Anonymous wrote:So is anyone's salary going up?

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the adjustments happen more than once.

My company says we do “locality pay” and since my husband is in the military I get that. I’m the housing component of military compensation is supposed to be tied to local cost of living. There are places like Hawaii and San Diego and DC where there are constant issues with getting decent housing/ schools on those COL differentials so I understand it is complicated to calculate those.

And when I moved to a lower cost of living area- my pay was reduced. But when I moved to DC the company took the position that since they hadn’t asked me to move here, they wouldn’t do the COL adjustment. Then when they asked me to move to the NY area- they said my pay was already based on DC locality oh so there would be no locality increase.

Fortunately I had saved all of the correspondence/ meeting notes over the years related to the locality pay topic and my boss was able to get that fixed.

But I remain very cautious about how locality pay is actually implemented.

Anonymous wrote:I don't really understand all of the outcry here. I would have interpreted this policy as saying something like "we don't really want people to work at home, but we're willing to let them do it if it will save us money." Which sounds fair enough. I'm not sure why anyone would want to move from SF to middle-of-nowhere, USA, personally, but maybe it works for some.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The details matter of course, but I have property in Belize. I’d happily cut my salary in half to go live there. Eat fish every day, swim whenever I want, enjoy sunsets and my weekends would be boating and relaxing. Obviously depends on how they do the calculations, but it’s enormously valuable option for people. I can live on $40K a year down there, and really comfortably on $80K. $150K there would be like $400-$500K here. If you know where to go, lunch is $2 for fresh fish. $3 with a beer.

- Signed, FB tech.

Are you allowed to work from a foreign country?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You're the one who said they can get a 'better quality of life' in Hawaii - not me. That doesn't even take into account the cost of groceries which averages 60% higher than the national average and the flights anytime you want to go back to the mainland.



https://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/grocery-store-prices-in-honolulu-hawaii/

https://www.civilbeat.org/2013/10/20056-living-hawaii-where-milk-can-cost-as-much-as-wine/

https://www.newsweek.com/most-expensive-place-live-us-hawaiitoilet-paper-costs-more-628977

Yes, better quality of life - Better weather, Beaches, Laid back culture, Outdoor activities. It's not all about cost. Yes, consumer goods are more expensive in Hawaii, but that is only one component of cost of living. Go look at the breakdown on the cost of living calculators. The overall cost of living is similar to DC, but the quality of life is much better for me in San Diego/Hawaii.

While consumer goods are much more expensive, you can grow quite a bit of fruits and vegetables year round to save of food costs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You're the one who said they can get a 'better quality of life' in Hawaii - not me. That doesn't even take into account the cost of groceries which averages 60% higher than the national average and the flights anytime you want to go back to the mainland.



https://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/grocery-store-prices-in-honolulu-hawaii/

https://www.civilbeat.org/2013/10/20056-living-hawaii-where-milk-can-cost-as-much-as-wine/

https://www.newsweek.com/most-expensive-place-live-us-hawaiitoilet-paper-costs-more-628977

Yes, better quality of life - Better weather, Beaches, Laid back culture, Outdoor activities. It's not all about cost. Yes, consumer goods are more expensive in Hawaii, but that is only one component of cost of living. Go look at the breakdown on the cost of living calculators. The overall cost of living is similar to DC, but the quality of life is much better for me in San Diego/Hawaii.

Anonymous wrote:
You're the one who said they can get a 'better quality of life' in Hawaii - not me. That doesn't even take into account the cost of groceries which averages 60% higher than the national average and the flights anytime you want to go back to the mainland.



https://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/grocery-store-prices-in-honolulu-hawaii/

https://www.civilbeat.org/2013/10/20056-living-hawaii-where-milk-can-cost-as-much-as-wine/

https://www.newsweek.com/most-expensive-place-live-us-hawaiitoilet-paper-costs-more-628977

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just take my DC salary and move somewhere with a similar COL, but better quality of life. Hawaii and San Diego are a lot better than Fairfax.

You're kidding right? Hawaii 3X as expensive as the D.C. area and basic necessities cost 2X as much because everything's imported.

SFHs in San Diego are the same price for half the square feet and lot size. Have you ever seen a lot of 3,000 sqft lot?

You have now -

https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/4038-Alder-Dr-92116/home/5270371

The house IS the lot. And its next to a highway to boot. All for $900K.

This is false - 3X the cost is outrageous. They're really not that much different and all in the same ballpark on any cost of living calculator.

Go see for yourself: https://smartasset.com/mortgage/cost-of-living-calculator

GSA 2020 locality bump for each:

Hawaii: 19.56%
San Diego: 29.77%
DC: 30.48%

DC Metro is actually the highest COLA according to GSA.

It said Honolulu is only 3% cheaper than D.C.

Yet it also didn't take into account that while I can buy a 3-bedroom house in Honolulu for $800K (the same as D.C. btw) - the house is fit to be condemned with mold, zero appliances, missing wiring, and a caving roof.

https://www.redfin.com/HI/Honolulu/2227-Kanealii-Ave-96813/home/88488189




More Honolulu houses.

How does $800K for a attached 1,100 sqft SFH/townhouse and a grease-stained carport sound?

https://www.redfin.com/HI/Honolulu/1439-Alewa-Dr-96817/unit-B/home/88484084

$900K for a backdoor facing a cliff a foot away

https://www.redfin.com/HI/Honolulu/838-Kealahou-St-96825/home/63947660

This is one is super nice (not kidding) but the HOA is $700/mo for a SFH and its still $800K
https://www.redfin.com/HI/Honolulu/6370-Hawaii-Kai-Dr-96825/unit-34/home/63797309

Plenty of teardowns and total shitstacks still go for $800k in the DC region too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just take my DC salary and move somewhere with a similar COL, but better quality of life. Hawaii and San Diego are a lot better than Fairfax.

You're kidding right? Hawaii 3X as expensive as the D.C. area and basic necessities cost 2X as much because everything's imported.

SFHs in San Diego are the same price for half the square feet and lot size. Have you ever seen a lot of 3,000 sqft lot?

You have now -

https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/4038-Alder-Dr-92116/home/5270371

The house IS the lot. And its next to a highway to boot. All for $900K.

This is false - 3X the cost is outrageous. They're really not that much different and all in the same ballpark on any cost of living calculator.

Go see for yourself: https://smartasset.com/mortgage/cost-of-living-calculator

GSA 2020 locality bump for each:

Hawaii: 19.56%
San Diego: 29.77%
DC: 30.48%

DC Metro is actually the highest COLA according to GSA.

It said Honolulu is only 3% cheaper than D.C.

Yet it also didn't take into account that while I can buy a 3-bedroom house in Honolulu for $800K (the same as D.C. btw) - the house is fit to be condemned with mold, zero appliances, missing wiring, and a caving roof.

https://www.redfin.com/HI/Honolulu/2227-Kanealii-Ave-96813/home/88488189




More Honolulu houses.

How does $800K for a attached 1,100 sqft SFH/townhouse and a grease-stained carport sound?

https://www.redfin.com/HI/Honolulu/1439-Alewa-Dr-96817/unit-B/home/88484084

$900K for a backdoor facing a cliff a foot away

https://www.redfin.com/HI/Honolulu/838-Kealahou-St-96825/home/63947660

This is one is super nice (not kidding) but the HOA is $700/mo for a SFH and its still $800K
https://www.redfin.com/HI/Honolulu/6370-Hawaii-Kai-Dr-96825/unit-34/home/63797309

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just take my DC salary and move somewhere with a similar COL, but better quality of life. Hawaii and San Diego are a lot better than Fairfax.

You're kidding right? Hawaii 3X as expensive as the D.C. area and basic necessities cost 2X as much because everything's imported.

SFHs in San Diego are the same price for half the square feet and lot size. Have you ever seen a lot of 3,000 sqft lot?

You have now -

https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/4038-Alder-Dr-92116/home/5270371

The house IS the lot. And its next to a highway to boot. All for $900K.

This is false - 3X the cost is outrageous. They're really not that much different and all in the same ballpark on any cost of living calculator.

Go see for yourself: https://smartasset.com/mortgage/cost-of-living-calculator

GSA 2020 locality bump for each:

Hawaii: 19.56%
San Diego: 29.77%
DC: 30.48%

DC Metro is actually the highest COLA according to GSA.