In SF itself most public schools are lowly rated. But many areas, especially MOST of the East Bay, public schools are very highly rated. Unless the OP moves into SF I don't think private school is necessary at all. Just make sure to check the ratings before moving into an area.
> I suggest paying the exorbitant rent for 6 months or a year, in a place close to work so that you familiarize yourself with the area, and then start the search to buy a place.
This is good advice and what we ultimately ended up doing. It's crazy expensive but now we know where we want to live, how much to expect things, etc. Our weekend trip out here to pick out a house was just no where near enough time to buy or figure out the area for renting.
> Things like multiple airfares and real estate broker fees sound like you have a sense of entitlement. Those shouldn't be covered in my opinion, those are the cost of leaving your home.
Relocation is meant to cover the cost of leaving your home. Many friends I've talked to had company cover air fair and sometimes real estate broker fees. I know a company I went with did.
I think it's a bit much saying OP has a sense of entitlement; OP seems to not know what to expect and simply asked a question and discussed the real logistics behind the move. When you search online many places offer to cover that and many do not.
I said it sounded like he had a sense of entitlement, I actually meant from the point of view of the company. I mean it sounds like he also wants free meals included, and Wifi on the plane as well. $30k I think is pretty generous, all things considered, and at some point, it won't make sense to move to the Bay Area. Does he really expect a $100k relocation package? I hate to say it but he's only a dev manager. Personally I don't think unless his wife is an engineer or another high-wage career, that they shouldn't move. Their quality of life will suffer. Anything less than $300k combined salary is tough with kids, rent, commute, etc.
Tremendously seems overstating it. Many in California are used to driving very long distances to work but you can get from even beyond where the BART line ends in Easy Bay to SF in an hour even with bad traffic. The trains in the bay area are a great way to minimize commuting to and from the city.
Good house prices is too subjective. In some general sense sure but I don't think CAP is a good analogy here.
> I said it sounded like he had a sense of entitlement, I actually meant from the point of view of the company. I mean it sounds like he also wants free meals included, and Wifi on the plane as well.
I didn't get anything like that AT ALL from the OP's post. This sounds more like a strawman than anything else.
> I hate to say it but he's only a dev manager. Personally I don't think unless his wife is an engineer or another high-wage career, that they shouldn't move. Their quality of life will suffer. Anything less than $300k combined salary is tough with kids, rent, commute, etc.
This...is wildly off topic and pretty terrible advice. You don't really know anything about OP other than they wanted to know what other people's relocation packages were so they can compare and get an idea as to how generous, or not, this company's offering is.
Yes the bay area is expensive but less than $300k a year isn't "tough" unless you're trying to live in a million dollar home and you're burning through money. You seem to have very unrealistic expectations.
Personally, I make considerably less than $300k a year with two kids. We rent a large house and my kids go to highly rated public schools. It's expensive, yes, but I don't think I would call it "tough". In fact I see my family far, far more than I did when I worked on the east coast.
My point being: everyone's situation is different and I think your perspective is a bit too narrow to be giving general, unsolicited advice.
to add 2c to the schools debate -- many of the south bay schools e.g. (for hs) monte vista, gunn, palo alto high, harker, menlo-atherton, ... currently have many recent students that are olympics-level athletes and international-level competitors in the sciences/humanities -- I would argue they tend to be better represented in the top US universities than many other places in the country.
If you want a reasonable commute (less than 1hr) (ie. South Bay, Peninsula, SF, etc) close to great companies, live in a safe area, with good schools, then earning anything less than $300k combined makes it tough. You can't even afford the mortgage payment on an average house in those areas at $150k/yr, unless you have a massive down payment, and God help you if one of you or your spouse loses their job.
Reasonable commute is relative. For example if you live as far east as the end of Pleasanton / Dublin in East Bay you can have a roughly 45 minute commute to the financial and nearby districts in SF.
Point being you can hit your most or all of your marks and not need $300k a year. In fact that's a difficult amount for the average or even above average person to make and it's not always possible to have spouses working.
Let people judge what they can and cannot afford to do. General statements like saying making under $300k is going to be tough isn't constructive and while it may be true in some instances it's certainly not true for all.
Before people pick up and move their entire lives they typically research the area. Suggesting otherwise is just a way of calling them stupid. If someone tells me they're doing X and want feedback on Y, I'm not going to automatically assume they're being stupid about X.
Sounds rude to me.
> I ask EVERYONE and they agree that $300k/yr is about the threshold where life stops getting "tough".
Sounds like you're in your own bubble. Its always good to seek out alternative views on something instead of just doubling down in your narrow set of anecdotes. If you're only asking your rich friends you're not going to have a good idea on the reality.
Only if you live right on top of the station. Since these places have relatively poor local transportation and parking demand at stations far outstrips supply, getting between your apartment and the station will add significant time.
Reminder that a normal commute is ~25 minutes. We've just gotten acclimated to extremes here.
Yeah if you're within biking distance it's pretty awesome and quick. I take a 10-15 minute drive to the station most days. I really wish they did more about the parking though; even people out in Tracy hit that BART station so parking is full, minus permit spots, by 7:30am or sooner.
> shouldn't be covered in my opinion, those are the cost of leaving your home
If costs of relocating shouldn't be covered in a relocation package then what should?
It doesn't sound overly entitled at all. Negotiate it.
- Note, of course not being American I can't comment on the actual amount. A quick google suggests around 15k in physically moving everything long distance (inc. self), plus the second move locally (2k?), plus rent difference of the temp place compared to expected place (rent/mortgage). So if my ballparks are OK then they have 6mo at 2k extra rent (no idea if thats reasonable). Private school should be factored into salary.
I know you said those only apply to the bay area, but those were covered when I took a job with a fortune 500 financial institution. They even flew me down all expenses paid for house hunting several weeks before I actually moved. It was just a senior dev position, not even a lead. I think it's fairly standard for larger companies trying to attract top talent.
Real estate fees for a 1M house is approximately $50k in Canada. Should the company really cover that, plus everything else? That's approaching $100k relocation package for a Dev Manager, if he already lives in a high-cost area of Canada.
At some point, it doesn't make financial sense to switch jobs, there's no shame in that. Personally, I would never recommend anyone to come to SF Bay Area if they have a family with children, and if they spouse isn't a high income earner as well. Especially if they already have a house, it's going to be a big step down. I have friends who make > $400k combined that can't afford a reasonably priced home in the Bay Area.
1) Unless you can afford a $1.5M US house, don't bother thinking you can just sweep in and buy a home within a month. The competition is way too fierce these days. It will probably take you about 1 year unless you're very rich already. Since you have a daughter, you need to figure out if you want to live in a cheaper area, far away from your work with a long commute, and send her to private school, or live closer to work, and pay an exorbitant amount, and probably still pay for private school.
I suggest paying the exorbitant rent for 6 months or a year, in a place close to work so that you familiarize yourself with the area, and then start the search to buy a place.
2) $30k sounds like a very generous relocation package. I think your expectations as to what it will cover are way too much. Things like multiple airfares and real estate broker fees sound like you have a sense of entitlement. Those shouldn't be covered in my opinion, those are the cost of leaving your home.