3 ms·

Can people who live/work in San Francisco chime in on how you deal with these prices? Do you live farther away and commute, if so where do you live? Given the h

by elteto 10y ago

Can people who live/work in San Francisco chime in on how you deal with these prices? Do you live farther away and commute, if so where do you live? Given the high concentration of tech companies in SF (and California in general) I feel sometimes the itch to move over there but with a baby on the way these prices give me a serious pause every time I consider it. I'd be interested in hearing about developers and people in general that have families who live and work in the area.

mrpoptart 10y ago
Spending 50% of your income on rent is only a big deal if the other 50% isn't significant. Someone who makes 20k a month but spends 10k on rent still has 10k a month for other expenses. That said, I am a developer and live with my family about 45min public transit-only commute away. I've done the driving thing, I love reading too much to give that time away. My kids and my wife much prefer not living in the city and I get a 3+br for less than the 1br listed here.
arebop 10y ago
I have rent control, so no worries except these golden handcuffs. People I know who have young families bought their houses a long time ago or have so much money from when their startups IPOd or got acquired that the high housing cost is still small compared to their investment returns.
Veratyr 10y ago
I work in south bay but my wife studies in SF. We live in an east bay city roughly half way between SF and San Jose. Quiet neighbourhood, close to BART, pretty quiet and the rent, while horrible still, is much more reasonable (we pay $1600/month for a ~650sqft 1br). The downside is that you'll deal with a ~1hr commute to SF depending on how far you are from BART and if you're a young single engineer who loves to party, there's not much to do.
xenadu02 10y ago
I'm paying about the same as the prices in the article but I rent an entire house in outer sunset. 3br/2ba with garage and backyard. I'm ~35 minutes from downtown SF on the N Judah line. It takes me 2 minutes to walk to the train stop.
ModernMech 10y ago
It depends on what you value. For instance, I used to have a 1200 sq. ft. 2 bed, 2 bath apartment for $1200 in Pennsylvania. I moved to SF and I have less than 1000 sq. ft. and I pay twice as much in rent. But, my wife and I enjoy going to concerts. In PA, this meant we had to drive an 1.5 hours to Philly, pay gas, tolls, deal with Philly traffic, pay for parking, then drive 1.5 hours back, and try to stay awake for the ride home. Also meant I couldn't really drink at concerts. By contrast, I went to a concert at the Fillmore yesterday. 5 minute Uber to get there, dropped off and picked up in front of the venue. Home by 11. Yeah, we're paying $2500 in rent, but we are paying for intangibles like not having to drive home through sketchy areas of Philly in the middle of the night. At the end of the day we just ask ourselves "are we happier here?". If the answer is "yes" then the rent is what it is, and we just live with it.

by elteto 10y ago

mrpoptart 10y ago

Spending 50% of your income on rent is only a big deal if the other 50% isn't significant. Someone who makes 20k a month but spends 10k on rent still has 10k a month for other expenses. That said, I am a developer and live with my family about 45min public transit-only commute away. I've done the driving thing, I love reading too much to give that time away. My kids and my wife much prefer not living in the city and I get a 3+br for less than the 1br listed here.

arebop 10y ago

I have rent control, so no worries except these golden handcuffs. People I know who have young families bought their houses a long time ago or have so much money from when their startups IPOd or got acquired that the high housing cost is still small compared to their investment returns.

Veratyr 10y ago

I work in south bay but my wife studies in SF. We live in an east bay city roughly half way between SF and San Jose. Quiet neighbourhood, close to BART, pretty quiet and the rent, while horrible still, is much more reasonable (we pay $1600/month for a ~650sqft 1br). The downside is that you'll deal with a ~1hr commute to SF depending on how far you are from BART and if you're a young single engineer who loves to party, there's not much to do.

xenadu02 10y ago

I'm paying about the same as the prices in the article but I rent an entire house in outer sunset. 3br/2ba with garage and backyard. I'm ~35 minutes from downtown SF on the N Judah line. It takes me 2 minutes to walk to the train stop.

ModernMech 10y ago

It depends on what you value. For instance, I used to have a 1200 sq. ft. 2 bed, 2 bath apartment for $1200 in Pennsylvania. I moved to SF and I have less than 1000 sq. ft. and I pay twice as much in rent. But, my wife and I enjoy going to concerts. In PA, this meant we had to drive an 1.5 hours to Philly, pay gas, tolls, deal with Philly traffic, pay for parking, then drive 1.5 hours back, and try to stay awake for the ride home. Also meant I couldn't really drink at concerts. By contrast, I went to a concert at the Fillmore yesterday. 5 minute Uber to get there, dropped off and picked up in front of the venue. Home by 11. Yeah, we're paying $2500 in rent, but we are paying for intangibles like not having to drive home through sketchy areas of Philly in the middle of the night. At the end of the day we just ask ourselves "are we happier here?". If the answer is "yes" then the rent is what it is, and we just live with it.