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by cantbuyahouse 4420 days ago
Not SF, but my wife and I are trying to buy a house in Silicon Valley. I can't imagine how this market is sustainable, but all the evidence is that there is no hope for improvement. It's disheartening to say the least.

My wife and I are ~30 years old, have $500k in cash saved, and our combined salary is ~230k. So we are in the upper upper range of earners, and not looking for sympathy. But even with that, we are unable to buy a house or townhouse in mid-range neighborhoods here. The houses all go for 1.3-1.5 M. I don't see that ever being feasible for us.

I don't know that I have a point, other than an anecdote of what this looks like on the ground. I know we could commute or move to a lesser area, but how are there enough people to maintain the volume of ongoing purchases of all these $1.5M houses?
4 comments
poulson 4420 days ago
Was there a typo in your message? Why would you be unable to afford a home that you could immediately put down a 33% down payment in cash for?
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cantbuyahouse 4420 days ago
That would work out to $6600 a month for mortgage, insurance, and property tax. Or over half of our take home pay.
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ateeqs 4420 days ago
Recently, news was indicating that people were considering homes as an investment again. This is likely what is fueling these prices.

I guess, I would say, you should use your "gut-feelings." If something doesn't feel right, something probably isn't right.

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TheCoelacanth 4419 days ago
It seems like you are just being too picky. You could easily afford a median house or even a house that is well above the median.
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cantbuyahouse 4419 days ago
Right, this throwaway account is misnamed. My point is not that I can't buy a house, because I could easily move further away or move somewhere with lousy schools or get a small condo. It's that the majority of houses in the city we live in are out of our reach, despite how well off we are (median price in MV is > $1M). And so it boggles my mind how there are enough people in perpetuity to maintain these prices.
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ashayh 4420 days ago
Look in Fremont. Mediocre suburbia and no downtown, but decent houses and schools
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