5 ms·

And what percentage is it for a single google/apple/facebook employee? If they make 250k a year, and the mortgage is 10k a month, thats almost 50% of net. Sou

And what percentage is it for a single google/apple/facebook employee? If they make 250k a year, and the mortgage is 10k a month, thats almost 50% of net. Sounds like its extremely bad for everyone.

ericmcer 9y ago
It's pretty awesome for property owners.
- et-al 9y ago
  If their view their house as an investment. There's a good amount of people who are in the Bay Area simply because they like the weather, outdoors, and have family here. They didn't buy a house because they knew prices would go up. They bought because they wanted to settle down here.
  - tapatio 9y ago
    What? The weather in the bay area sucks.
- davidw 9y ago
  The statistic I saw today is that the average house in San Francisco is making $60 an hour in equity gains. That's 4 times the minimum wage.
- aetherson 9y ago
  It's super not. Look, if you got a starter house let's say 5 years ago for let's say $800k, and now that house is worth $1.1M, but what you want to do is move into a 3/2 or something that used to cost $1.1M, that same better house now costs $1.5. Instead of having to add $300k equity, you have to add $400k. But actually, what's happened is that houses in like the 6th to 8th decile have appreciated more than houses in the 1st to 4th decile, so you probably have to add $500k. The only people this is good for are people who own a separate property purely as an investment, and people who are moving out of the area or downsizing their houses.
  - Spooky23 9y ago
    Sure it is. You leave. A guy I grew up with did this in Queens. He bought a house in the old neighborhood for $200k in the 90s, sold it for nearly $2M, bought an estate upstate for around $500k. His drive to Manhattan is about the same as the shitty bus/subway odyessy without the bullshit. If the weather is awful, he gets a hotel in the city. HN is weird about this. If we had a king that ended zoning, everyone would be displaced anyway. When your block was ruined by apartment towers and street retail. That’s what happened to my friends former neighbors when his former 50x100 lot was turned into 18 condo units.
    - inteleng 9y ago
      >HN is weird about this. Can you show me people who don't think this way?
      - Spooky23 9y ago
        Anyone who owns a home where encroachment of commercial property is a risk.
thedirt0115 9y ago
How is that bad for the single Google et al. employee? That still leaves 10k+ a month for everything not housing-related, which is plenty. Outside of housing, SF isn't that expensive (groceries, for example, aren't ~7 times more expensive than the national median like houses are). I have a friend living in SF, making about that amount of money, with a stay-at-home wife and a kid, and they're quite comfortable despite a 7k+ monthly mortgage. This is bad for people who make <100k a year who may never be able to afford a home in San Francisco, especially as the prices keep rising.
- lorenzq 9y ago
  Because a house is a 15 or 30 year loan. Their job market or high pay may not extend that long
- wetpaws 9y ago
  In Bay Area 250K will get you around 155K post-tax. It means you would have about 2K/month after morgage which is insane.
  - pxeboot 9y ago
    Insane, yes, but 2k/month is still a lot more then most American families live on after paying their rent/mortgage.
    - lorenzq 9y ago
      Lets not forget property taxes, which would wipe out again half of that if not almost all of that.
  - frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
    I mean if we handwave away the mortgage. A 10k/month mortgage is a $1.4 million dollar house on only a 15 year mortgage. Push to the 30 year and you're at like $2.2 mil. Besides 2k/month after mortgage isn't so bad, I wish I knew what the median after taxes and rent/mortgage income is but I guarantee it's nowhere near that high and it comes with nowhere near as nice of a house.
Eugr 9y ago
That's almost 50% of gross. And depending on their tax situation it could be almost 100% of net...
aetherson 9y ago
If you have a 10k/month mortgage, it's because your mortgage is for $2M. Housing prices around here are high, but they aren't that high for perfectly reasonable houses. If you house costs $2.4M (ie, you paid 20% down and got a $2M mortgage), then you paid a lot more than you had to for a house.
axoltl 9y ago
The 10k a month figure is fairly unreasonable. For a two bedroom, that figure will be closer to 5k a month.

And what percentage is it for a single google/apple/facebook employee? If they make 250k a year, and the mortgage is 10k a month, thats almost 50% of net. Sounds like its extremely bad for everyone.

ericmcer 9y ago

It's pretty awesome for property owners.

et-al 9y ago
If their view their house as an investment. There's a good amount of people who are in the Bay Area simply because they like the weather, outdoors, and have family here. They didn't buy a house because they knew prices would go up. They bought because they wanted to settle down here.
- tapatio 9y ago
  What? The weather in the bay area sucks.
davidw 9y ago
The statistic I saw today is that the average house in San Francisco is making $60 an hour in equity gains. That's 4 times the minimum wage.
aetherson 9y ago
It's super not. Look, if you got a starter house let's say 5 years ago for let's say $800k, and now that house is worth $1.1M, but what you want to do is move into a 3/2 or something that used to cost $1.1M, that same better house now costs $1.5. Instead of having to add $300k equity, you have to add $400k. But actually, what's happened is that houses in like the 6th to 8th decile have appreciated more than houses in the 1st to 4th decile, so you probably have to add $500k. The only people this is good for are people who own a separate property purely as an investment, and people who are moving out of the area or downsizing their houses.
- Spooky23 9y ago
  Sure it is. You leave. A guy I grew up with did this in Queens. He bought a house in the old neighborhood for $200k in the 90s, sold it for nearly $2M, bought an estate upstate for around $500k. His drive to Manhattan is about the same as the shitty bus/subway odyessy without the bullshit. If the weather is awful, he gets a hotel in the city. HN is weird about this. If we had a king that ended zoning, everyone would be displaced anyway. When your block was ruined by apartment towers and street retail. That’s what happened to my friends former neighbors when his former 50x100 lot was turned into 18 condo units.
  - inteleng 9y ago
    >HN is weird about this. Can you show me people who don't think this way?
    - Spooky23 9y ago
      Anyone who owns a home where encroachment of commercial property is a risk.

thedirt0115 9y ago

How is that bad for the single Google et al. employee? That still leaves 10k+ a month for everything not housing-related, which is plenty. Outside of housing, SF isn't that expensive (groceries, for example, aren't ~7 times more expensive than the national median like houses are). I have a friend living in SF, making about that amount of money, with a stay-at-home wife and a kid, and they're quite comfortable despite a 7k+ monthly mortgage. This is bad for people who make <100k a year who may never be able to afford a home in San Francisco, especially as the prices keep rising.

lorenzq 9y ago
Because a house is a 15 or 30 year loan. Their job market or high pay may not extend that long
wetpaws 9y ago
In Bay Area 250K will get you around 155K post-tax. It means you would have about 2K/month after morgage which is insane.
- pxeboot 9y ago
  Insane, yes, but 2k/month is still a lot more then most American families live on after paying their rent/mortgage.
  - lorenzq 9y ago
    Lets not forget property taxes, which would wipe out again half of that if not almost all of that.
- frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
  I mean if we handwave away the mortgage. A 10k/month mortgage is a $1.4 million dollar house on only a 15 year mortgage. Push to the 30 year and you're at like $2.2 mil. Besides 2k/month after mortgage isn't so bad, I wish I knew what the median after taxes and rent/mortgage income is but I guarantee it's nowhere near that high and it comes with nowhere near as nice of a house.

Eugr 9y ago

That's almost 50% of gross. And depending on their tax situation it could be almost 100% of net...

aetherson 9y ago

If you have a 10k/month mortgage, it's because your mortgage is for $2M. Housing prices around here are high, but they aren't that high for perfectly reasonable houses. If you house costs $2.4M (ie, you paid 20% down and got a $2M mortgage), then you paid a lot more than you had to for a house.

axoltl 9y ago

The 10k a month figure is fairly unreasonable. For a two bedroom, that figure will be closer to 5k a month.