Driving? Seem like using a bicycle would be faster.
@sushiritto The point about parcel taxes is true, but in the high COL public school districts I’ve lived in, very few teachers are able to live in the district. The lucky ones get their way into charters and magnets (often lottery based) in lower-performing districts, and the rest shell out for private schools with financial aid or just quit their jobs and home school. Many teachers’ kids only do 3 years of high school and graduate early, going to the local CC at 16 or 17.
These rents are similar to those in Seattle.
“You don’t need to work in NYC for finance or in SV for tech.”
Right. I have a college friend who works for Google and lives in a large, gorgeous home in a historic district in central Charlotte, NC. She has an amazing life.
But NYC & Silicon Valley offer opportunities & excitement not found elsewhere. If young & single & able to tolerate difficult living circumstances such as small shared space & long commutes, then both are great places to start a career. Especially great places to start your own business if you need venture capital & readily available talent.
Also important locations for those who want to get into investment banking.
Yup, those rents sound about right for Seattle. Kiddo rents a room with a shared bath in a 3-room townhome for about $1000. That is considered a bargain. Her commute to work is 15 min by bus. Not bad. She occasionally bikes, too, on casual dress days.
Exchange “everywhere” for “elsewhere” and I believe it. But come on, this is a big country, and many people are living great lives outside of two specific places in the US.
@ccprofandmomof2 The teachers that I know of/about can live in neighboring cities and can enroll their kids into these high performing wealthier school districts, because the district(s) allows teachers working in the district the ability to have their kids enroll in the same district in which they teach.
@sushiritto That’s awesome! Ours was only if there were spaces, and there usually weren’t. Glad it works out in your district!
@ccprofandmomof2 There may be a limit in these districts, but I haven’t heard of any teachers with kids being denied either. You have to be able to attract good teachers with higher pay and good perks in these high COL areas. I can’t believe I’m saying that either. :))
Back to the discussion of “scrapers” on lots. I know of a couple lots with complete “mow down” in not the best locations (corner house on busy street) within the town for about $5,000,000. This is the BOTTOM of the market for “scrapers” in this town. Nice town, President Obama just visited last Friday night too for a fundraiser. For the record, I’m not a resident of this town, just interested in real estate.
My son with two other roommates just found rental in the City of San Francisco. It’s a two bedroom flat (used the living room as the third bedroom) No garage in a so -so neighborhood with the homeless sitting on his steps, sleeping on his block. $5,000.00 a month. And he said that was a deal.
$5,000 a month for a 2 bedroom apt. with a doorman & security persons is a great deal !
It would seem schools would take COA into account. After all, someone making $117,000 in Marin has a vastly different lifestyle than someone in Missouri making $117,000.
DS’s first job in 2010 was in San Jose. We were surprised to learn that his $70K salary entitled him to rent breaks even then. It helped hold down the rent in his large lovely one bedroom in a resort style complex. At that time it was $1785. Now it’s about $2900.
Still better than Seattle!
Gee, guess S should be grateful his LL in DC only raises his rent by nominal $25/50 or so at a time. She’s happy he’s a good tenant and he’s happy she leaves him alone and keeps increases modest.
In my part of the Peninsula, first responders and now some teachers are provided subsidized housing by either the city or privately funded housing supplements. Not all, but some. I think the police get this as a pretty standard deal, and there are city apartments for the fire department, if I have it right. The high school district is starting to look at how much of their budget they can allocate to buying apartment buildings or paying housing costs for teachers, since reducing turnover could help offset costs. Lots of the teachers live over the hill in Pacifica.
It would be. More pleasant as well.
My sister lives in Marin. Many teachers live in Santa Rosa. In my high cost of living area the teachers mainly live 45 minutes north or 45 minutes south.
My D who lives in Vacaville was looking for a new job and she quickly realized she could make more money closer to the bay but her commute would have be terrible. Her fiancé who drives east on 80 to Davis feels he is going the opposite of the traffic. His co workers who live in Sacramento have more traffic. I can’t imagine driving from Stockton to the bay twice a day. My D was saying that a lot of lower wage earners are now being pushed out of Vallejo as Vallejo becomes gentrified and moving to Fairfield and Vacaville. Houses in my D’s neighborhood have risen significantly since they bought their house.
Regarding moving to less expensive states. Both H and I were born and raised in Ca. Our kids and their SO have also been born and raised in Ca. High cost of living is one of the prices they have to pay to live near family.
@ucbalumnus, he doesn’t drive. Does not have a license. The shuttle to his office (direct route) is 40 minutes, as is his bike commute, which is what he usually does. He’s now in North San Jose and has bike paths the entire way to work, which he says is a marked improvement from when he lives in MV. My point (obscurely made) was that traffic is so bad that biking is just as fast as driving.
Gotta say… after reading the rest of this thread up to this point, I’m really glad my genetics prefer the view of rolling hills, pastures, or water and the sounds I love are of birds and frogs, etc. The idea of living in a city to us is an “only if we absolutely had to” thing and the cost added to it would bring on a ton of stress. (We did live in a small city - St Petersburg, FL - for 5 years in our young married life - then decided to move out to ditch the “rat race” of commuting.) We don’t even like to visit cities on trips. We just use them for their airports and an occasional museum or aquarium.
My kids have inherited our genetics. They’ve tried cities and found themselves turned off, esp from large cities.
I should add… I’m glad most folks prefer cities. It keeps country living/vacationing more affordable for us! 