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I mean, what are you supposed to do when you work in Irvine and are starting a family? The rent starts at 3500 dollars, so you'd need a family income of at leas

I mean, what are you supposed to do when you work in Irvine and are starting a family? The rent starts at 3500 dollars, so you'd need a family income of at least 100 kUSD. This is madness.

tluyben2 5y ago
Sure, if that is the case and you cannot work anywhere else where the ratio is somewhat different then yes, you have an issue. But it feels like, and I see this a lot more on HN than elsewhere, that people want to hold on to the location and lifestyle they dreamt of (for some reason) while they could have a far less stressed out and comfortable life somewhere else. Things in life are not always perfect and if you can make 100k in Irvine or 80k somewhere where this housing problem is not a thing, why not move? Somewhere there is a misplaced entitlement is there not? Why should you be able to live there if the situation at hand tells you you cannot afford it? The housing issue needs to be fixed, but until it is, maybe you cannot live there. That is not the end of the world. And the article (and reality around me) does give me the impression that not only live people in houses they cannot afford but also have a life style to match. We are in sort of a bubble for a long time now already, but what do you reckon happens when the next crisis hits and all these people lose their jobs basically over night?
- sparker72678 5y ago
  > why not move? Maybe you have kids, and don't want to take them away from their school. Maybe you have kids with an ex, and you're legally not allowed to move more than N miles from your ex without their agreement. Maybe you're heavily invested in your community with friends, family, church, sports, etc. Maybe you can move, and get a job somewhere else, but for some reason your partner is much less likely to be able to. It's not that moving is always impossible. Heck moving might truly be the better idea. But it can be extremely costly socially to move, and even then it isn't necessarily going to actually solve your problem.
dangus 5y ago
It’s only madness if local wages don’t pay well enough to compensate. In reality, the sixth digit of a six figure salary is less meaningful than it used to be. That’s the reality of normal and expected currency inflation. I’d like to see less hysteria over home prices and “a bar of soap used to be five cents, everything is so expensive now!!” The average home is larger with more amenities than it was during the mid-century. You can get roommates, your kids can share bedrooms. You don’t need two bathrooms: my parents grew up with four kids sharing one bathroom. And, yes, parents always had to make lifestyle sacrifices to raise kids. My parents weren’t going out to eat and traveling to exotic locations when they were raising me. By the way, people don’t shop on home prices, they shop on monthly payment. That’s a large reason why home values increased during Covid: interest rates plummeted, so everyone can afford a higher priced home.
- wan23 5y ago
  Not everyone can afford a higher priced home, even with low interest rates, because funding a down payment can be a significant hurdle in places where modest homes are over a million dollars.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

I mean, what are you supposed to do when you work in Irvine and are starting a family? The rent starts at 3500 dollars, so you'd need a family income of at least 100 kUSD. This is madness.

tluyben2 5y ago

Sure, if that is the case and you cannot work anywhere else where the ratio is somewhat different then yes, you have an issue. But it feels like, and I see this a lot more on HN than elsewhere, that people want to hold on to the location and lifestyle they dreamt of (for some reason) while they could have a far less stressed out and comfortable life somewhere else. Things in life are not always perfect and if you can make 100k in Irvine or 80k somewhere where this housing problem is not a thing, why not move? Somewhere there is a misplaced entitlement is there not? Why should you be able to live there if the situation at hand tells you you cannot afford it? The housing issue needs to be fixed, but until it is, maybe you cannot live there. That is not the end of the world. And the article (and reality around me) does give me the impression that not only live people in houses they cannot afford but also have a life style to match. We are in sort of a bubble for a long time now already, but what do you reckon happens when the next crisis hits and all these people lose their jobs basically over night?

sparker72678 5y ago
> why not move? Maybe you have kids, and don't want to take them away from their school. Maybe you have kids with an ex, and you're legally not allowed to move more than N miles from your ex without their agreement. Maybe you're heavily invested in your community with friends, family, church, sports, etc. Maybe you can move, and get a job somewhere else, but for some reason your partner is much less likely to be able to. It's not that moving is always impossible. Heck moving might truly be the better idea. But it can be extremely costly socially to move, and even then it isn't necessarily going to actually solve your problem.

dangus 5y ago

It’s only madness if local wages don’t pay well enough to compensate. In reality, the sixth digit of a six figure salary is less meaningful than it used to be. That’s the reality of normal and expected currency inflation. I’d like to see less hysteria over home prices and “a bar of soap used to be five cents, everything is so expensive now!!” The average home is larger with more amenities than it was during the mid-century. You can get roommates, your kids can share bedrooms. You don’t need two bathrooms: my parents grew up with four kids sharing one bathroom. And, yes, parents always had to make lifestyle sacrifices to raise kids. My parents weren’t going out to eat and traveling to exotic locations when they were raising me. By the way, people don’t shop on home prices, they shop on monthly payment. That’s a large reason why home values increased during Covid: interest rates plummeted, so everyone can afford a higher priced home.

wan23 5y ago
Not everyone can afford a higher priced home, even with low interest rates, because funding a down payment can be a significant hurdle in places where modest homes are over a million dollars.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]