2 ms·

Maybe I can save someone a lot of time. There is no middle class in NYC. If you’re not making 300-400k and you have kids you’re gonna have a bad time. You’ll p

Maybe I can save someone a lot of time. There is no middle class in NYC. If you’re not making 300-400k and you have kids you’re gonna have a bad time. You’ll pay insane rents and you’ll still live somewhere where it’s not safe to walk around at night. The people who have always lived this way are like victims in an abusive relationship and think it’s normal. Even the most expensive neighborhoods are infested with rats, mice, and cockroaches. There are regularly mountains of stinking garbage along sidewalks. The roads are falling apart. Restaurants are extremely expensive, a small horrible quality chicken pot pie at a _diner_ in my old neighborhood was $25. A small cup of horrible coffee was $4.50. If you want a place to live you better make 45x the rent, and have been making it for 2 years+, with perfect credit. Oh no? That’s fine, you just need someone with 100x rent income to put their social on your rent bill. The subways are an inferno in the summer and freezing in the winter. Even the major ones like 34th street smell like you’re descending into a moldy dungeon. You can see the mold slime (and rats) all over the rail channel. Psychotic mentally ill people that, for example, have full conversations with people that aren’t there, are not uncommon. Expensive neighborhoods have people living in pup tents on the sidewalk. If you’re single and young and daddy is paying for everything it might be fine. If you’re very wealthy it’s fine. Anyone else do yourself a favor and stay away.

dinobones 4y ago
The exact same thing goes for the SFBA. When I was a new grad on a FAANG salary, and I had to move out there, I couldn't believe the low quality of the places that I could afford to rent, and the way other people working in tech lived. The QOL of a $200k/year tech worker, and the nasty little apartment they were able to afford (or share with another tech worker), was about the same QOL as that of someone making $50k/year back home. I still can't believe that "highly paid" tech workers are okay with living in those conditions. As someone from a middle class family who lived in a very big and comfy McMansion with air conditioning and a washer and dryer, it felt like a massive downgrade in my lifestyle.
- jmathai 4y ago
  The cycle I've seen for people 30yo+ in the SFBA is this... 1. Take a job and move, start by renting 2. At 5-10 years, start thinking about buying 3. By year 10, either determine you can purchase a home or not If you can or cannot buy a home will determine your general quality of life. Partly due to owning a home but also because it signals how much wiggle room you have financially. 4. If you can't afford to buy a house then you end up frustrated because there's a life you see others living it and you can't. You end up moving back bitter. 5. If you can afford to buy a house then it's a sign that you could likely have a good life. I warn folks coming to SFBA that if they don't see a path to a $400k yearly household income that they should plan to stay for <5 years before deciding to move.

dinobones 4y ago

The exact same thing goes for the SFBA. When I was a new grad on a FAANG salary, and I had to move out there, I couldn't believe the low quality of the places that I could afford to rent, and the way other people working in tech lived. The QOL of a $200k/year tech worker, and the nasty little apartment they were able to afford (or share with another tech worker), was about the same QOL as that of someone making $50k/year back home. I still can't believe that "highly paid" tech workers are okay with living in those conditions. As someone from a middle class family who lived in a very big and comfy McMansion with air conditioning and a washer and dryer, it felt like a massive downgrade in my lifestyle.

jmathai 4y ago
The cycle I've seen for people 30yo+ in the SFBA is this... 1. Take a job and move, start by renting 2. At 5-10 years, start thinking about buying 3. By year 10, either determine you can purchase a home or not If you can or cannot buy a home will determine your general quality of life. Partly due to owning a home but also because it signals how much wiggle room you have financially. 4. If you can't afford to buy a house then you end up frustrated because there's a life you see others living it and you can't. You end up moving back bitter. 5. If you can afford to buy a house then it's a sign that you could likely have a good life. I warn folks coming to SFBA that if they don't see a path to a $400k yearly household income that they should plan to stay for <5 years before deciding to move.