Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
Calling BS on this one. 95th percentile income earner in CA makes $230K. 95th percentile nationally is $195K. You can't find a decent place with a $195K salary?
Christ, this is why I try to not comment here.
Exactly 95th? No. Closer to 95th than 68th? Yes.
Add some child care and my wife's student loans(glad i went to uw btw) and things start to get tight when budgeting a mortgage.
With the market the way it is(in my area) we are somewhat caught since any high density housing has HOA costs close to the difference of what a standalone would cost outright.
I'll still buy something but the point still stands. I'm going to end up buying a condo, a townhouse, or some fucked up starter while if i lived anywhere else i would have bought five years ago and had something better by a mile. I also wouldn't be house poor for a decade or more.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
Calling BS on this one. 95th percentile income earner in CA makes $230K. 95th percentile nationally is $195K. You can't find a decent place with a $195K salary?
He probably has an issue with the hard 20% down payment.
We bought our first house with a 5% we borrowed from Mom. Course that was a homestead but still
The housing market is not that unreasonable depending where you are at
Except that you don't need 20% down. It helps get preferential rates and gets you out of having to pay PMI, but it's not necessary.
I live in an extremely unreasonable area, and I can go on MLSListings.com right now and find many "decent" places that somebody with a $200K salary can afford.
We talking what 200K will buy you with or without kids in daycare? Yuge difference there between what the Dinks can afford and those of that paying through the nose for childcare.
In many cases the second job doesn't justify the hassle. It starts out being taxed at the higher rate, you get to pay somebody else to raise your brats, people argue over household duties/chores, etc.. Unless the second job is really lucrative and/or somebody can work from home with flexible hours, it just isn't worth it. Nobody ever dies wishing they'd spent more time at the office. Wife makes enough for me to have stayed home with the kids; now that they're older I spend my mornings after carpooling making time with the young-mom gym hotties on the westside. Unfortunately, we're slightly more than a half mile from the beach, more like .7 mile, but I can live with that. Zillow says that our home value is 32% above the zip code median, so it might actually qualify as a decent place.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
Calling BS on this one. 95th percentile income earner in CA makes $230K. 95th percentile nationally is $195K. You can't find a decent place with a $195K salary?
He probably has an issue with the hard 20% down payment.
We bought our first house with a 5% we borrowed from Mom. Course that was a homestead but still
The housing market is not that unreasonable depending where you are at
Except that you don't need 20% down. It helps get preferential rates and gets you out of having to pay PMI, but it's not necessary.
I live in an extremely unreasonable area, and I can go on MLSListings.com right now and find many "decent" places that somebody with a $200K salary can afford.
We talking what 200K will buy you with or without kids in daycare? Yuge difference there between what the Dinks can afford and those of that paying through the nose for childcare.
In many cases the second job doesn't justify the hassle. It starts out being taxed at the higher rate, you get to pay somebody else to raise your brats, people argue over household duties/chores, etc.. Unless the second job is really lucrative and/or somebody can work from home with flexible hours, it just isn't worth it. Nobody ever dies wishing they'd spent more time at the office. Wife makes enough for me to have stayed home with the kids; now that they're older I spend my mornings after carpooling making time with the young-mom gym hotties on the westside. Unfortunately, we're slightly more than a half mile from the beach, more like .7 mile, but I can live with that. Zillow says that our home value is 32% above the zip code median, so it might actually qualify as a decent place.
I told the wife with her old job that if she didn't make more and wanted kids then she was going to be a stay at home mom. She then went and got a job that pays more.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
Calling BS on this one. 95th percentile income earner in CA makes $230K. 95th percentile nationally is $195K. You can't find a decent place with a $195K salary?
Christ, this is why I try to not comment here.
Exactly 95th? No. Closer to 95th than 68th? Yes.
Add some child care and my wife's student loans(glad i went to uw btw) and things start to get tight when budgeting a mortgage.
With the market the way it is(in my area) we are somewhat caught since any high density housing has HOA costs close to the difference of what a standalone would cost outright.
I'll still buy something but the point still stands. I'm going to end up buying a condo, a townhouse, or some fucked up starter while if i lived anywhere else i would have bought five years ago and had something better by a mile. I also wouldn't be house poor for a decade or more.
Well, if you're at the 80th percentile, which is about equidistant from 68th and 95th, then in CA that's $125K, and around the country it's about $107K. That's a significant difference in income from the 95th percentile, and explains why you're having trouble saving for a home. Even in the Tug, facts matter more than hyperbole. If you're not 95th percentile, then don't fucking say that you are.
You are where you are because the jobs pay better. If you really think that you can go somewhere else and get more quality of life for your lower salary, nobody is stopping you from doing that.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
Somebody is gonna have to explain this 'half mile to the beach' thing to the Throbber.
The Pacific is fucking cold. It's not like the Caribbean or the Gulf bath water warm with all-you-can-drink day-resorts everywhere.
And when you do go to 'the beach', you with like 12 million other Mexicans Angelinos.
Just don't get the attraction. Would much rather be near a ski resort in the winter and some boating in the summer. But 70 degrees year round is nice. No question.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
Somebody is gonna have to explain this 'half mile to the beach' thing to the Throbber.
The Pacific is fucking cold. It's not like the Caribbean or the Gulf bath water warm with all-you-can-drink day-resorts everywhere.
And when you do go to 'the beach', you with like 12 million other Mexicans Angelinos.
Just don't get the attraction. Would much rather be near a ski resort in the winter and some boating in the summer. But 70 degrees year round is nice. No question.
My beach is 340 miles NNW of LA. We get idiot tourists from Fresno, not Angelinos. I don't get in the water, but my kids boogieboard regularly, and we know many families that surf, paddleboard, and kayak. All it takes is a wetsuit. Wife and I take the dogs down for a 2-mile walk once or twice a week, to gain some perspective. You can't put a pricetag on perspective.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
This is precisely why I will never move back to Seattle. It's like all the bad parts of CA, but without any of the good weather or hot chicks.
Bing-Fucking-Go! I still don't understand the attraction of Seattle. A week in San Diego puts me in a C-Collar with all the hot women down there. Seattle? Never been a problem, never will be.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
Calling BS on this one. 95th percentile income earner in CA makes $230K. 95th percentile nationally is $195K. You can't find a decent place with a $195K salary?
He probably has an issue with the hard 20% down payment.
We bought our first house with a 5% we borrowed from Mom. Course that was a homestead but still
The housing market is not that unreasonable depending where you are at
Except that you don't need 20% down. It helps get preferential rates and gets you out of having to pay PMI, but it's not necessary.
I live in an extremely unreasonable area, and I can go on MLSListings.com right now and find many "decent" places that somebody with a $200K salary can afford.
We talking what 200K will buy you with or without kids in daycare? Yuge difference there between what the Dinks can afford and those of that paying through the nose for childcare.
If your kids are in daycare it means your wife works to keep you from being pour.
She'll likely have an affair when she meats someone better than you.
I avoided this risk by keeping Mrs. Creepy at home with the kiddos. I was not pour.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
Calling BS on this one. 95th percentile income earner in CA makes $230K. 95th percentile nationally is $195K. You can't find a decent place with a $195K salary?
He probably has an issue with the hard 20% down payment.
We bought our first house with a 5% we borrowed from Mom. Course that was a homestead but still
The housing market is not that unreasonable depending where you are at
Except that you don't need 20% down. It helps get preferential rates and gets you out of having to pay PMI, but it's not necessary.
I live in an extremely unreasonable area, and I can go on MLSListings.com right now and find many "decent" places that somebody with a $200K salary can afford.
We talking what 200K will buy you with or without kids in daycare? Yuge difference there between what the Dinks can afford and those of that paying through the nose for childcare.
In many cases the second job doesn't justify the hassle. It starts out being taxed at the higher rate, you get to pay somebody else to raise your brats, people argue over household duties/chores, etc.. Unless the second job is really lucrative and/or somebody can work from home with flexible hours, it just isn't worth it. Nobody ever dies wishing they'd spent more time at the office. Wife makes enough for me to have stayed home with the kids; now that they're older I spend my mornings after carpooling making time with the young-mom gym hotties on the westside. Unfortunately, we're slightly more than a half mile from the beach, more like .7 mile, but I can live with that. Zillow says that our home value is 32% above the zip code median, so it might actually qualify as a decent place.
Some good points here but even if one parent doesn't have to work there's still the benefit of getting 'em into some sort of pre school by 2 or 3 for the socialization. And even part time pre school ain't cheap in the big city.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
Somebody is gonna have to explain this 'half mile to the beach' thing to the Throbber.
The Pacific is fucking cold. It's not like the Caribbean or the Gulf bath water warm with all-you-can-drink day-resorts everywhere.
And when you do go to 'the beach', you with like 12 million other Mexicans Angelinos.
Just don't get the attraction. Would much rather be near a ski resort in the winter and some boating in the summer. But 70 degrees year round is nice. No question.
My beach is 340 miles NNW of LA. We get idiot tourists from Fresno, not Angelinos. I don't get in the water, but my kids boogieboard regularly, and we know many families that surf, paddleboard, and kayak. All it takes is a wetsuit. Wife and I take the dogs down for a 2-mile walk once or twice a week, to gain some perspective. You can't put a pricetag on perspective.
Looks like a nice spot to sit in the sand and read Steinbeck.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
Calling BS on this one. 95th percentile income earner in CA makes $230K. 95th percentile nationally is $195K. You can't find a decent place with a $195K salary?
He probably has an issue with the hard 20% down payment.
We bought our first house with a 5% we borrowed from Mom. Course that was a homestead but still
The housing market is not that unreasonable depending where you are at
Except that you don't need 20% down. It helps get preferential rates and gets you out of having to pay PMI, but it's not necessary.
I live in an extremely unreasonable area, and I can go on MLSListings.com right now and find many "decent" places that somebody with a $200K salary can afford.
We talking what 200K will buy you with or without kids in daycare? Yuge difference there between what the Dinks can afford and those of that paying through the nose for childcare.
If your kids are in daycare it means your wife works to keep you from being pour.
She'll likely have an affair when she meats someone better than you.
I avoided this risk by keeping Mrs. Creepy at home with the kiddos. I was not pour.
How come all your kids look like the neighbor?
Late - to - the - joke. A better man beat you to it.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
Somebody is gonna have to explain this 'half mile to the beach' thing to the Throbber.
The Pacific is fucking cold. It's not like the Caribbean or the Gulf bath water warm with all-you-can-drink day-resorts everywhere.
And when you do go to 'the beach', you with like 12 million other Mexicans Angelinos.
Just don't get the attraction. Would much rather be near a ski resort in the winter and some boating in the summer. But 70 degrees year round is nice. No question.
I don't like the beach and water. I like chilling near the beach and water.
But when I'm in Phoenix I like me some Rocky point even more than socal.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
Calling BS on this one. 95th percentile income earner in CA makes $230K. 95th percentile nationally is $195K. You can't find a decent place with a $195K salary?
He probably has an issue with the hard 20% down payment.
We bought our first house with a 5% we borrowed from Mom. Course that was a homestead but still
The housing market is not that unreasonable depending where you are at
Except that you don't need 20% down. It helps get preferential rates and gets you out of having to pay PMI, but it's not necessary.
I live in an extremely unreasonable area, and I can go on MLSListings.com right now and find many "decent" places that somebody with a $200K salary can afford.
We talking what 200K will buy you with or without kids in daycare? Yuge difference there between what the Dinks can afford and those of that paying through the nose for childcare.
In many cases the second job doesn't justify the hassle. It starts out being taxed at the higher rate, you get to pay somebody else to raise your brats, people argue over household duties/chores, etc.. Unless the second job is really lucrative and/or somebody can work from home with flexible hours, it just isn't worth it. Nobody ever dies wishing they'd spent more time at the office. Wife makes enough for me to have stayed home with the kids; now that they're older I spend my mornings after carpooling making time with the young-mom gym hotties on the westside. Unfortunately, we're slightly more than a half mile from the beach, more like .7 mile, but I can live with that. Zillow says that our home value is 32% above the zip code median, so it might actually qualify as a decent place.
Some good points here but even if one parent doesn't have to work there's still the benefit of getting 'em into some sort of pre school by 2 or 3 for the socialization. And even part time pre school ain't cheap in the big city.
We got ours into preschool for that reason. All-week halfday was something like $600/mo, three days a week halfday was around $350.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
Calling BS on this one. 95th percentile income earner in CA makes $230K. 95th percentile nationally is $195K. You can't find a decent place with a $195K salary?
He probably has an issue with the hard 20% down payment.
We bought our first house with a 5% we borrowed from Mom. Course that was a homestead but still
The housing market is not that unreasonable depending where you are at
Except that you don't need 20% down. It helps get preferential rates and gets you out of having to pay PMI, but it's not necessary.
I live in an extremely unreasonable area, and I can go on MLSListings.com right now and find many "decent" places that somebody with a $200K salary can afford.
We talking what 200K will buy you with or without kids in daycare? Yuge difference there between what the Dinks can afford and those of that paying through the nose for childcare.
In many cases the second job doesn't justify the hassle. It starts out being taxed at the higher rate, you get to pay somebody else to raise your brats, people argue over household duties/chores, etc.. Unless the second job is really lucrative and/or somebody can work from home with flexible hours, it just isn't worth it. Nobody ever dies wishing they'd spent more time at the office. Wife makes enough for me to have stayed home with the kids; now that they're older I spend my mornings after carpooling making time with the young-mom gym hotties on the westside. Unfortunately, we're slightly more than a half mile from the beach, more like .7 mile, but I can live with that. Zillow says that our home value is 32% above the zip code median, so it might actually qualify as a decent place.
Some good points here but even if one parent doesn't have to work there's still the benefit of getting 'em into some sort of pre school by 2 or 3 for the socialization. And even part time pre school ain't cheap in the big city.
We got ours into preschool for that reason. All-week halfday was something like $600/mo, three days a week halfday was around $350.
3 days a week in Seattle for pre school would set you back $1000 - $1300 a month easy these days. $1600 - $2000 for full time.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
This is precisely why I will never move back to Seattle. It's like all the bad parts of CA, but without any of the good weather or hot chicks.
Bing-Fucking-Go! I still don't understand the attraction of Seattle. A week in San Diego puts me in a C-Collar with all the hot women down there. Seattle? Never been a problem, never will be.
Seattle's attraction is the outdoors. And the mild weather - never all that hot or cold. And it's green.
I can't live there because I hate fucking people and the traffic and crowds in Seattle make me crazy. I live on the southern edge of the greater Puget Sound clusterfuck, so I'm able to jump out to the woods, mountains, coast and rivers pretty quick. I have to venture into the rat race for work so I pay a penalty of having to commute an hour each way, but the traffic is pretty light most of the way because I go the long way through the sticks.
I couldn't deal in southern California. Everything would be cool for a while, but then I'd show up at work dressed in a Winnie the Pooh suit and packing heat. Nobody wins then.
Being upper middle class in California is like being mid to lower-middle class most other places. I can afford to rent a decent place but I can't afford to buy one. The truly shitty part is that the state still tax me as though I was in that 95th percentile of income earners. The upside is that it's 70 degrees year round and I'm a half-mile from the beach.
I'd move back to Seattle but it sounds like they are doing their best to transform that into an extension of the bay area.
This is precisely why I will never move back to Seattle. It's like all the bad parts of CA, but without any of the good weather or hot chicks.
Bing-Fucking-Go! I still don't understand the attraction of Seattle. A week in San Diego puts me in a C-Collar with all the hot women down there. Seattle? Never been a problem, never will be.
Seattle's attraction is the outdoors. And the mild weather - never all that hot or cold. And it's green.
I can't live there because I hate fucking people and the traffic and crowds in Seattle make me crazy. I live on the southern edge of the greater Puget Sound clusterfuck, so I'm able to jump out to the woods, mountains, coast and rivers pretty quick. I have to venture into the rat race for work so I pay a penalty of having to commute an hour each way, but the traffic is pretty light most of the way because I go the long way through the sticks.
I couldn't deal in southern California. Everything would be cool for a while, but then I'd show up at work dressed in a Winnie the Pooh suit and packing heat. Nobody wins then.
Not entirely true. The mental health profession would win after scores of fucked up kids who watched Winnie the Pooh gun down a parking lot full of people seek counseling.
Comments
Exactly 95th? No. Closer to 95th than 68th? Yes.
Add some child care and my wife's student loans(glad i went to uw btw) and things start to get tight when budgeting a mortgage.
With the market the way it is(in my area) we are somewhat caught since any high density housing has HOA costs close to the difference of what a standalone would cost outright.
I'll still buy something but the point still stands. I'm going to end up buying a condo, a townhouse, or some fucked up starter while if i lived anywhere else i would have bought five years ago and had something better by a mile. I also wouldn't be house poor for a decade or more.
You are where you are because the jobs pay better. If you really think that you can go somewhere else and get more quality of life for your lower salary, nobody is stopping you from doing that.
The Pacific is fucking cold. It's not like the Caribbean or the Gulf bath water warm with all-you-can-drink day-resorts everywhere.
And when you do go to 'the beach', you with like 12 million other
MexicansAngelinos.Just don't get the attraction. Would much rather be near a ski resort in the winter and some boating in the summer. But 70 degrees year round is nice. No question.
But when I'm in Phoenix I like me some Rocky point even more than socal.
I can't live there because I hate fucking people and the traffic and crowds in Seattle make me crazy. I live on the southern edge of the greater Puget Sound clusterfuck, so I'm able to jump out to the woods, mountains, coast and rivers pretty quick. I have to venture into the rat race for work so I pay a penalty of having to commute an hour each way, but the traffic is pretty light most of the way because I go the long way through the sticks.
I couldn't deal in southern California. Everything would be cool for a while, but then I'd show up at work dressed in a Winnie the Pooh suit and packing heat. Nobody wins then.
So, yeah, like Renton.