I interpreted the $40-$70k/yr ($3.3-$5.8/mo) figure as the cost of the mortgage, not the home. This should correspond to a roughly $1M loan, which, with a downp

I interpreted the $40-$70k/yr ($3.3-$5.8/mo) figure as the cost of the mortgage, not the home. This should correspond to a roughly $1M loan, which, with a downpayment of around $200-$300k (the cost of a house elsewhere…) gets close to $1.3M, which pretty nearly the median list for much of the Bay Area (corresponding to ~1200 sqft in SF). On the lower end ($40k/yr or $3.3k/mo), you should be able to find a studio in SF for that or for a bit more, a 1 bedroom (median 1 bed is ~$3.6k/mo in SF). (I'm not saying that's good, just that it shouldn't be as bad as you think.)