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I don't know. It's not hard to buy a home if you're an American software engineer though, and aren't tied to the bay area or NYC. There are even places commutin
by galdosdi 2y ago
I don't know. It's not hard to buy a home if you're an American software engineer though, and aren't tied to the bay area or NYC. There are even places commuting distance from NYC where you can get a $250k single family freestanding home.
A few years ago I lived for a while in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was pretty easy to find a $110k software job that was pretty chill and well, not so exciting or conducive for the ambitious. Numerically pay isn't what faang might pay in SF. But faang workers in SF claim they can't buy a house, yet this lower salary easily could have bought a mansion in Tulsa. They could have even cut my salary in half and it still would afford a nice average house.
Probably not a coincidence I saw a lot more families with children across all social classes there than in my prior NYC life. Hm.
So I don't think America has a cost of living problem, I think the bay area, core NYC and a few other major metros have a cost of living problem. That's bad, but those are two different things.
- Aeolun 2y agoI mean, if I’m going to buy a house, I’d want to buy it in my hometown, but that’s very nearly impossible even at software developer salaries. I’m now living overseas, where housing is also expensive, but at least within reach due to low interest rates and just plain building more smaller houses.
- robertlagrant 2y agoLow interest rates increase house prices.
- Aeolun 2y agoTo some extend, but not as much as much as high interest rates increase the amount I actually pay. I guess high interest rates are cool if you have the money lying around to buy a house outright?
- doublepg23 2y agoI'm in Pittsburgh right now and struggling to buy a house. Everything on the market are estates and get bought within a week of listing. This past one I put an offer on was sold in less than 24hrs of posting...
- galdosdi 2y agoI'm surprised to hear this, I would never think to lump Pittsburgh in with big metros. Are you being picky or something? Do you have kids and thus school district is a major consideration? Do you have a specific neighborhood you want? Really, Pittsburgh of all places? I know a quick search from someone from out of town is kind of shaky and there's a lot of local knowledge you have, but are houses like https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4411-Gladstone-St-Pittsburgh-PA-15207/11545015_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4411-Gladstone-St-Pittsbu... at $170k or https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1404-Marlboro-Ave-Pittsburgh-PA-15221/11381136_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1404-Marlboro-Ave-Pittsbu... at $154k or https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/107-Lilac-Ave-Pittsburgh-PA-15229/11440780_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/107-Lilac-Ave-Pittsburgh-... at $160k not good enough for you or something? Zillow shows hundreds and hundreds of decent looking houses under $200k within Pittsburgh city limits. These are incredibly affordable even on a 5 figure household income. You are very lucky to live in a place with such a reasonable CoL. I've known people to move there from eastern PA for the sake of that. If I'm missing something, I'd love to hear it, but I'm pretty sure what I'm gonna hear is that you're filtering out a lot of the affordable stuff due to some interesting self imposed restrictions.
- pfannkuchen 2y agoMany rust belt cities are de facto segregated by class and race. I’m not familiar with Pittsburgh specifically but just glancing at those listings I suspect they may be in “the ghetto”.
- robertlagrant 2y agoI don't understand what this means. As in white people aren't allowed to live there? What's the problem with buying these houses?