Comment by seanmcdirmid
3 years ago
Are we comparing with Atlanta? Food is more expensive maybe, but not 2X! Insurance is usually not more expensive, especially in mild weather west coast cities. Electricity can be cheaper (Seattle where I’m at). I’m not in California, but still an HCOL. But if I were in LA, food would be cheaper than even Atlanta. Gas is expensive, not that I notice much (I have an EV, and our electricity is cheap).
> And if you haven’t noticed, people are moving away from the west coast and office occupancy is down - that doesn’t bode well for home prices long term.
I wish, but it’s just a dream. The traffic is bad, rents are up, the housing market is insane. You are betting that the “it’s too crowded so no one comes here anymore” will regress so much that housing prices will drop, but that’s not how equilibriums work.
Everyone in our industry should be maxing out their 401k’s, no matter where they are living. However, those who survive in a HCOL will have a lot more assets and money at the end of it than a LCOL, simply because their house is worth more and they made more money (same percentage of savings even with higher expenses).
There are good reasons to live in an LCOL, especially if you like the place and you have friends and family there. But making more money overall than a HCOL isn’t one of them unless the jobs you can get in the HCOL don’t really pay much more than the LCOL (then get out of dodge as fast as you can).
Population is decreasing in all four of California’s largest cities.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/california-popu...
And house prices are declining in Seattle.
https://www.king5.com/article/money/economy/seattle-housing-...
Why live in a high cost city when more jobs are remote?
> Population is decreasing in all four of California’s largest cities.
Again, this is a "It's too crowded so no one comes here anymore" problem, not a "California sucks, let's leave" problem. If you can't make it economically in SF or LA, move to somewhere like Atlanta where making it economically is easier. Housing prices fall a bit, from $2 million for a starter house to $1.9 million, but they just as quickly go back up as well. If you look at a population chart for California, you'll see this huge increase in the last 80 years that is finally tapering off. Did everyone honestly believe that California would or could grow forever? Equilibrium means that SF will shrink and grow around some stable population point.
> And house prices are declining in Seattle.
Read the article. They went up 20% last year and are now down 2-5% this year. And again, you are doing a lot of wishful thinking, since inventory is super low right now and people are struggling to buy houses even if they have the money. I actually wish your story was true, but it simply isn't.
> Why live in a high cost city when more jobs are remote?
I work remote in Seattle and love it (but my wife has to RTO, so we still need to be here). But I guess if someone isn't great at math, an LCOL city is probably a better choice anyways, since they don't have to think so hard about the math and can justify their choices with simple click-bait-style narratives.
> work remote in Seattle and love it (but my wife has to RTO, so we still need to be here). But I guess if someone isn't great at math, an LCOL city is probably a better choice anyways, since they don't have to think so hard about the math and can justify their choices with simple click-bait-style narratives.
So exactly how does it make more financial sense to live somewhere that is more expensive than somewhere much less expensive making the same money?
What’s the mortgage on that 2 million dollar home compared to mine?
And I’ve been to Seattle a number of times. That’s where my employer’s headquarters is located. It’s a dreary place.
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