5 ms·

The headline is misleading. In the article it says Google is rezoning $750 million worth of land (+ $250m in subsidies) from commercial to residential use, and

by nugget 7y ago

The headline is misleading. In the article it says Google is rezoning $750 million worth of land (+ $250m in subsidies) from commercial to residential use, and making it available for private development. It wouldn't surprise me if one of the biggest problems for Google was retention of young talent driven primarily by prohibitively high housing costs. In that way there is an incentive for them to bring down housing costs, although I'm not sure what impact 20k units will have unless they retained ownership and became a landlord to their own employees.

TotempaaltJ 7y ago
$750m worth of land, $250m investment fund for affordable housing.
chucksmash 7y ago
> It wouldn't surprise me if one of the biggest problems for Google was retention of young talent driven primarily by prohibitively high housing costs. Well, it would surprise me :-) According to levels.fyi, a new grad at Google is clearing $180k/year all-in. Next tier, still not senior, clears $250k/year. That's more than $20k/mo pre-tax. Even at an outrageous $5k rent on a single income and with no roommates, you're still talking about $6k or so >>monthly<< surplus for living your life and saving.
- maxsilver 7y ago
  > Well, it would surprise me :-) According to levels.fyi, a new grad at Google is clearing $180k/year all-in. Even at an outrageous $5k rent Is that really enough to afford to live? Is that housing cost accurate? A programmer at Google making $180k/yr salary brings in about $9,315.58 in after-tax income (according to PaycheckCalculator). The average house within 10 miles of Google's HQ currently costs about $1.5 million dollars according to Zillow's current month averages. (That's $9,745/month in after-tax costs per month, assuming 0% down on 30yr mortgage). Like, maybe if you are single and live off of ramen and you pick the shittiest housing you can find, those numbers can work. But I personally couldn't afford to live in California on that salary (despite it being, under normal circumstances, an amazingly high salary).
  - iandanforth 7y ago
    Is it common where you are for new grads to buy homes right out of school?
    - maxsilver 7y ago
      It is common where I am for people who make 200%+ median income to be able to own a place to live, yes. This is true regardless of their age or education level.
      - iandanforth 7y ago
        That's a useful perspective, thank you.
  - chucksmash 7y ago
    > Is that really enough to afford to live? Yes. I mean, of course it is. How is that in question even? I live in Manhattan, not the Bay Area, but the sum of my non-housing expenses are less than $4,315 (edit: your $9315 number minus my $5k lol rent) a month and I'm not exactly living that fresh-out-of-the-dorm lifestyle. Remember, this is the new grad number. > Is that housing cost accurate? Nope! It's high, obviously. I picked it out of thin air by picking a number we would be unwilling to pay as a two-earner household in NYC and then did a perfunctory check on Zillow to make sure there were Bay Area rentals at that price, which there are. Yes it's "unfair" in some sense that someone earning that much money can't afford to buy property, but you're moving the goalposts. My point was that a baby Googler could certainly prosper financially, not that Bay Area housing prices were fair.

by nugget 7y ago

TotempaaltJ 7y ago

$750m worth of land, $250m investment fund for affordable housing.

chucksmash 7y ago

> It wouldn't surprise me if one of the biggest problems for Google was retention of young talent driven primarily by prohibitively high housing costs. Well, it would surprise me :-) According to levels.fyi, a new grad at Google is clearing $180k/year all-in. Next tier, still not senior, clears $250k/year. That's more than $20k/mo pre-tax. Even at an outrageous $5k rent on a single income and with no roommates, you're still talking about $6k or so >>monthly<< surplus for living your life and saving.

maxsilver 7y ago
> Well, it would surprise me :-) According to levels.fyi, a new grad at Google is clearing $180k/year all-in. Even at an outrageous $5k rent Is that really enough to afford to live? Is that housing cost accurate? A programmer at Google making $180k/yr salary brings in about $9,315.58 in after-tax income (according to PaycheckCalculator). The average house within 10 miles of Google's HQ currently costs about $1.5 million dollars according to Zillow's current month averages. (That's $9,745/month in after-tax costs per month, assuming 0% down on 30yr mortgage). Like, maybe if you are single and live off of ramen and you pick the shittiest housing you can find, those numbers can work. But I personally couldn't afford to live in California on that salary (despite it being, under normal circumstances, an amazingly high salary).
- iandanforth 7y ago
  Is it common where you are for new grads to buy homes right out of school?
  - maxsilver 7y ago
    It is common where I am for people who make 200%+ median income to be able to own a place to live, yes. This is true regardless of their age or education level.
    - iandanforth 7y ago
      That's a useful perspective, thank you.
- chucksmash 7y ago
  > Is that really enough to afford to live? Yes. I mean, of course it is. How is that in question even? I live in Manhattan, not the Bay Area, but the sum of my non-housing expenses are less than $4,315 (edit: your $9315 number minus my $5k lol rent) a month and I'm not exactly living that fresh-out-of-the-dorm lifestyle. Remember, this is the new grad number. > Is that housing cost accurate? Nope! It's high, obviously. I picked it out of thin air by picking a number we would be unwilling to pay as a two-earner household in NYC and then did a perfunctory check on Zillow to make sure there were Bay Area rentals at that price, which there are. Yes it's "unfair" in some sense that someone earning that much money can't afford to buy property, but you're moving the goalposts. My point was that a baby Googler could certainly prosper financially, not that Bay Area housing prices were fair.