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Comment by codezero | Hacker News Reader

Recently my rent in Sunnyvale for a nice two bedroom went up to $2900* a month from $2100 Looks like the trend will continue.

*not including trash and utilities.

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Just for comparison, that would cover PITI for a 15 year mortgage of around $330k. In cheaper parts of the country, like Dallas, that would net you a 4br 2000+ sq foot home on a 1/2 acre in an affluent suburb.

Mortgages also don't go up once you're in, so they decrease as a percentage of living cost over time (assuming no change in income), while rents go up roughly with inflation.

Does the US not have standard variable rate mortgages? They are the norm in the UK, and they very much can go up (or down) over time, depending on the interest rate. Of course many people have assumed that interest rates will be low forever.

Does the US not have standard variable rate mortgages?

They exist, but I have no idea how popular they are. Some older folks like myself remember the 80s, when variable rate mortgages were more popular due to higher interest rates at the time. I also remember a few people I knew who nearly lost their house because their variable rate mortgage went up considerably (all kept their houses, but they were pinching pennies until the coins screamed).

Thus I extrapolate that I'm not the only one that stays away from variable rate mortgages. That, and our current mortgage is at 2.5%.

It does, but it's generally discouraged and not common. Fixed rate mortgages are far more common and desired. We also have mortgage types that start at a fixed rate and then after some period of time become variable. Many of the variable rate mortgages also have caps on how much they can float per year.

The US does have variable rate mortgages, but in the current environment of VERY low interest rates, they are typically only used by investors that plan on selling quickly.

Most people would be getting a fixed rate these days.

Agreed, although property taxes and insurance typically do go up. How much that matters varies greatly by location.

We had property taxes go down (based on declining home value, of course). When renting, I never had my rent go down, even if the building values went down :)

You're right, though, on tax/ins. They tend to be a much smaller portion of the outgoing. Currently combined, we're at ~$3000/year for tax/ins. Even if that went up by 20%, it's an extra $50/month (wouldn't be happy about that, but it wouldn't break the bank). Rent of $2100 going up 20% is a much huger issue.

This is a common but not very useful comparison. My partner and I are 2 people. For what we pay for our Portland apartment we could easily pay for a large-ish house somewhere in a decent sized but smaller city.

Doesn't mean we want to live there or even have an interest in a bigger place. What would we do with 4 bedrooms?

These kinds of comparisons need to be prefaced with "If you want a big house or are interested in moving thousands of miles."

>>These kinds of comparisons need to be prefaced with "If you want a big house or are interested in moving thousands of miles."

Couching every comment with leading text to scope who might be interested in it doesn't scale well. I didn't pitch it as desirable for everyone...and I assumed it might be interesting even to those that don't want it.

For example, I have no intention of ever working in the Valley. But, I am still curious about how peers of mine that do are compensated, and what the local cost of living is.

Sounds around London prices to me where things are just as ridiculous. My wife and I moved back to our hometown recently mostly to get away from that and now pay less than half that for a three bedroom house. Being able to do that makes me ludicrously thankful for us both being able to work remotely 90% of the time.

I don't understand why people do this. I'm paying $1000/month to own a 2 bedroom house with a huge garden. I built my own office at the end of the garden, which I can guarantee you is several times bigger and more comfortable than a work cube. I work remotely for a major US software company. (My commute is 1 minute if I'm carrying a cup of tea, slightly shorter if not).

Edit: picture of the office: http://oirase.annexia.org/office.jpg

Not everyone has the option to just telework. Many companies do not have this option and most jobs require face time of some sort. That's like saying you got a job at Google and asking why everyone doesn't simply get jobs at Google.

I would argue that most people in IT (which is what we're talking about here) have the option to telework.

It may be that because of technical or institutional barriers they are not able to do this, but those usually have very little to do with the nature of the work.

The point is it's not up to you, the company has to let you. Good on you, but the rest of us do not have the option.

It depends on priorities. Some people prefer city life. I value access to transit and amenities more than a large living space or a garden, and I _detest_ having to drive everywhere, so I pay more to live in a city.

Different strokes for different folks, though! Your office looks nice.

Yeah, but where are you? I'm guessing out in the middle of nowhere. While that appeals to you, it very much does not appeal to me. I like being where people are, where there is stuff to do, different types of food to eat, and culture around.

20 miles as the crow flies from Charing Cross, London.

Rent near Manhattan in the NYC area is quite bad as well. In Manhattan, a tiny one-bedroom will cost you $3500.In the parts of Queens, Brooklyn and Jersey City that are fairly close (commuting time-wise) to Manhattan, the rents are horrible as well.

One of my friends pays circa $2,600/mo for a one-bedroom in Carrol Gardens. An acquaintance in Long Island City had to move out of a two bedroom apartment in Long Island City, because the landlord increased the rent to $4000/month! Exchange Place (Jersey City), Brooklyn Heights, and Downtown Brooklyn are similarly super-expensive.

You can easily rent a bedroom in an older house or multi-room apartment for around $1000-1200 in Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale though. A few of my coworkers do this.

Ah yes, the worlds best and brightest, in the worlds technology hot bed, blamed for gentrification, told we are over paid, told our skills are in such demand that special worker visa systems are in place to supplement the supply but not only can they not afford a home, they can't afford rent by themselves.

Someone is making money in SV to live alone and buy homes but it isn't the engineers.

some engineers most certainly do. I'd say anyone who makes over 200K can afford to live here. Can a single person making 150K a year afford to live in Santa Clara County? I'd say for sure.

So basically only a very small outlier population (those who make over $200K) can actually afford to live in the area.

I'd say (depending on an individual's exact circumstances) a high 5/low 6 figure salary is the minimum salary for a single person to be able to rent a halfway decent apartment someplace in the Bay.

Your vastly overstating things. 2,700 per month was doable @85k. @150K you could afford 6K per month.

I'm just responding to the sentiment that even engineers have to resort to renting rooms from people. Depending on living expenses and the ability to save, lots of engineers can afford to live decently in SV. 90k isn't going to buy you a house in Palo Alto, but you can afford to live in SJ/SV/SC/etc with that.

> @150K you could afford 6K per month.

But why would I do that to myself?

I recently moved from the Bay Area to get rid of this-as you get older, interviewing with people (often for fucking culture fit) for the privilege of sharing a bedroom gets really, really old (I just want to pay rent and mind my own business). There's something to be said about living as an adult and having your own place.

Not to beat a dead horse, but that's hard to do with a family. So by the time you're late 20s to mid 30s and have a stable long term relationship and possibly kids, you're looking at those $2900/mo prices.

So, same price? (2400 for two bedrooms, add a premium for not being 2 roms in a 4-rom flat)?

My wife and I and our cats won't fit our lives into a bedroom very well.

Yup pretty straightforward spillover from Palo Alto -> Mountain View -> Sunnyvale -> Santa Clara that we've been seeing over the last 20 years.

I am totally fed up of rents in Sunnyvale. Thinking of moving to Texas now only if I get a good job.

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