OT: Bay area rental barometer.

[Coronita]

FWIW: I have an unscientific barometer about the bay area.

A renter wanted to terminate lease early. I was originally like WTF…But anyway a relative left a for rent sign over the weekend on front lawn in bay area….

Got 4 applications over the course of 8 hrs, 2 were out of state relocating….One works for Google, one couple on H1-B for two tech firms, and the other two in startups.

Me: “I’ve gotten 4 applications roughly in the same time window….”
Folks: “Ok, will did others offer you full asking price?”
Me: “More or less yes”
Folks: “If we increase the rent, can you consider us first?”
Me: “Well, no one signed anything yet…”

Long story short, rent ends up in a bidding war… and rent ends up going up $200/month for a 1 year lease…… Best of all, folks moving in are happy and think they’ve won the lottery. My relative, on the other hand is pissed…Because they just rented out something similar 1 day ago for $300/month less just recently before the new year….

All yes, the Valley in all it’s glorious stock option/RSU craziness is back..FWIW…I haven’t seen a relocation from lower cost area into the Bay Area in a long time…

[CA renter]

Good info, flu. Thanks for sharing.

I’ve also heard from people locally (SD) that things seem to be picking up in non-tech fields. Believe it or not, we’ve heard a number of positive comments from people in the construction industry. Even they were surprised to see things pick up during a normally slow time of year.

We can only hope.

[svelte]

I think TG was one of the first to point out this trend. I too have noticed that the freeways are much more congested in the last 6 months, almost as if someone flipped a switch.

Stores, restaurants, all hopping now.

But the clencher was this past weekend. The last few years, we’ve went out the weekend after new years and most places have been dead slow. Scary slow. But not last Saturday night. Every place we went was buzzing. People are back with cash in hand.

[bearishgurl]

This!

One of my kids just got a GREAT job at a startup in Sunnyvale. Started 12/1 and already has FULL BENEFITS! Most companies in SD County make a lot of empty promises to new hires, overhire, and then pick and choose whom to keep on the 87-89th day of employment (without committing to any benefits).

Companies in SF and SV are again STEALING employees from each other and also recruiting out of county and out of state to fill particular “niche” positions.

This huge “employment-opportunity chasm” between there and here will always be so.

It’s an awesome place to make your mark, ESPECIALLY if young!!

[NicMM]

Flu,

My family relocated to Bay Area a couple of months ago. Jobs are at San Francisco. Now we are renting in Burlingame. Do you know the Peninsula area?

Is there a website like piggington that we can find real estate related information?

Thanks,
NicMM

[Coronita]

[quote=NicMM]Flu,

My family relocated to Bay Area a couple of months ago. Jobs are at San Francisco. Now we are renting in Burlingame. Do you know the Peninsula area?

Is there a website like piggington that we can find real estate related information?

Thanks,
NicMM[/quote]

Not sure if there is a bay area website since I left in 2001. Are you looking for a good place to live? The place that I liked living (in the burbs) was Foster City. I had a rental right on the lagoon. And it’s close enough to redwood city where you can hope onto the train that takes you into 4th and King.

I’ll ask around up there.

[Coronita]

Actually, I really hope things heat up in the Bay Area. Because when things start getting crazy out there, companies have no choice but to go with the satellite office approach and expand elsewhere.

At times, there were up to 20% pay differences between Bay Area and SD, it’s getting close to that again.

The past 3 full time gigs I had here in San Diego was for a company that had a presence in the Valley.

My dirty secret was that I’d do the meet/greet relationship building in the bay area main team, and then put myself “on loan” to a team in S.D, which inevitably ended up being permanent. I still reported to senior management in Bay Area. But then I would lead the team down here so that they didn’t pull me back… Ended up being the best of both worlds. My reviews/comps/raises were always Bay Area comps….But then I could live down here with a slightly lower cost and slightly better environment. Not to mention, because I was remote, I could function like a renegade development team, that could bypass all the bureaucracy that hindered progress, provided I delivered good quality, on time, and didn’t piss off anyone in the process.

Unfortunately, in mobile space now, you kinda have to be down here, at least part time.

[CA renter]

[quote=NicMM]Flu,

My family relocated to Bay Area a couple of months ago. Jobs are at San Francisco. Now we are renting in Burlingame. Do you know the Peninsula area?

Is there a website like piggington that we can find real estate related information?

Thanks,
NicMM[/quote]

Not quite like Piggington, but was also one of the early bubble blogs. Haven’t checked it out in awhile, and like most bubble blogs, it looks like they are busy talking about a variety of issues while waiting (or not waiting) to buy a house.

http://patrick.net/

[NicMM]

I visited Foster city and really liked it. But 10 ~ 15 more minutes driving to work was the deal breaker, since we have kids in school age. Think about rushing home to pick them up :(.

People in Bay area seem to be used to long commute. Many of my coworkers commute 1 hour to work (one way). But we really cannot stand spending more than 30 minutes one way.

NicMM

[quote=flu][quote=NicMM]Flu,

My family relocated to Bay Area a couple of months ago. Jobs are at San Francisco. Now we are renting in Burlingame. Do you know the Peninsula area?

Is there a website like piggington that we can find real estate related information?

Thanks,
NicMM[/quote]

Not sure if there is a bay area website since I left in 2001. Are you looking for a good place to live? The place that I liked living (in the burbs) was Foster City. I had a rental right on the lagoon. And it’s close enough to redwood city where you can hope onto the train that takes you into 4th and King.

I’ll ask around up there.[/quote]

[NicMM]

I visited Foster city and really liked it. But 10 ~ 15 more minutes driving to work was the deal breaker, since we have kids in school age. Think about rushing home to pick them up :(.

People in Bay area seem to be used to long commute. Many of my coworkers commute 1 hour to work (one way). But we really cannot stand spending more than 30 minutes one way.

NicMM

[quote=flu][quote=NicMM]Flu,

My family relocated to Bay Area a couple of months ago. Jobs are at San Francisco. Now we are renting in Burlingame. Do you know the Peninsula area?

Is there a website like piggington that we can find real estate related information?

Thanks,
NicMM[/quote]

Not sure if there is a bay area website since I left in 2001. Are you looking for a good place to live? The place that I liked living (in the burbs) was Foster City. I had a rental right on the lagoon. And it’s close enough to redwood city where you can hope onto the train that takes you into 4th and King.

I’ll ask around up there.[/quote]

[NicMM]

I visited Foster city and really liked it. But 10 ~ 15 more minutes driving to work was the deal breaker, since we have kids in school age. Think about rushing home to pick them up :(.

People in Bay area seem to be used to long commute. Many of my coworkers commute 1 hour to work (one way). But we really cannot stand spending more than 30 minutes one way.

NicMM

[quote=flu][quote=NicMM]Flu,

My family relocated to Bay Area a couple of months ago. Jobs are at San Francisco. Now we are renting in Burlingame. Do you know the Peninsula area?

Is there a website like piggington that we can find real estate related information?

Thanks,
NicMM[/quote]

Not sure if there is a bay area website since I left in 2001. Are you looking for a good place to live? The place that I liked living (in the burbs) was Foster City. I had a rental right on the lagoon. And it’s close enough to redwood city where you can hope onto the train that takes you into 4th and King.

I’ll ask around up there.[/quote]

[NicMM]

Thanks, CA Renter. I just checked Patrick.net. It is not comparable to Piggington, especially there is no such a supportive community of Piggs as here.

NicMM

[quote=CA renter][quote=NicMM]Flu,

My family relocated to Bay Area a couple of months ago. Jobs are at San Francisco. Now we are renting in Burlingame. Do you know the Peninsula area?

Is there a website like piggington that we can find real estate related information?

Thanks,
NicMM[/quote]

Not quite like Piggington, but was also one of the early bubble blogs. Haven’t checked it out in awhile, and like most bubble blogs, it looks like they are busy talking about a variety of issues while waiting (or not waiting) to buy a house.

http://patrick.net/%5B/quote%5D

[Author]

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