OK, so I am starting to look at job opps-- still a year or so off but thats about average for the job search in my field. Many of the most interesting jobs are in the San Francisco area. My question- where the heck do *normal* people live? I haven't found anything even approaching affordable... any suggestions from creditnetters in the area?
heh california is not a place to live unless you are making the big dog salary $200K/year last time i checked folks were paying $1500/month in fran for a tiny apt with homeless people on your door steps. not worth it imo..
Dogman lives in San Fran... hopefully he'll see this and post ARF! I know somebody who only makes 120k and bought a house in the haight-ashbury section of San Fran
yeah-- we figure we will be more in the 120K/year range. I just don't get it... you gotta have people that pump gas, serve food, check groceries and all of these people have to LIVE somewhere!!
those people live 10 folks in one $1500/month apartment. those folks drive 60-100 miles a day to work those people use BART to come from oakland (ghetto). California has gone crazy since i left 12 years ago. I love california (i lived in campbell/los gatos silly-con valley) but cannot ever move back. The tech industry is so miserble there. People who make $50K a year live in the homeless shelter (60 minutes special) in sunnyvale. That is absurd. I will keep to my hick town (atlanta) where $100K/year makes a decent life, but i do miss the beach, the highway 1 drive to LA..
Lived there 3 years. From 95 to 98. My daughter was born at Stanford Hospital. We rented a 3 bedroom 1900 sq foot place in the San Mateo Hills. (sugarloaf mountain) (had a view of the Oracle buildings). in 95 it was 1750 a month with a 2500 deposit. He wanted us to sign a 2 year lease. The next 2 years were great. Both myself and my wife were working. Once my Daughter was born. My wife stopped working and the money troubles started. Together we made about 140 a year. But I just broke 6 figures in 98. About the same time, Landlord raised the rent from 1750 to 2400 a month. That almost killed me. Used stock awards and bonuses to survive. (and credit cards) Then in 98 the chip downturn hit. We had to take every Friday off without pay. Bonuses were not payed out and the stock options were now worthless. All cards were maxed out. Took a job in the mid south for about 70k. What I didnt realize was the rent difference was about 30k. My cut in pay. It was a latteral move after all. Never did make any headway on the bills. Wife just went back to work last year. Didnt last long. We were back to 140/year for about 3 months. Payed down about 5k of 120k debt. Then we BOTH lost our jobs. Did a chap 7. I just got work after 8 months out but for low 60s. Big difference, but we are happy now. What we learned. People seem to live about at their means. I mean at 6 figures I was going paycheck to paycheck and at 300 a week I was still going paycheck to paycheck. It was tough but you just live different. At 6 figures lots of eating at resturaunts. At 300/week lots of spagetti and meatballs at home. (pasta is 79 cents a box.) Some people would live in the area and just economize other ways. Some would live in Tracy or Las Banos and commute 2 hours. Both lifestyles had its good and bad points. We loved the bay area. We want to move back there someday. I still have friends and keep in contact with them. The job market just is not strong enough to get me there yet. When I go there. Look for me in a house in the sunset district or windsurfing Candlestick again. I feel so landlocked here!
I live in Santa Clara. Back in Dec. I rented a 2 bed 1100 sq ft duplex (front/back yard, garage, w/d, etc.) for $1325. There are duplexes up and down my street for rent but they are asking too much ($1450-$1800! <--trippin). Rent has lowered by about 30% lately. Santa Clara is about 45 miles from San Francisco and if you get a job IN SF, that might be a hellish commute up and down 101. I would go on Yahoo rentals and see what you can come up with. If you would like more help, feel free to email me by clicking on my screen name and going to the link.
When I left the area several years ago, many of the same problems already existed. San Francisco and Santa Clara County already had outrageous rents and home prices. The ghettoization process, moving south from San Francisco and Oakland, was ruining San Mateo County and Southern Alameda County near the Bay. However, the areas across the hills, Contra Costa County and the rest of Alameda County, towns like Concord and Livermore, are much more affordable, although no bargain. Serious commuters can go further east, to places like Modesto or Merced, or north of Contra Costa County to the often neglected North Bay area (Vallejo, Fairfield, etc.) In my opinion, any job in the Bay Area should pay about double what it would pay in Texas or Georgia or Illinois, just to make up for the extortionate prices, the endless traffic, the inhuman rudeness. But if such a job opens up, there are ways to make it tolerable.
Hello, I live in the East Bay and commute to San Francisco. I suggest you look in the Richmond/El Cerrito Area. There are some really bad areas in Richmond, but there is also a really nice apartment/condo complex in the Marina area away from the crime. The rent for a 2 bed apartment is approx $1,500 per month. The public transportation (BART) is really good in that area so commuting from there shouldn't be much of a problem. It's true about the high cost of living here. We make $150K+ per year and cannot afford to buy a decent home in the area. Good luck!
I lived in Pittsburg,CA (about 40 miles north of San Fran) and we had a REALLY nice apt in the hills. It was actually a subdivision that had apts and townhomes. Our apt was a tiny 1 bedroom and it cost almost $600(we had a military discount) in 1995. However, I recently spoke to a friend and she is paying $1300 or $1400 for a two bedroom in an area that was kinda rough. I can only imagine how much the rent is in the place where we lived. It was really nice though. I hated to leave CA. HOWEVER, we were lucky to get stationed here in Virginia. We still have beautiful beaches and a lot of things to do without the high cost of living.......
