How do people in the Bay Area LIVE?

[Anonymous]

OK, so my husband was entertaining a job offer in San Francisco...until we started looking at prices and it seems like all but the super, .01% are priced out of even decent suburbs with corresponding schools, unless they want to drive 75+ minutes every day to work. Seems like you can't touch a single family home in the nicer, closer in burbs for less than $1.75 million...And it's not like we're poor or even middle class. My husband is a lawyer who makes $250K/year, I'm an occupational therapist who makes $100K/ish depending, but this is just crazy to me and it got me thinking...if an affluent family like ours can't even afford the area (unless we want to give up on school quality and/or add a lengthy commute) how are others doing it?

[Anonymous]

They aren't.

[Anonymous]

you can get a home in the San Rafael area of Marin for that price. It has some good schools but not all schools are good so research. I personally don't like San Rafael.

You can get a home in San Anselmo for that price but it will be competitive. There will be multiple offers. The home will be nice, but small. San Anselmo has good schools and a good community feel.

You are not going to do well in Larkspur or Mill Valley for that price. Sausalito is slightly cheaper, but the school situation is not as good there.

If you go south of the city then the areas towards palo alto and Menlo park are even more expensive.

You may have luck farther out in the East Bay like Walnut Creek.

[Anonymous]

Yep. I'm from there and can't afford to move back, even leveraging the property my parents own there. I miss it but, as someone said on a similar thread, the culture has changed for the worse and the Bay Area I remember probably doesn't exist. The only childhood friend who is still there, lives in her moms house (family of 4 plus grandma).

[Anonymous]

They rent.

[Anonymous]

I live in SF. I make under six figures and live in a tiny one bedroom. Rent control, though even with that I'll be priced out in a few years. Do you go on vacation a couple of times a year? I don't. I don't really even leave the city. I don't buy fancy things.

But sometimes I reserve one of the conference rooms at work that faces the Bay Bridge and I look at it and am grateful I'm here. Or I go to the Ferry Building on my lunch hour. Or I go for a little hike through GG Park. Three times a week in winter there's a farmer's market I can easily get to.

While sure, I wish to hell I had a bathtub and a dishwasher, I'm not wishing for a McMansion. I'm satisfied shopping at Old Navy and Target's clearance racks. Would I like to have a 2 bedroom condo? Yes. Would I like to be able to shop at Macys? Yes. But I'm okay with how things are. I can do what I want, and not worry one bit about what's popular. People like me for who I am here, not how I dress.

[Anonymous]

It's insane. My friends there bought before the most recent run-up, or are stuck in tiny apartments they'll never leave because they have rent control. I'm so glad I left when I did 15 years ago. It's not a normal economy.

[Anonymous]

Racism is a factor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Racism is a factor.

Okay, I'll bite. Why?

[Anonymous]

I think you can get a home in the close in burbs for $1.5 -- at least in East Bay. Oakland, Berkeley, Orinda, Lafayette, Moraga.

It sucks, though. No doubt. We love it here and I get PTSD every time I go back to DC, but we could afford so much more elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

It is not even a question...I will take my little house in the Bay Area over a larger home elsewhere, period. The quality of life, weather, access to beautiful places is amazing. Is it expensive, of course! is it worth it? Absolutely. FWIW, combined income in our household is just over $500K.

[Anonymous]

Also, many people in the Bay Area work from home often. So this means you can live farther out and only commute into the office once or twice a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is not even a question...I will take my little house in the Bay Area over a larger home elsewhere, period. The quality of life, weather, access to beautiful places is amazing. Is it expensive, of course! is it worth it? Absolutely. FWIW, combined income in our household is just over $500K.

Um i don't think you are the demographic of the op. Clueless.

[Anonymous]

Not that different form here Op. the middle class people in this area do drive from Prince William county or Frederick or even PA or WV. Dual income
Couples making $350k are living in very ordinary $1 million 3 bedroom 2 bath homes in Bethesda, Arlington or DC.

[Anonymous]

Overseas buyers have driven up the RE market in SF. They don't live there. That's how they get by. They rent it out to poseurs.