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You did say "do not appear to be poor". Is there a chance you're noticing wealthy people, because they tend to be more noticeable? Yes, people who bought a hou

by geebee 8y ago

You did say "do not appear to be poor". Is there a chance you're noticing wealthy people, because they tend to be more noticeable? Yes, people who bought a house while ago in California, sell, and move to Texas would have a lot of money. But again, is this typical? I'm not saying it necessarily isn't typical, just that "it seems like", or "appears to be" isn't data. A lot of people leave California because they can cash in on their house, but a lot of people also leave because they'll never be able to get a foothold in the housing market. We really do need some data on this to have a meaningful conversation about it.

deleted 8y ago
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austincheney 8y ago
> Yes, people who bought a house while ago in California, sell, and move to Texas would have a lot of money. But again, is this typical? This was the business owner at my first job out of college. He sold his California home and used that money to bootstrap his business for two years and hire employees while also supporting himself and his family. The answer though is middle class people according to IRS data - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/19/californians-fed-up-with-housing-costs-and-taxes-are-fleeing-state.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/19/californians-fed-up-with-hou...
burlesona 8y ago
I would love to see the data on this as well. But at least anecdotally around me (an immigrant working in tech in SF), the overwhelming number of people who moved here are following a plan that looks like this: 1. Get a big tech job in SF and earn > $200k per year (in some cases 2-3x that). 2. Deal with living in a run down apartment yet still paying $2200-3500/mo. 3. Shovel a large percentage of your income into savings for 5-10 years. 4. Move back to <anywhere else> with $300k in cash. At which point you can pay either pay straight cash, or make a huge downpayment, for a nice house and live pretty comfortable in the upper middle class for the rest of your life. Again I would love to see scientific data on this, but in my immediate work setting, I've heard 12 of the 15 engineers I work with state this as their "life plan." Of the three who that isn't their plan, two are Bay Area natives, and one (I think) has decided he'd like to stay. So, circling up to the parent comments, there are certainly large numbers of these people leaving every year, taking their <geographically relative> big bags of cash back to the corners of the world.

by geebee 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

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austincheney 8y ago

> Yes, people who bought a house while ago in California, sell, and move to Texas would have a lot of money. But again, is this typical? This was the business owner at my first job out of college. He sold his California home and used that money to bootstrap his business for two years and hire employees while also supporting himself and his family. The answer though is middle class people according to IRS data - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/19/californians-fed-up-with-housing-costs-and-taxes-are-fleeing-state.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/19/californians-fed-up-with-hou...

burlesona 8y ago

I would love to see the data on this as well. But at least anecdotally around me (an immigrant working in tech in SF), the overwhelming number of people who moved here are following a plan that looks like this: 1. Get a big tech job in SF and earn > $200k per year (in some cases 2-3x that). 2. Deal with living in a run down apartment yet still paying $2200-3500/mo. 3. Shovel a large percentage of your income into savings for 5-10 years. 4. Move back to <anywhere else> with $300k in cash. At which point you can pay either pay straight cash, or make a huge downpayment, for a nice house and live pretty comfortable in the upper middle class for the rest of your life. Again I would love to see scientific data on this, but in my immediate work setting, I've heard 12 of the 15 engineers I work with state this as their "life plan." Of the three who that isn't their plan, two are Bay Area natives, and one (I think) has decided he'd like to stay. So, circling up to the parent comments, there are certainly large numbers of these people leaving every year, taking their <geographically relative> big bags of cash back to the corners of the world.