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It's also true in Boston, which like SF has a housing stock constrained by geography. Doing a quick search on Craigslist the prices are also a good deal lower i
by throwawy32416 11y ago
It's also true in Boston, which like SF has a housing stock constrained by geography. Doing a quick search on Craigslist the prices are also a good deal lower in Vancouver than Boston. I'm looking at you, $3500/mo 1-br rental in Boston with peeling paint leaky windows, and $2500/mo basement studio in the 'burbs. It's not uncommon to see (grotesquely) wealthy foreign (and some old-money domestic) students buy property here, at whatever the cost, further driving up the unattainability for those who actually intend to stay and integrate with the local community.
I have a tech salary in the low six figures and I'm considering a commute from Providence because I'm priced out of Boston. I don't want roommates any more in my thirties, and I'd like to actually have a place for my car (long-distance work and personal trips). I'd love to buy in Boston (or Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, or other places served by mass transit), but I'm simply priced out of the market. In what world can anyone afford to buy the $1-2MM 1-br condos here and the $2-3MM houses? Local financiers, sure, working physicians, and some corporate execs, but they're a minority of the population.
Paying rent in Boston, you know you're being exploited, but you don't have a choice. My current place is owned by a Chinese "investor" who uses unlicensed contractors to do unpermitted construction on an illegal third-floor apartment above mine. The construction quality is abysmal (think toilets not attached to the floor and fluorescent lights half-hidden behind drywall), but unless I want to be homeless I have no recourse because all leases turn over on September 1st. My place just has peeling paint and cabinets that fall off the wall, and at least me and my roommates are only paying $5k/mo for it. shrugs
- matthewaveryusa 11y agoI moved from NYC to Cambridge thinking I could get a decent 1 bedroom for 500k. Boy was I wrong.
- throwawy32416 11y agoI'm curious: what did you end up doing? I know more and more people buying in Providence and Nashua and commuting to Boston. The thinking being that if you're going to commute, your money should at least buy a decent property (since the Boston suburbs are also very expensive).
- matthewaveryusa 11y agoI ended up renting for longer and saving more in the hope of real-estate having a lull in the next 5 years -- can be a horrible mistake but only time will tell :)
- tostitos1979 11y agoNewsflash: young medical professionals can't afford this crap either. Most of the people I know in that camp have monumental student loans. The climate of aggressively taxing high income means professionals will always be at a disadvantage since they pay half their income to taxes (in Canada at least). 350K student loan is equal to 700K in pretax earnings. Plus you gotta eat and stuff.
- throwawy32416 11y agoHere at least, there is a contingent of medical (and other) students with no debt. Boston-Cambridge is a gravity center for old money. It's astonishing how many >$100k cars you see. It's the PE folks making a killing here, not working stiffs like doctors, but at least career physicians can afford to live here (barely, but their pay must be high enough for them to be here, by necessity. When you need a doctor you need one nearby.) Resident salaries are, of course, terrible, and I have no idea how they live here without being independently wealthy. School housing?
- mahyarm 11y agoI think there is a tax deduction for paying off your student loans? Or is that just interest?
- jmschlmrs 11y agoVancouver rental prices are actually not that bad, as rent prices are usually more closely aligned with incomes (which are comparatively low in Vancouver). Prices to buy in Vancouver are completely insane and detached from local incomes.