Canada is fighting back on these foreign investors, applying a 15 percent tax on purchases by non residents, and requiring non resident buyers to pay capital gains taxes of 25 percent upon sale. They're also now defining residency more strictly, requiring you to live in Canada six months out of the year. This is after Vancouver real estate blew up due to these investors. Maybe we can do the same.

That realtor has no idea he'll be replaced by an app some day.

We left the Bay Area 4 years ago for North Carolina. Best. Decision. Ever.

The Realtor needs a slice of humble pie.

Wonder if Ken would be so smug if he knew some of those "smarter" techies are working on real estate apps that will shut off his commissions.

I grew up in the Bay Area & have lived here all my life; 30+ yrs. I've watched my parent's house sky-rocket to almost $1M in value; it's a standard 3 bd. 1 1/2 bath home. I got into the high tech industry as many of my friends did; those are the bulk of the jobs here. We're all saving as much as we can to purchase property or a home out of state. I've worked for many well known high tech companies & earn a healthy 6-figure salary currently, but live in 200sq ft. to save for my future. I have no intention of moving to Austin as I don't care for the TX culture. Seattle is just as expensive as it is here & their just aren't as many tech companies out there, so I'd have to seriously consider pivoting my career. Most of us can't just up and leave -- our careers are here. The Silicon Valley is a micro-climate.....it's become more & more elitist in mentality & behavior. I don't think international buyers should be allowed to purchase without a hefty fee.

The dude named Ken at the end of the video is clearly from LA or some other superficial, nihilistic, no-moral town in California where people are judged by their wealth. "Someone at Google has more right to be here than someone who was raised here their whole lives." What an inhuman, materialistic way of life that guy must lead.

I just moved my family from the crap hole of California. I highly recommend other people do the same. The quality of life is better and it's a fraction of the cost. Just take the jump, go for it. You'll be happier, after living there for nearly 40 years, we just did it. And it was the best thing.

In the late sixties my parents bought a brand new four bedroom house with a huge fenced-in back yard and two car garage in San Jose for $28,000. Absolutely mind boggling. Needless to say I would have no chance of living in that neighborhood now.

To the woman who's rent went from $1000 a month to over $8000?!?!? Damn...💔

I completely disagree with the realtor. Home prices simply cannot just keep going up forever.

The ignorance of that real estate agent is amazing. Can't wait till automation replaces him and that POS is living on the streets cause he can't afford a $1.8million 2 bedroom home.

That realtor - towards the end - ppl should "just work harder" to stay in the area?! What a callous and outrageous statement!

Knock, KNOCK... Who's there? 34,999 other cities in the USA!

My stress levels dropped by at least 1/2 the day I moved away from the Bay Area, the cost of living and the status game was affecting my health. I’m healthy and happy now and I have money to enjoy life now. Unless you have at least seven figures tucked away and no debt, don’t consider a life in the Bay Area.

I hope the housing market crashes so those Chinese investors will lose all their money

"Work harder and get more education!" Wow, he's really disconnected from reality...

"This will go on forever" such a salesperson thing to say & nothing goes on forever.

My parents move there (Mountain View CA)in 1960 when i was 5.About 1974 they bought a house in Los Altos on Almond Dr for 20,000. I went to MT. View High School which was on Castro ST at that time.. M.V, downtown and San Jose were both run down areas. 101 was two lanes in both directions, 101 use to end at Blossom Hill RD in San Jose, than you would have to switch to Monterey Rd.. and then jump back on 101 in Gilroy. In the early 60s there was a stop light on 101 at Moffied Field for the Navy Personal to cross. El Camino use to be one lane on both sides with no traffic, and 101 had no traffic. Shoreline use to be the dump, we would pull up and dump are stuff on the ground, and you could scrounge thru it . 280 was built around 1966 ,, i remember crossing the road on foot when it was under construction while visiting a friend hiking. The highways were originally only 101 and 17. Highway 85 use to run from 101 to DE Anza college and stop... There also was no Highway 5 , 680,380,87 and so on. I remember crossing the old dumbarton bridge (which was a drawbridge) the remnants are still there at both ends. SJ, was 95% farm land. We use to go fishing in the bay for fish and crab.. There were thousands of small crabs all along the shore. There were a lot of deserted building in MT.View that we use to play in. Greyhound buses ran along El Camino up until the late 70s. There was no light rail or Bart. I bought my first house in S.J. about 1977 for 33,000 prices were starting to climb. I bought a house in Cupertino about 1979 for 66,000..... I bought my last house in SJ in 1997 for 225,000 on Renzo court... In 2004 i sold that house for 650,00.... from 2002 to 2005 they went up 100,000 k a year.... I went to Monta Loma elementary school with a soon to become famous person that the whole world now knows. He lived about ten houses away from me, and i do not ever remember meeting him.... I looked up his history one day... Steve Jobs... We lived on Whitney DR in Mountain View. He lived around the corner across the street. I do remember!, going to a kids house named Jobs, but it was a different ST... who knows maybe that was him and he moved to the address that was around the corner... My Dad Died about 1998 and my mother was getting old and sold the hose in Los Altos about 2004 for 1.25 million... That was very high at that time. My mother died in 2010. It was a great place to grow up in as a boy,,, lots of open land and empty buildings and no traffic and was safe.. I just remembered,,,, there used to be milk trucks thru the 70s,, and a bread truck with donuts in the late 60s..... The minimum wage in aout 1974 was 1.65 per hour....Hard to believe now. Now i am 64 live in WA. house,cars and everything else paid for...... If anyone has any question of how it use to be ask me,,,, it was a good place then...

Translation: The Bay Area's housing market is significantly over-priced. The time of correction is certain. Never over pay for real estate. Never.

When I visited San Francisco almost every single local commented to me how expensive it was to live there. What the hell is the point of living somewhere just to be strapped? I get wanting to be near family, but something has to give here.

Real estate agent "Just work harder" so out of touch

Not trying to be mean or harsh, just practical...Just get out of Silicon Valley. You lost and you won't change it. We did. We're glad we did. It is a miserable place for the reasons you showed the world in your video.

That's messed up the way that realtor thinks he's helping sell out his own country and his grandchildren or great grandchildren they'll be living in a tent in the backyard of a Chinese this is so sad

This is just insane. I can't fathom how anyone making a living as a teacher or who work in retail can afford any home in that area.

Those Google techs that he loves so much will replace him soon with an app.

It's like the Grapes of Wrath but leaving California instead of going there.

Real Estate agent is an arrogant arse. Thank you Ms. Joyce for an informative report. I have lived in California since the 70's and I really hate what is happening. My husband and I are leaving the State when he can retire.

that real estate agent is a jerk. Higher-income does not denote higher IQ, and you don't need a college degree to make a ton of money.

If they were to update this video today, it would show that it's gotten even worse. I know that dilapidated house in Palo Alto...it was around 2,200 sq. ft and was bought, completely renovated, put back on the market, and sold for $3.3M in 2017. The communities here are being hollowed out. Stanford University if facing a challenge in recruiting post-docs, graduate students, and medical doctors because the cost of living is so high. Tech affects everything, but it's not the only cause of the crisis...the cities have done virtually nothing on housing for decades due to NIMBYism, and now here we are. Google, Facebook, etc. bus employees to work and feed them while there. Thus, tech workers don't have to pay for their commute to work, or for food while at work...that's extra money they can pay toward rent, driving up housing costs for all. Our school district has trouble recruiting new teachers at the entry-level salaries...where are they going to live? Where do the people who work at Safeway, Trader Joes, Starbucks live? Many are commuting from across the Bay or from places like Gilroy, and their wages need to be bumped up a bit to lure them to make that commute, so not only does housing cost more, but so does everything else because the regular service staff can't afford to live here. Our police, fire fighters, nurses, teachers, even city planners are all barely hanging on or live in other communities and commute. These communities are crumbling. They seem nice, idyllic even, but they are rotting from the core. In a decade, there will be no soul left on the peninsula. Maybe it's already gone.

Michelle, I hope you win an award for this video! The same thing is happening in Tampa Bay Florida. There is absolutely no affordable housing. I cannot afford to retire in the area I have lived in and worked in for all my life. I think the 2020 candidates should be talking about this subject instead of focusing so much on Healthcare...so unfair! ☹

Even the people who have these good paying gigs can barely afford to live in their homes.

My husband and I just literally lived this. It's heartbreaking. I've cried myself to sleep at night before knowing I'll never live in the place I love again and nor will my husband, where he grew up. Greed is hurting so many people. "Work harder" is an insult to those who have lived this nightmare.

Ken has one idea but please remember how he makes his money. Anyone say self-serving? Maybe if he were a real estate broker in Michigan he'd have a different perspective. I say take the money and run to other areas. Leave the bay area without coffee shops, gardeners, maintenance personnel, police officers, bus drivers, deli clerks. Let the techies make their own dinners and wash their own clothes. Stop feeding the machine, find a place where your lifestyle and personal values are supported. Let them have their wasteland in good weather.

Middle class families can not afford homes in Seattle, Portland, Colorado, Austin, or DC suburbs. Those places are what California was in the early 2000s. Houston and Dallas are still somewhat affordable but those cities are becoming absurd urban sprawls with ridiculous commute times.

Soon CA is going to be the “Capital” and we are all going to have to hunger games our way out.

At the end of the video, Ken DeLeon said, "I think a person working hard at Google has more of a right to be here than somebody just because their parents were here and they complain they can't afford a home. I would say just work harder, ya know, get more education, um, is my advice to them." Wow. So Ken, how is it that the hardworking people at Google are working any harder than, say, a teacher with a Master's Degree who teaches full-time, then spends an extra 20 hours a week on lesson planning and grading, plus works a second job to make ends meet? Or a visual effects artist with 10+ years experience and outstanding college degrees, who works 80+ hours a week making feature films? Or how about a Patient Advocate, who has no college degree but worked her way up her career by saving lives and making a real difference in our community? By your logic and public message: none of these people have as much of a RIGHT to live here, because they don't have a high-paying job at a company like Google. I am shocked and extremely disappointed that a financially successful person like you isn't grateful and humble for the LUCK he has had, and that instead, you completely disregard the people who support the system that has contributed so much to success like yours. A community requires much, much more than employees who are lucky enough to fit into huge tech companies. Does the janitor who cleans up after them have no right to live here? How about the cook who makes their lunches? I guess the teachers who teach their children aren't worthy of living near these supposed tech gods, as you seem to think. Your mindset and your message is hurting your own community Ken. I'm friends with people in the types of successful jobs you refer to, and they would be appalled to hear you say such words. You're giving them a bad rep, and making a bad situation even worse by spreading such toxic messaging.

Michelle, I'm a Bay Area native, 33 years old and have a bachelor of science in web design and development. I had to move back in with family because I was priced out and can't afford rent for studios or shared spaces even in high crime areas such as Richmond or Oakland. I understand your frustrations and thank you for this video!

19:28”And in the richest country in the world everybody should have a place to live “ i am amazed that even though he’s clearly struggling,he’s still very proud to be american .

I grew up in Sunnyvale surrounded by orchards. Dad paid $29,000 for the house. Let that sink in.

Meanwhile there are 52 blocks of homeless in LA. - Greed!💀

My wife and I make about $100k combined. This is considered a good income in middle GA. I work for the post office and she works for a government contractor. What in the hell does everyone do for a living out there that they can afford this?

13:05 The reporter says, "You're beautiful enough to be on TV." WOW, what are we teaching young girls with this type of language?!

Left Silicon Valley about 2 months ago! Couldn’t be happier with the decision. Worst place I ever lived in this country (and I lived in a lot of different states)

A lot of smug people moving into an earthquake zone.

To all the people saying, "Why don't you move somewhere you can afford?" Pretty soon you'll have no custodians, no waiters, no grocery store clerks, no garbage men, no firefighters, no police, no teachers, no auto mechanics, no construction workers, none of the people needed in any city. You need them more than they need you. If you leave, great! Rent goes down for everyone else. I used to work in Silicon Valley. I'm now a teacher in Texas. After rent and taxes, I'm making more now.

This problem has been going on for at least 30 years. I started work in Sunnyvale in 1988 after earning a Ph.D. in electrical engineering. We rented a home in Fremont (not exactly the primo spot in the Bay Area) and during the first year we lived there, the valuation of the home doubled. My friends at work said that as recently as 1985, a single good salary (technical graduate degree) could have qualified to purchase most any home in Sunnyvale or San Jose. By the time I moved in 1990, I could not have qualified for anything within a 45-minute commute. Moving was my only option then, and I dare say that's what people will have to do who choose not to tolerate these prices. Even in the 1980s, there was mass migration down the peninsula as Hong Kong investors purchased homes in The City whose residents moved a bit further away into towns in San Mateo county or into the South Bay. Ten years later, I was commuting weekly from my job in Anaheim to San Jose along with a full plane load of others during the tech bubble. The folks I worked with who were buying homes there were spending $500-600k on ~1300 sq. ft. homes built in San Jose in the late 40's or early 50's. And like the lady said in the video, every one of them either were getting help from parents, or they had been in the market for decades at that point. The market in the Bay Area is dominated by a shortage of land and municipal governments willing to allow foreign ownership of their town's real estate. On top of that, the tax issues due to Prop 13 make it so new buyers are saddled with a disproportionate share of the tax burden in their communities. Unfortunately, we are at the point where it's a fantasy to consider having an average middle-class existence in the Bay Area. Those folks can at least find jobs elsewhere. The lower-middle class and working poor are stuck and will likely find absolutely no relief in the future.

Well put! I live in Oregon and at one time I've been a homeowner in Portland. Now, there is no way I can afford to buy in the metro area. I was renting in Oregon City. I had a 2 room 1 bath duplex and was there for over 2 years. The rent went from $800 monthly up to $1500 per month. The landlord made not only a verbal agreement with me to renew another year but we committed to one another via email, too (before he raised it so dramatically). I was waiting in the renewal contract, which he said he mailed, and then they showed up at the front door and said we have to move by the first of the next month. I write him a very nice letter, stating my tenant rights and that I will be out in 2 months and I will not be paying the higher rent because he didn't provide sufficient notice. He didn't like that much but after paying rent on time for the last 2 years, the only thing I could chalk it up to was greed. He is doing it because everyone else is, and getting away with it. It really is hard. I've seen the homeless situation spiral out if control. Sad times. No one has disposable income. Looking at the various neighborhoods, barely anyone decorates with Christmas lights anymore. Growing up, I'd see at least half of the homes would have some form of Christmas decor or lights up. Now it's 1 to 2 homes per block, or so. Times have changed.

You are way too late. We escaped CA 6 years ago. I was born, raised and raised our kids in CA, but we were priced out, and the commutes became unbearable. We saw a rent continue to rise, and knew that when we retired we would not be able to keep up with the prices. CA should do what our state does---charge Double Tax for out-of-state owners.

A real estate agent only needs a high school diploma to be certified!!

Great short doc! As someone from toronto canada where ( as not extreme) there is a current housing crisis this is a great example of how wild it really can get. I myself am now raising my daughter far from where i grew up as we would never be able to own a home in the downtown core of our city.

Thank you for sharing! Good doc and in Vancouver BC area it is a similar situation. About 18% of houses I've heard are not occupied, purchased by Asian investors who come there and buy expensive property by cash, which screws prices on the market for sure.

What IS affordable housing??? My father told me in the 80s when I was a teen that one day there will not be a middle-class and I'm watching it happen before my very eyes middle class people are now homeless people. Houses that are not worth more than a 150k selling for 300-500k. When is this country ever going to get fed up enough to get all the crooks out of office and out of Wall Street and let fear and just decisions be made regarding housing and the playing field be leveled? When we die and are putting the ground we're all the same no matter if you're rich or poor you still die. My grandmother always told me nobody is better than you meaning we are all equal. It would be nice if the people who made the decisions were in power made normal salaries in weren't so damn out of touch with the rest of us trying to just get by and survive from paycheck to paycheck never being able to have a savings account paying 1300 a month and rent how am I to save for a downpayment for a house? Rent used to be four and five hundred now that's a power bill.

I'm not ok with foreign investors buying up all the property why aren't they getting taxed higher?? And why do they get first rights to bid on a property?

Nobody works harder than Ken. It must be time consuming to IQ test the whole world on your own.

If she's smart, she'd squat in the "ghost home". CA has tons of resources for squatters and it can take a decade to evict someone.

New Zealand recently passed a law banning foreign real estate investment. The US should probably do the same. But you know, "free market" or whatever. This shit makes me so mad. Shouldn't' cost so much to put a roof over your head.

I was a mega commuter. My rent in Burlingame was going up quickly and I soon realized it would outpace my salary. I purchased a house across the bay past Tracey. I commuted for two years, up at 4:00am and not back home until 8:00pm. I was able to work from home one day per week. After owning it for two years I moved to New York near Saratoga Springs right next to Albany. I rented my house out for what my mortgage was plus a couple hundred bucks because I didn’t want to gouge anyone. The first morning I put the advertisement out I received 40 voicemails from people literally begging me to let them rent it. I later sold it for $50K profit without putting a dime into it. If I hadn’t moved I would have used that money to buy another house closer, eventually I would have been able to buy closer to the Bay Area. I was able to do this only because I had no kids. I suggest people move, there are many beautiful places to live in our country.

Realtor: Prices will just keep going up forever. Covid 19: Oh hai.

This is so sad. It's happening here in the DC/MD/Northern VA area as well. Our prices have skyrocketed! Pushing locals further out into the suburbs. I'm from DC and never seen anything like. It was affordable in certain parts of MD and N. VA...not anyone. Folks going further south or west of MD. It's ridiculous! This real estate agent is a slice of reality.

Where would all these educated folks be without the "non-educated" folks? Are the "highly educated" folks going to work at all the small local shops, restaurants or fast food? Are they going to work at the local supermarkets & retail stores? Are they going to take jobs as craftsmen, maintenance workers, mechanics or any other position that these "high educated" folks rely on every day? Of course they won't. People that work blue collar, middle-class jobs have a purpose & every right to live there.

This is happening in Vancouver Canada also, and in Australia. It’s happening all over the western world. It’s happening by design.

Great Great documentary! I lived in Dublin over 10 yrs ago. My monthly payment then was $1250.....today I know that number would be tripled! It is horrible that we do not invest in ourselves as a country, we look to outside money to drive the norms of our economy. Traveled to Vancouver last year and was amazed at the homeless issue there...same exact thing was happening international investors building and more than half of the property especially high rise buildings are sitting empty shells. Sad and should not be a reality...

As renters, working one blue collar job and one tech job until I was laid off for a younger worker, we were priced out in 1999. We bought a gigantic double lot house for under 90k in the central valley and commuted for a year back to the Bay Area until we found work for minimum wage here in the Valley. And before you naysay our lifestyle, I have a tech degree and couldn't find work any where. I think it is un-American to sell to foreigners. I think it is just plain human greed to sell for so much.

Awww poor middle-class family. I lived in California till I was 18 (1999) and was forced to leave because I was priced out. I had to leave my entire family and everything I knew so I could survive on my own. A house that was about $500-$700 to rent when I was a kid was about $1,200-$1,500 by the time I was 18 and now that same house is about $2,500- $3,500. You guys didn't give a damn about us in other cities that you guys priced out. This greedy cycle that will continue till Americans say enoug is enough. Protests/pass laws on how much foreign money can be part of your housing. Stop letting China dictate our real estate market. I pray for another recession and pray Americans learn their lesson that time around. Greed isn't good.

This bubble will also burst.

This video has me in tears. I was born in the Bay Area. Raised here. And I now have to relish the rest of the time I have here because I can’t afford to be here any more. This place is all I have ever known. My mom was also forced out of telecommuting even after a surgery that changed her. I HATE and will always RESENT what tech has done to our home

California at its best.This is why so many middle income families are leaving area’s like this.

What if you are a public servant with an advanced degree, already doing the work that you love? I love how this realtor snubs teachers. This is a guy making a fortune by switching a home from one owner to another. Real meaningful work.

Btw. Some people move to Vegas and commute to San Fran on the plane. You can get a house for 350k here. 1 hour flight.

Foreigners aren't allowed to buy houses in Denmark. Should probably think about making that a rule in CA

I’m a federal employee in Alaska and the wages and yearly salary are the same in the Bay Area. Alaska’s nowhere near as expensive, despite what you might hear. Food and gas more expensive, but you can get a nice small home or condo with 1,500 square feet in or near Anchorage or Fairbanks for $250,000 today, easily!

"Reator: I don't think it's going to end, it'll keep rising forever" hahahaha...bubble much. It's gonna crash

People said nothing when they displaced the indigenous off their land, generations later its coming full circle. Our whole societal system of how we are with each other and the laws that keep the system in place needs to be rethought.

This was 2015 and he said they will double in 5-6 years. Lol he was spot on!!!!!

NIMBYism and development patterns play a huge part. Walkable, mixed-use cities with good public transit are much cheaper to live in, since you don't have to spend hours (and thousands of dollars annually) on commuting. Getting a permit to construct anything is insanely expensive and time-consuming, and many projects are struck down. For instance, in SF, a private affordable housing complex was met with an insane amount of resistance even though it complied with all zoning codes, and in Livermore, people protested to "save the downtown" from a 4-story mixed-use development with below-market-rate units that was going to be built on top of an underused parking lot and one-story building. Permit fees for single-family homes can exceed tens of thousands of dollars, and even government-built housing (which should theoretically be approved much quicker than private development) take years just to get approved and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a unit. Parking minimums also drive up the cost, as does restrictive euclidean zoning. Adding to the melee are investors, both domestic and foreign, who compete with families. Naturally, if demand is high but supply is severely constrained, prices will skyrocket!

I was born and raised in San Diego, 1949 - 2006 but I got pushed out, forced out due to overpopulation, low salaries, and insanely escalating housing prices. I'm a refugee now, in the high desert in Joshua Tree. Even though I made $140K at the peak of my career, it was never enough to be able to afford a house in San Diego. Prices rose faster than I could save. And the population crush of transplants from the Midwest and the Philippines just became untenable. I couldn't even go to the beach anymore. Available parking began about 4 miles from the sand. Forget it! California is over. It's gone. RIP...it was so beautiful. My parents, who didn't even have a high school diploma, bought their house for $14,000 in a working class neighborhood, now valued at $600,000. No...it's over.

I could not be paid enough to want to live there.

Michelle, your daughter is a gem! "I think everybody should have a home.. even bad people."

Outrageous! In Vancouver BC a international investor must appear in person to buy their home & pay the taxes owed in person & must occupy the house 3 months every year. This is insane that foreigners can legally create havoc on local communities & our govt does nothing to end this. And please don't tell me foreigners have a constitutional right. They don't. We do.

The prices will not go up forever. There will be another decline. My philosophy in life and business has, and always will be “observe the masses and do the opposite.”

It’s happening in Utah too. In 2012 the house we just bought 3500 sq. ft. was in the $400,000. In 2019 now close to a million. My parents 2800 sq ft home in the Bay Area is $1.5 million-A fixer upper. I just wonder how my Gen Z kids will be able to buy a home when they are adults.

The truth about the inflation is like watching a cat chasing their own tail.

We're starting to see the same thing in Seattle. Foreign investors buying up millions of dollars of single-family homes, and renting them at skyrocketing market rates or leaving them vacant for land use later. We lucked out, but people who have lived here all or most of their lives are find themselves priced out of their first home purchase. Spare me the "move somewhere else", "you're not entitled" nonsense. Say that after a Chinese investor pays 850K for a house listed at 589K that you wanted to buy for your family

The Cadbury family in England built houses for their employees. Maybe some American corporations should think about housing their employees as well as offering health care insurance. Apple or Google could easily build good quality, affordable housing around and in the grounds of their vast office complexes. It might also increase employee loyalty if housing came with the job.

I'm convinced that our version of "money" will be the downfall of this planet. It will literally annihilate us all.

The Bay Area / California is no longer worth the struggle. The summer of love has become the winter of greed. The demographics have changed beyond recognition. You would be wise to find another beautiful place to live.

So a person who makes 3k a month say in tampa fl is richer than a person who makes 10k a month in Silicon Valley. It all comes down to how much you got in your pocket at the end of the month.

Rich people don't seem to realize that they need the lower classes. You may be able to afford a multi-million dollar home but who's going to clean it? Who's going to staff the McDonalds you go to? Who is going to staff the corner store you buy your milk at? If you push all lower income people out, you won't have these things.

She is right. I was born in '77 and my parents lived in Santa Clara and Fresno. It was all middle-class back then. I can't even imagine trying to go back to my childhood home. She's also right about Californian's displacing Austinites. Even though Austin is expensive, it's not nearly as pricy as NorCal.

That's why Cali is going up in flames 🔥 greed

🤣 That realtor is a real wac job. You can see it in his eyes, he’s affected. In any case, with the major influx of narcissism and entitlement it’s bound to get worse not better.

Love how Ken calls the tech billionaires smarter than the middle class families but the techies are the ones paying $1 million dollars for a condo.

I was born and raised in the Bay Area but could not afford to stay there even when I became a nurse. The cost is just too high.

This makes me feel living in India is far better.... At least people get to save over 30% for non essential stuff even in metropolitan city zones.

Precisely why I fled the bay area after living there 4 years. A tiny shoebox studio downtown cost me and a roommate $1350 in 2011, the same place is now $1950 a month (2016). For a micro studio. We slept in lofts over the tiny kitchen nook and my roommate had to put her computer on a small nightstand in the closet. I now live in Salt Lake City, working in the same industry with a lot of others who fled that housing hell hole, in my own 1br place paying $650 a month on rent. I actually have enough money now to save for retirement, have some disposable income, and can afford to travel. In SF I was commuting an hour and a half for work and could barely afford food. Going to McDonald's was considered a luxury. And I have a master's degree in a decently paying industry. That's ridiculous. It can't be sustained. How service workers can afford to work there is beyond me, how on earth is that city still running?

‘Here here’ to the man who said that houses are for living, not as an investment.

Lol the realtor has barely a high school degree

When the next big earthquake hits this area the price of real estate will be “leveled ”

America is going to have to consider what British Columbia did: foreign buyers pay a serious premium. Otherwise, we are headed for tragic jeopardy.