I was in total agreement with this and for fun I did a Zillow search and there are in fact a good many condos that are asking <=$350K. Some of them are even large enough to turn around in too. I have to say I'm a little surprised. None of them are awesome but I've seen many a worse place in The Lower Haight.

In fairness to the person you are responding to[1], the numbers were probably true 5 years ago, sort of true 3 years ago and only seem completely off in the last 2 years.

[1] I find the term OP to be ambivalent. Like is it the original poster of the whole thread or the original poster you are responding to?

You are correct -- I haven't checked on Austin in quite a while.

However, my point is you don't have to choose between an expensive, top US tech hub and leaving the states entirely if you want a more chill, laid back, and less expensive lifestyle.

There are like 50 other cities in the US that offer all the amenities of a big city, with chill jobs and without the sky-high COL.