[jdthomas]

> You can get a five bedroom, three-bathroom house in the southernmost part of San Jose for less than $500,000 -- about one-third the price it would cost in Mountain View.

Seems like by considering a 500k house inexpensive reinforces the point that we are in a 'bubble' in Silicon Valley.

[taskstrike]

Jesus, they don't even build houses that big in a lot of neighborhoods.

[paganel]

As a guy who lives in a 7x5m studio somewhere in Eastern Europ, in a building like this one http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3152/3082829290_9653703b1e_b.j..., I try and try again to find out why would you need three bathrooms and five bedrooms, but I really cannot think of any reasons.

[xyzzyz]

You may have wife and kids, for one thing. Or wife, kids, and parents you take care of.

My parents have 5 children, and while now their house is way too big for their needs, it was not the case when me and all my siblings lived with them.

[geogra4]

You can get a 5/3 for 1/10 of that price (literally just saw one listed for 65k) in Pittsburgh.

And Pittsburgh was one of the few places not hit that hard by the real estate downturn.

[count]

In the same 'quality' of neighborhood? You can get a 5/3 for $39k in Charleston, SC in the middle of the ghetto.

[geogra4]

Not the ghetto, just a normal neighborhood. A bit dicier than your typical picket-fenced suburb but that really just comes with living in the midst of the great recession.