4 ms·

It's pretty damn nice run on open space trails before biking to work, have your kids walk themselves to school, have time to coach a soccer practice on a natura

It's pretty damn nice run on open space trails before biking to work, have your kids walk themselves to school, have time to coach a soccer practice on a natural lawn pitch, BBQ dinner in the back yard where you grow many of the ingredients, and then go to bed with the windows open. All of this is possible if you work at the Apple, Google, FB, Intuit, Microsoft, LinkedIn, etc. campuses.

astrange 10y ago
I can't see how you can do this in the South Bay unless you already had $2 million to buy the house with the yard. If you do, why did you move here instead of early retiring?
- paulsutter 10y ago
  It would be hard to retire anywhere with the 20% down needed to buy the house, and it will be easier to retire ten years later if you do buy the house.
  - pmorici 10y ago
    You realize that in most areas of the US you can buy a perfectly nice house for $200k right? Assuming you had $2 Million in assets to start that would still leave you with $1.8 Million which assuming modest returns of 2.5-5% would still leave you with a yearly income of $45k-$90k which is an obscene amount of money if you mortgage is paid off.
    - nostrademons 10y ago
      I think his point is that if you happen to have $400K in the bank, you can buy a $2M house in Silicon Valley with 20% down, make $400-500K/year combined, and in 10 years retire with $2M in the bank and the house paid off. While if you live elsewhere in the country, you could buy the $200K house free-and-clear, make maybe $150K/year combined, and...well, in 10 years you'd also retire with about $1.5M in the bank and the house paid off.
      - stevewilhelm 10y ago
        You forgot that the $2 million dollar Silicon Valley house would be worth three to four million in ten years time.
        nostrademons 10y ago
        ...hopefully.
        VLM 10y ago
        Not really, because an industry that relies on ageism and where the kids can't afford it today would be destroyed by higher prices in the future. And once SV employers are destroyed, one guess what happens to the property prices...
        refurb 10y ago
        A 50% increase in 10 years is about inflation.
- eitally 10y ago
  You can have all this for <$1m house if you don't care much about the condition of the house. $1.25m will get you something you're happy to call home. Not many parts of the country let you go to bed with the windows open pretty much year 'round.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
    Of course, the flip side of that argument is that in many nice parts of the country, $200k will get you something you're very happy to call home and you can spend a lot less than the leftover $1M blowing heated or cooled air into your open windows for the parts of the year it's not nice out!
- stevewilhelm 10y ago
  It is possible for two income families where both partners have technical jobs at one of the six companies I mentioned. They would have to live modestly for the first couple of years while their stock options vested and savings grew.
ryandrake 10y ago
This is only true if you're rich enough to afford to live near any of these campuses. For most of us mere mortals, South Bay "campuses" mean taking your pick between crippling commutes and tiny apartments.

astrange 10y ago

I can't see how you can do this in the South Bay unless you already had $2 million to buy the house with the yard. If you do, why did you move here instead of early retiring?

paulsutter 10y ago
It would be hard to retire anywhere with the 20% down needed to buy the house, and it will be easier to retire ten years later if you do buy the house.
- pmorici 10y ago
  You realize that in most areas of the US you can buy a perfectly nice house for $200k right? Assuming you had $2 Million in assets to start that would still leave you with $1.8 Million which assuming modest returns of 2.5-5% would still leave you with a yearly income of $45k-$90k which is an obscene amount of money if you mortgage is paid off.
  - nostrademons 10y ago
    I think his point is that if you happen to have $400K in the bank, you can buy a $2M house in Silicon Valley with 20% down, make $400-500K/year combined, and in 10 years retire with $2M in the bank and the house paid off. While if you live elsewhere in the country, you could buy the $200K house free-and-clear, make maybe $150K/year combined, and...well, in 10 years you'd also retire with about $1.5M in the bank and the house paid off.
    - stevewilhelm 10y ago
      You forgot that the $2 million dollar Silicon Valley house would be worth three to four million in ten years time.
      - nostrademons 10y ago
        ...hopefully.
        VLM 10y ago
        Not really, because an industry that relies on ageism and where the kids can't afford it today would be destroyed by higher prices in the future. And once SV employers are destroyed, one guess what happens to the property prices...
      - refurb 10y ago
        A 50% increase in 10 years is about inflation.
eitally 10y ago
You can have all this for <$1m house if you don't care much about the condition of the house. $1.25m will get you something you're happy to call home. Not many parts of the country let you go to bed with the windows open pretty much year 'round.
- HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
  Of course, the flip side of that argument is that in many nice parts of the country, $200k will get you something you're very happy to call home and you can spend a lot less than the leftover $1M blowing heated or cooled air into your open windows for the parts of the year it's not nice out!
stevewilhelm 10y ago
It is possible for two income families where both partners have technical jobs at one of the six companies I mentioned. They would have to live modestly for the first couple of years while their stock options vested and savings grew.

ryandrake 10y ago

This is only true if you're rich enough to afford to live near any of these campuses. For most of us mere mortals, South Bay "campuses" mean taking your pick between crippling commutes and tiny apartments.