Thoughts on moving out of Bay Area (and California)

MongoDB / Eng
not_really

Go to company page MongoDB Eng

not_really
Feb 18, 2021 79 Comments

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.

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TOP 79 Comments
  • PayPal
    elljou

    Go to company page PayPal

    elljou
    I think you have a good plan.
    Feb 18, 2021 0
  • Outside of Portland, Oregon only makes sense if you are White.
    Feb 18, 2021 9
  • Airbnb
    wise taco°

    Go to company page Airbnb

    wise taco°
    I moved out last July to FL and was the best decision I could have taken. Bought a 5b/5b house with a pool for less than 500k and my property taxes are 4k/year.
    Feb 18, 2021 12
    • Airbnb
      wise taco°

      Go to company page Airbnb

      wise taco°
      @Twitter not many indeed, but they exist. One of my neighboors is chinese and there's an authentic indian market a couple of miles from where I live. I know it's authentic because I cannot read what the products are... haha
      Mar 2, 2021
    • Airbnb
      wise taco°

      Go to company page Airbnb

      wise taco°
      I'm not white, but yeah I do blend in in the crowd here. There's also way more black folks here than in and I haven't seen open racism anywhere yet.
      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.
      Mar 2, 2021
  • Apple
    fresh🐕💩

    Go to company page Apple

    fresh🐕💩
    Austin isn’t the best this week, but much better housing situation than the Bay Area, while also having enough tech jobs
    Feb 18, 2021 4
    • Apple
      fresh🐕💩

      Go to company page Apple

      fresh🐕💩
      That’s true 😊 I’d considered Oregon and Atlanta before moving to Austin only because of the opportunities in tech. Oregon still remains one of my favorite places in this country
      Feb 18, 2021
    • Apple
      fresh🐕💩

      Go to company page Apple

      fresh🐕💩
      @Paypal - You can’t buy a cowshed for 1M in the Bay Area, so it’s much better here. The situation has worsened due to availability of jobs, but it’s still much better than the Bay Area. You can’t find any other place with these many tech jobs other than Seattle, Bay Area and Austin right now.
      Feb 18, 2021
  • Google
    XnDw37

    Go to company page Google

    XnDw37
    Sounds good to me, find a good place, with good neighborhood and finally start to live your full life, instead of surviving at bay area. I am going to move out from bay are as well, once we will know more about post covid world.
    Feb 18, 2021 0