6 ms·
And so begins the bay area salary bubble pop
by bfrog 6y ago
And so begins the bay area salary bubble pop
- blhack 6y agoDon't forget about the commercial real estate bubble pop, and potentially a massive pump in prices of family homes as a result. I think that investors are going to be moving their money out of commercial real estate, and into residential. Edit: to be clear: I don't live in the Bay Area, and I think the housing prices there could go either way: 1) People spend more time in their homes and spend an even larger portion of their income on their home. Having a "good" home becomes even more important since you spend even more time there, and prices go up even more. 2) People just leave the bay area. Residential prices go down in the bay area. But there is a whole world out there that doesn't include SF, and I think that just generally speaking you're going to see an increase in residential home values as investors look for safe places to place their money outside of commercial real estate.
- mc32 6y agoYeah I wonder if this will affect midMarket street development. To the chagrin of pols they might have promise further breaks to attract marquee tenants/HQs to these sorts of areas.
- rattray 6y agoInteresting - do you predict that bay area residential housing prices will go up? I would have guessed folks would just start leaving...
- gfodor 6y agoDownward pressure on bay area burbs because of people leaving, but upwards pressure potentially due to the exodus of SF as people start to want more separation from people. Time will tell.
- ar_lan 6y agoI would guess the opposite. If more Bay Area companies allow WFH, there's less demand here.
- cmrdporcupine 6y agoThat only works if companies allow for 100% WFH.
- bhhaskin 6y agoWFH doesn't necessarily mean remote.
- subsubzero 6y agoI think a bit of both #1 and #2, I think you will see a large exodus of people from SF as it is very densely populated and you have people with many roommates who make very good money compared to the rest of the US. I see that crowd leaving for cheaper pastures in droves(#2). There are alot of companies that have positions that are tied to location, hardware engineers, execs, etc, these people will stay and that will point to #1. So I think the prices in SF will drop, and prices in the south bay will at worst stay flat and possibly go up as it is mostly single family homes and the companies in the area are doing very well, (google, apple, netflix, zoom)
- 01100011 6y agoThere are a whole lot of folks who would love to get away from the Bay Area if possible. The infrastructure is crap, the geography impedes growth and transit, the natives don't seem to like us, tax burden is high, real estate is expensive, and it's a major fault zone. I don't see how paying $1M+ for a 60 year old house makes sense, especially when there are still gang shootouts and high property crime. If investors want to move into that market, they are nuts. I don't think you can extract any more money from residents than the current market is already doing. It's one more reason not to buy a house here - how much more do you think prices will rise? Will that $1.5M, 1400 sq ft house full of lead paint, asbestos and aluminum wiring go for $2M next year? Probably not.
- qppo 6y agoI'd gladly take a 15-20% paycut to leave the area but keep my job. Love the company, love the people I work with, hate this place.
- PopeDotNinja 6y agoI did that. I dumped my SF job and started traveling the world last November. I just picked a helluva year to start :)
- pmohun 6y agoWould love to hear more about this. Documenting the experience anywhere?
- PopeDotNinja 6y agoOnly through pictures of castles and memes on Facebook.
- neuland 6y agoI did this and after taxes and cost of living, I'm actually making slightly more on net.
- GaryNumanVevo 6y agoIf I could work remotely, I would gladly take a 30% cut to go live somewhere like the Netherlands. 50% cost of living cut from SF. I could actually have a woodworking shop too!
- beefalo 6y agoIf I was asked to work remotely I would ask for a 15% salary increase
- chrisseaton 6y agoI don't understand why? Salaries are high because you're competing for the same small group of talented people. They aren't high due to the location.
- jcdavis 6y agoAs more companies are WFH friendly, the potential employee pool expands massively
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Tiktaalik 6y agoI'm pretty sure the salaries are heavily dependent on location related cost of living requirements. Aren't salaries different in different locations? (ie. same company with offices in Vancouver Canada vs Seattle vs SF?) I've heard they are... If pay was purely about talent, everyone would be paid the same.
- Apocryphon 6y agoA friend at Google says Bay Area and NYC salaries are higher than at other offices.
- bcrosby95 6y agoAt least some of the Bay Area stuff is probably due to proximity of the main office. At least, that is what was explained by a friend of mine that decided to stay at the Venice office - that it's easier to advance in all ways if you work in the Bay Area.
- 908B64B197 6y agoThere's also a talent gap. From my experience, a lot of tech workers in Vancouver simply couldn't meet the bar for the stricter US immigration. With the current stricter enforcement on H1-B and the lax Canadian immigration system I expect to see a downward pressure for wages in Vancouver as more of the B players are relocated there.
- AgileEconomics 6y agoPlease no, I've worked for a long time to finally put myself in a marketable position for FAANG and other west coast companies. It'd be hella disappointing to miss out now.
- vmception 6y agowell you are going to miss out on the gargantuan salaries, which will likely still have a premium but maybe closer to 10% premium instead of 250% premium, but if you like networking with people working on cutting edge protocols you still can the cities and towns themselves aren't spectacular though. I mean there are more spectacular ones to immerse yourself into if you are really just trying to relocate somewhere intersting
- sequoia 6y agoDon't worry, the salaries will still be platinum plated, they just might not be diamond encrusted.