[gwfhta]

My employer expects that I live in the Bay Area, but does not pay enough that I can afford to:

#1. Move out of my apartment into a bigger apartment with a dedicated home office.

#2. Move out of my rented apartment into a home that I own and could upgrade with soundproofing.

The cost of this would far exceed $30k. My primary goal now (barring get an unexpected huge end-of-year raise) is to move to a satellite office of my current company or work for a company outside the Bay Area. I’ve spent the past few months outside the Bay Area, and I can’t really imagine moving back next year. The cost of houses rose so much faster than my salary, it just makes no sense.