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I think a better comparison in situations like these is to look at the cost of buying a house. While renting may be the norm in places like SF and NYC, in the m

by steev 8y ago

I think a better comparison in situations like these is to look at the cost of buying a house. While renting may be the norm in places like SF and NYC, in the midwest the norm for people making a good living is buying a house. I imagine the math is more along the lines of "how much would it cost to buy a comparable house in SF?" In which case, you may be going from a $400k house in TX to a $2M+ house in SF. If all your money is going to a monthly mortgage, you don't have extra to spend on cars and vacations.

charmides 8y ago
It seems to me that by living as a frugal software engineer in SF, you will be much faster to save money for a $400k house in Texas than if you choose never to leave Houston. Buying a 2 million dollar house in SF makes little sense to me unless you're really wealthy, so I don't understand why this is a better comparison.
- sithadmin 8y ago
  Yeah, but some of us don't actually want to struggle through several years of frugality in SF for the sake of buying a $400k home in Texas in cash. Why not have a much better quality of life in Texas, take out a mortgage on the $400k home, and consider the relatively reasonable interest rate as a payment towards positive aspects of life such as "reasonable commute times" and "not worrying about the kids stepping on needles on the sidewalk".
  - charmides 8y ago
    I suppose that's an entirely valid way to think about it, especially if you have a family.
  - pm90 8y ago
    The frugality is usually when you're single with no family. Once you start a family, a lot of equations change. I made the calculation. I could get a nice mortgage for a 500k house in Austin, TX, or I could move to SF, save for 4 years and go back with enough cash in hand to buy the home outright. The decision wasn't hard to make.... It probably isn't polite to say this but if you're young and single, you can really leverage that. Most of my coworkers in TX were getting married, buying houses etc. In other words, they simply could not move to SF, since they are tied down by their situation. I could, and I did.

by steev 8y ago

charmides 8y ago

It seems to me that by living as a frugal software engineer in SF, you will be much faster to save money for a $400k house in Texas than if you choose never to leave Houston. Buying a 2 million dollar house in SF makes little sense to me unless you're really wealthy, so I don't understand why this is a better comparison.

sithadmin 8y ago
Yeah, but some of us don't actually want to struggle through several years of frugality in SF for the sake of buying a $400k home in Texas in cash. Why not have a much better quality of life in Texas, take out a mortgage on the $400k home, and consider the relatively reasonable interest rate as a payment towards positive aspects of life such as "reasonable commute times" and "not worrying about the kids stepping on needles on the sidewalk".
- charmides 8y ago
  I suppose that's an entirely valid way to think about it, especially if you have a family.
- pm90 8y ago
  The frugality is usually when you're single with no family. Once you start a family, a lot of equations change. I made the calculation. I could get a nice mortgage for a 500k house in Austin, TX, or I could move to SF, save for 4 years and go back with enough cash in hand to buy the home outright. The decision wasn't hard to make.... It probably isn't polite to say this but if you're young and single, you can really leverage that. Most of my coworkers in TX were getting married, buying houses etc. In other words, they simply could not move to SF, since they are tied down by their situation. I could, and I did.