Thoughts on moving out of Bay Area (and California)
I’ve been with Mongo since pre-IPO time, fully vested, haven’t sold much of my stock yet.
My spouse lost her IT job in 2019 and she wanted to join FAANG-kind of company, burned herself with all prep, got a few declines (one of them being Amazon) and now lost her hope.
Both of us in our forties, two kids, Total net worth is about 1.7M. Only 150K in 401K for both of us since we arrived to the US in our thirties.
I can’t imagine myself buying a house even in East Bay - it seems that everyone decided to move out of San Francisco to Alameda county. Prices are crazy and inventory is non-existent.
My rent is very competitive - 2br/1.5bath, attached garage for 2 cars townhouse for $2.4K/m, but the landlord is refusing to install an AC and HOA folks are really rude: when I put a box fan with a HEPA filter attached into a window last September to get some fresh air (remember these horrible fires?), they sent multiple threatening notices both to us and my landlord despite having a letter from my doctor that I have asthma.
What I’m trying to say here is that I’m close to being done with California and started to look around.
West Salem, Salem, OR looks nice and you can get a decent house for about 0.5M.
I can easily work remote, not sure what will be my pay cut though.
Appreciate anyone sharing their thoughts.
comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipwAm4vBY5I
I do get weird looks from folks driving big trucks full of accessories from time to time, but that happened in the bay too (without the truck) a few times as well.