Seattle vs Bay Area
We have to take a decision between moving to bay area or seattle. we will be moving from east coast and a tier 2 city. Annual household income in seattle will be $220k while it will be $360k in Bay area. We would ideally want to buy a house and not rent. We are family of 3 with an year old infant. we are leaning towards seattle as we believe we can afford a house in seattle but not in bay area. thoughts?
It sounds like your only consideration here is housing, is that right? If it is, it seems like you've answered your question by saying you could afford a house in Seattle. There are lots more things to consider of course, but it depends on what is important to you.
There are other factors as well, better job opportunities, work life balance in which Bay Area would be better. But, the housing situation is a big deterrent factor for us. We are non tech so do not expect our salaries to grow any faster either.
I wouldn't necessarily say that WLB is better in the Bay Area, but I suppose that depends on what you do outside of work. Personally I haven't found that to be the case. I think Seattle sounds like the right decision for you, and I think you'll even be happy here!
Death is a preferable alternative to California.
go bay area if you’re not into guns or don’t care to fund the attack on the 2A otherwise Seattle
That’s a large enough difference to go to Bay Area. With 360K TC you can definitely afford to buy.
Really? I thought the houses in Bay Area are 1.5m and above
I bought a 1.8m house when our total household income was ~360K. I was skeptical initially but think it’s totally the right decision. Can’t be more happier.
$220k vs $360k. Do you even have to ask anyone? Lot of nice areas with excellent schools in east bay with <$1M house. With $140k per year, you can afford $7k extra mortgage per month.
We -> family -> Seattle.
Why can’t you buy a Bay Area home on 360k?Assuming you both max 401k should leave ~17k net per month. You can easily afford a ~1.3mil 3/2 in a decent neighborhood. Even a 1.7mil place is around 8500/month for mortgage + property tax+ insurance leaving an extra 8500/month for expenses.
I’d say 4x income here is within safe bounds. The rest of the country uses 3x but let’s be real even if we have less % left over after the mortgage the total $ left for expenses is often plenty. Getting a 1.4mil place will still leave you 10k a month to cover expenses after mortgage, tax, and insurance
No income tax in Washington btw
Seattle is the place to raise family. Been at both places. Bay area is fucked up. Commute is bad. Smells pee. Costly. No trees. Seattle TC = 0.8 SF Bay area TC.
Bay area housing market has left flying already. Between the two Seattle would definitely be better. You can still find 600k houses with 3br here
Nice, Which area? We would prefer good school district.
Try Mill Creek, Bothell or north creek