> "there's a reason SF is so expensive; that's where the banks and the lawyers are." I highly doubt this. Bankers and lawyers have some upwards price pressure

> "there's a reason SF is so expensive; that's where the banks and the lawyers are." I highly doubt this. Bankers and lawyers have some upwards price pressure on the market certainly, but the rent explosion coincides very well with both dotcom booms. The bulk of the expense of SF is due to people like us. See: http://thecacgroup.com/research/cities/san_francisco/historical_rental_vacancy_rates http://thecacgroup.com/research/cities/san_francisco/histori... There aren't any reasonable parallels between Manhattan/Brooklyn and SF/Valley IMO. The author mentions the endless debate about who is San Francisco's Brooklyn. The debate is endless because there isn't a candidate that even approximates a good answer.