[throw0101a]

Holding paper-gains equity doesn't provide monthly cashflow to buy groceries. :)

[dewey]

I'm sure 200k will cover that, even in the SV.

[cdchn]

I got some bad news for you.

[OkayPhysicist]

The Bay Area is expensive, but it's not THAT expensive.

[cdchn]

If you've got a family to support and you need to rent or try to own a home you're going to have a tough time with 200k.

[OkayPhysicist]

I don't know how you're coming to that conclusion. 200k's not going to buy you a large house, but it'll comfortably pay rent/food/savings for a 2-3 bedroom house or apartment for a family of 2-4 in all but the very most expensive parts of the Bay.

For mortgages, you'd need to be looking in the cheaper parts of the Bay, but that still means "dense, boring suburb" as opposed to "crime-ridden slum".

[cdchn]

They didn't say "Bay Area", they said SV.