No ‘For Sale’ Sign? Silicon Valley Buyers Aren’t Deterred

Re:No ‘For Sale’ Sign? Silicon Valley Buyers Aren’t Deterred by mikestew on Tuesday September 06, 2016 @02:19PM (#12438061)

You didn't miss anything. I went down to interview with Apple. I'd not previously spent much time in SV. An hour off the plane, one real estate guide later, and I'd decided I wasn't going to live there before I even showed up for the interview (much over-simplified scenario edited for brevity). From my POV, all I saw was pavement, strip malls, and shitty houses for way too much money (there were nice houses, too, of course...that I'd never pay that much for). And this is after I already went through the sticker shock of North Carolina->Seattle, so I'm not some rube who just doesn't know how much west coast housing costs. But Palo Alto, MV, Cupertino and the rest are on a completely different plane than the rest.

But that's my POV. Perhaps others think it's just fine, or that the job makes it all worth it. Meh, takes all kinds to make a world, but to me it was just way too much compromise on the thing that are important to me.

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Re:No ‘For Sale’ Sign? Silicon Valley Buyers Aren’t Deterred by karma_vaccum123 on Tuesday September 06, 2016 @02:21PM (#12438074)

With all due respect, you were there for what, three hours?

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Re:No ‘For Sale’ Sign? Silicon Valley Buyers Aren’t Deterred by mikestew on Tuesday September 06, 2016 @02:37PM (#12438228)

Several days, actually. But your point is fair, it's hard to judge in such a short time. But you have to go on something, right? For instance, my asking locals where one might find a trail to go run on was a source of endless amusement amongst those I asked (IOW, "no, are you kidding me?"). More so, other than working at Apple, what did SV have to offer that I couldn't find where I'm at now? And I came up empty. The area more than likely does have much to offer, but it might just be that what's on offer doesn't appeal to me.

I'm not saying, "don't move there, you'll hate it." I'm simply relaying an experience that many here might have: that being you get flown into a place you have never been or (in my case) haven't spent much time in, have an interview, then decide based on that little bit of information if you want to tear up roots and move. It's not a lot to go on, but from what I had to work with I concluded it wasn't for me. (Doesn't matter, Apple didn't extend an offer anyway.)

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Re:No ‘For Sale’ Sign? Silicon Valley Buyers Aren’t Deterred by tptacek on Tuesday September 06, 2016 @02:24PM (#12438104)

I was there for a couple years, and I have spent months there since.

I will ruefully concede that reasonable people can disagree about San Francisco. But I do not understand Palo Alto.

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Re:No ‘For Sale’ Sign? Silicon Valley Buyers Aren’t Deterred by jedberg on Tuesday September 06, 2016 @02:39PM (#12438238)

Schools and commute time. If you work at Google of Facebook (or near them) PA is the only reasonable commute, and if you want your kids to go to great schools, it's the only option.

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Re:No ‘For Sale’ Sign? Silicon Valley Buyers Aren’t Deterred by RestlessMind on Tuesday September 06, 2016 @04:43PM (#12439156)

I just posted this elsewhere in this thread: Median home prices in Palo Alto are 2.48M compared to 1.43M in Mountain View or 1.39M in Sunnyvale[1].

While public schools in Palo Alto are btter, you have the option of private schools in MV/Sunnyvale (which are better than public schools in PA) for 20-25K/year, which still comes out to ~300K per child.

And commute time to {Google, Facebook, Apple, San Francisco, etc} is similar from these 3 suburbs - I don't think PA is any better, especially when you consider the possibility of moving around various companies in the bay area.

[1] http://www.zillow.com/palo-alto-ca/home-values/ http://www.zillow.com/sunnyvale-ca/home-values/ http://www.zillow.com/mountain-view-ca/home-values/

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