Yep, I was going to mention how insignificant the commute is if you only do it once a week. I spent a number of years in the coastal communities around the are

Yep, I was going to mention how insignificant the commute is if you only do it once a week. I spent a number of years in the coastal communities around the area, mostly working from home or cafes for startups in either SF or SV/MTV. The massive influx of moneyed people from the tech industry has had a substantial impact over the last 10-15 years, for the entire region. Edit: I just remembered a relevant experience I had two years ago: While seeking a room to rent through the wet winter, I found a house in Felton (~10 miles into the woods, away from Santa Cruz and the coast) renting all the rooms for $800/mo each. The owner was living in a container in the yard, powered via extension cord! This was basically the cheapest option I could find, and it was a total shit show. One bathroom, 7 tenants, most college-aged, and the owner's 5 year old daughter was living in the living room while the owner was in the container. Even large closets were being rented as rooms. Obviously I passed on this option, but it was quite illuminating of how much opportunity there was to capitalize on; this guy was risking his daughter sharing a house full of strangers without him even inside. That same week I had a conversation with a young park ranger who had recently moved to Boulder Creek, which is even further into the woods like another 10-15 miles down a twisty road. She had just moved from the east coast and couldn't find anything affordable in Santa Cruz or Felton, and just barely affords a shared place in Boulder Creek.