2 ms·

Is this a local or a national problem? Homes are a lot more affordable outside of the inflated West Coast metros.

notaustinpowers 3y ago
That's true, but jobs outside of metro areas are nearly non-existent, or pay peanuts. Moving out of a metro area typically puts you in, maybe, a bigger home, but the pay is drastically lower. Food costs, internet, phone, vehicle, etc all cost nearly the same (if not more expensive), so you're probably doing even worse moving out of a metro area.
- philwelch 3y ago
  I didn’t say outside of a metro area, I said outside of the West Coast metros. The rest of the country does exist and many of us own homes and have jobs. If you live in San Francisco it’s probably easy to get the impression that everyone who isn’t a multimillionaire either pays $6000 a month to rent a studio apartment or lives in a tent and poops on the sidewalk, but that’s not what the rest of the country is like.
  - notaustinpowers 3y ago
    It's a situation that is affecting all metro areas, both West and East Coast. For sure, the West Coast is on a whole other level. But I live an hour and a half outside of a southeastern metro area where the average salary is $17/hr with 1-bedroom apartments going for $1,400/month and minimum wage is still $7.25/hr. Which $17/hr doesn't even qualify for. Just stating that this is heavily affecting East Coast non-metro areas, largely due to a fear of change in these communities and a refusal for any local or state governments to take any actions.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- nradov 3y ago
  Home ownership rates and price to income ratios are doing well in many states. https://www.fatherly.com/news/map-cheapest-state-buy-house https://www.fatherly.com/news/map-cheapest-state-buy-house https://ipropertymanagement.com/research/homeownership-rate-by-state https://ipropertymanagement.com/research/homeownership-rate-...
  - wenebego 3y ago
    Beginning with the first setence on your first link: "Over the past several years, the housing market has become increasingly unaffordable to families. Mortgage rates have skyrocketed while wages have remained flat, and then sprinkle in supply shortages, the pandemic, and inflation."
diogenescynic 3y ago
I was in SF until the pandemic and now live in another area of Northern California, but it's now just as expensive as SF was when I left in 2020. The catch 22 is that remote jobs may not last forever and the trade off is the cities near jobs have high cost of living and the cities with low cost of living have no/low paying jobs. Hard to know what the right thing to do is. Do my wife and I buy a house in a lower cost of living area and hope our jobs stays remote permanently? It's really just hard to know since there's no precedent for this. And if in 5 years everyone is now back in the office either full-time or part time, doesn't that mean prices will crash in those towns that went up in the pandemic?

That's true, but jobs outside of metro areas are nearly non-existent, or pay peanuts. Moving out of a metro area typically puts you in, maybe, a bigger home, but the pay is drastically lower. Food costs, internet, phone, vehicle, etc all cost nearly the same (if not more expensive), so you're probably doing even worse moving out of a metro area.

philwelch 3y ago
I didn’t say outside of a metro area, I said outside of the West Coast metros. The rest of the country does exist and many of us own homes and have jobs. If you live in San Francisco it’s probably easy to get the impression that everyone who isn’t a multimillionaire either pays $6000 a month to rent a studio apartment or lives in a tent and poops on the sidewalk, but that’s not what the rest of the country is like.
- notaustinpowers 3y ago
  It's a situation that is affecting all metro areas, both West and East Coast. For sure, the West Coast is on a whole other level. But I live an hour and a half outside of a southeastern metro area where the average salary is $17/hr with 1-bedroom apartments going for $1,400/month and minimum wage is still $7.25/hr. Which $17/hr doesn't even qualify for. Just stating that this is heavily affecting East Coast non-metro areas, largely due to a fear of change in these communities and a refusal for any local or state governments to take any actions.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
nradov 3y ago
Home ownership rates and price to income ratios are doing well in many states. https://www.fatherly.com/news/map-cheapest-state-buy-house https://www.fatherly.com/news/map-cheapest-state-buy-house https://ipropertymanagement.com/research/homeownership-rate-by-state https://ipropertymanagement.com/research/homeownership-rate-...
- wenebego 3y ago
  Beginning with the first setence on your first link: "Over the past several years, the housing market has become increasingly unaffordable to families. Mortgage rates have skyrocketed while wages have remained flat, and then sprinkle in supply shortages, the pandemic, and inflation."

diogenescynic 3y ago

I was in SF until the pandemic and now live in another area of Northern California, but it's now just as expensive as SF was when I left in 2020. The catch 22 is that remote jobs may not last forever and the trade off is the cities near jobs have high cost of living and the cities with low cost of living have no/low paying jobs. Hard to know what the right thing to do is. Do my wife and I buy a house in a lower cost of living area and hope our jobs stays remote permanently? It's really just hard to know since there's no precedent for this. And if in 5 years everyone is now back in the office either full-time or part time, doesn't that mean prices will crash in those towns that went up in the pandemic?