The Realities of Renting in the Bay Area
Growing up I always thought I'd have my own place one day. If anything, maybe I'd live with a friend or two (each in our own rooms, of course). TV shows made it seem so fun and while in college I did experience a taste of that, post-college adult me definitely did not experience that.
Growing up in the Bay Area of California (aka Silicon Valley), I was fortunate to be raised in the hub of all technology. Apple's main campus was down the street from my elementary school and donated all of the iMacs to our school (y'know - back when they were translucent and had colorful backings). My dad worked in technology and so did many of my friends' parents. It was the norm, and I thought nothing of it. When I thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up, being an engineer was the furthest thing from my mind. (I didn't want to work that hard.)
Fast forward almost ten years since I graduated from high school, the Bay Area has turned into something else. I always appreciated living in the suburbs and away from San Francisco, which was much too "crowded" for my liking. Unfortunately, the suburbs are all overflowed with residents and much to my dismay, a sh*t ton of cars and traffic. For the most part, schools are notably better in my community than other parts of the Bay Area, and because of that many parents are willing to pay rocket high prices for homes. Unfortunately for young professionals like myself, my friends, and my colleagues, it's hard for us to break into this market to buy a home. Without the help of parents it is incredibly difficult to muster up enough of a down payment. Furthermore, it's highly unlikely that you would be able to out-bid an all cash offer that a foreigner would be competing against you with. This has driven so many people to rent and it's likely going to stay this way for a while.
As I live and work in the suburbs (as does my husband), we do not live in an area where we can utilize public transportation. While I would love the idea of walking a few blocks to get to a train/bus and sitting on it to get to my destination, that is very unlikely. A mere 5 mile commute can sometimes takes me upwards of an hour - which is absolute ridiculousness. On a good day, it might take me about 25-30 minutes. I did an entire post here on things to do to pass the time during your driving commute - because ya girl has spent a lot of time sitting in the car twiddling her thumbs and belching out a ton of songs karaoke style. Because commute can be a nightmare, it's worth the extra $$ to pay to live somewhere closer to work. What's the point of saving a little bit of cash if you spend double the time commuting? If your hours are flexible and you can avoid it, then more power to you.
Renting in the Bay Area is a funny (although somewhat depressing) thing. A mere 1 bedroom apartment can cost a ridiculous amount of money. The apartment I'm living in would cost almost the entirety of my take home paycheck, after putting money into savings, HSA, and 401K. Absurd. Although I don't make the salary of a Software Engineer, I am a Paralegal with a sufficient number of years under my belt and I do get paid better than I’m sure others do out there. Recently a report came out and stated how much someone would need to make hourly in order to afford a 1 bedroom around the US. For California, we're all bunched in together but it came down to almost $26/hr. Recently, articles have been flying around with news that a six-figure salary for a family of four in the Bay Area is considered low-income (L O L). I also saw another article that said milennials will spend about $1million by the time they are 60 if they rent and do not buy a house. I'm not sure how accurate that is (especially with Bay Area rent prices), but it might be a trade off since a starter home would be more than that at this point.
I think after living here for so long, you slowly stop feeling angry about other people complaining about low housing prices. However, you can laugh about their prices with friends that sympathize with you and are in a similar boat. For example, I absolutely love watching HGTV and am an avid Fixer Upper (RIP) fan. While I love watching Fixer Upper, there are many episodes where I'll be so frustrated with how much people want for such a low amount. For the majority of the homes featured on the show, you probably couldn't even get a 1 bedroom condo for the same cost. Maybe a slight exaggeration, but not really. I also recently saw a post about people in the UK complaining about house prices and I screenshotted it to my hubs - and said hey, I'd be down to move there cause it's about 10% of the housing costs here.
T and I are finally in a place where we’re going to start looking for a home, so fingers crossed we’re able to afford something and if so, you can bet I’ll be taking you guys along on the journey!