRED of cleaning and landscaping chores.

LOTS of people have been there, done that and wrote the manual. After one has all the space they can possibly use, more space doesn’t equal any more happiness.[/quote]
So you’re saying, you’re fine living in a 200 sq-ft studio vs a 3/1? BTW, if you have money, you wouldn’t be cleaning and landscaping.[/quote]

This was pretty interesting but i think we’ve jumped the shark here.

I went from almost 4K sq ft 4/3 to a 2000 sq ft 3/3 by choice. I could have afforded a lot more. And I came pretty close to buying a 1600 sq ft 2/3, with the same non-bedroom floor space, and would have bought it if the living space flowed better. No landscaping to deal with, no external maint. Some of us old people really do make the choice to downsize.

But that’s a whole lot different than a 200 sq ft studio. We can stay focused without silly extreme arguments.

[an]

[quote=SK in CV]This was pretty interesting but i think we’ve jumped the shark here.

I went from almost 4K sq ft 4/3 to a 2000 sq ft 3/3 by choice. I could have afforded a lot more. And I came pretty close to buying a 1600 sq ft 2/3, with the same non-bedroom floor space, and would have bought it if the living space flowed better. No landscaping to deal with, no external maint. Some of us old people really do make the choice to downsize.

But that’s a whole lot different than a 200 sq ft studio. We can stay focused without silly extreme arguments.[/quote]
Why did you buy the 4k 4/3 in the first place? Why didn’t you buy a 1600 2/3 instead of the 2k 3/3? Why not a 1200 2/2? You’re right, I’m being silly with the 200 sq-ft studio. It was an exaggeration to try and prove a point that everybody have their desire size and # of bed/bath. To say # of bed/bath and sq-ft doesn’t affect living standard is also just as silly. I don’t want to live in a 5/5 6k sq-ft but I don’t want to live in a 1300 sq-ft 3/1 either.

[Author]

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