Re: The Truth About Silicon Valley

Subject: Re: The Truth About Silicon Valley
From: Sarah Stegall <stegall -at- TERAYON -dot- COM>
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 12:23:48 -0700

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (in reverse order)


The Ugly:

Go to the San Francisco Chronicle's web site and
see their article from Tuesday, "Similar Incomes
Buy Different Lives", about the difference in
incomes and lifestyles of two comparable families:
one in SF, one in Ohio. The URL is:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/04/13/MN09FAM.DTL

It outlines very clearly the adjustments you must
make to your expectations if you want to live in
the Bay Area. It includes a cost comparison table
showing housing, transportation, food and child
care expenses in the Bay Area versus other parts
of the country.

The Bad:

Several writers on this list have pooh-poohed
"exaggerated" reports of high living costs, and
noted in the same email the high number of
available jobs for tech writers. Hello? Can we
say "cause and effect"? There are a lot of jobs
available because the salaries don't allow you to
*live* here. Unless you are willing to endure a
1.5 hour commute every *morning* (and another one
at night), you will pay through the nose for the
privilege of living close to work.

I moved here to the San Jose area ten years ago
with my family, knowing full well I would never be
able to buy a house. Together, my husband and I
earned nearly six figures last year. While we
might afford the mortgage, we cannot afford the
down payment on a house that will accomodate us,
our two kids, and my mom. (Without my mom at home
taking care of the kids, we would have to pay for
child care and could not afford to live here AT
ALL.) Do the math: when the *median* price of
homes in this area hits $375,000 (SJ Mercury News,
March, 1999), the 5% to 15% down payment required
by lenders mushrooms to between $18,000 and
$58,000 IN CASH. I once bought a house in Austin
Texas for $51,000, and it was bigger than the one
I'm living in now. Houses in my neighborhood are
going for $600,000, and one is on the market for
$750,000. I think they'll get it. These are not
mansions, but the neighborhood is mature,
tree-filled, quiet, crime-free, and in a
California Distinguished School school district.
Rental properties are virtually non-existent; what
rentals there are go for around $2000 a month for
a three bedroom house. I live here because it's a
great location, and I paid for that decision with
six and a half years of commuting 3 hours a day on
CalTrain to a job on the Peninsula. My husband,
until recently, got up at 5:00 AM to catch a bus
to catch CalTrain to catch a bus to get to work 30
miles from here at 8:00 AM. Commuters who don't
want to do that spend hours of their lives in
traffic jams that will curl your hair.

The Good:

Why stay? Because the excitement and energy here
are fantastic, because Silicon Valley is the heart
of the economic engine driving this country into
the next century, because I can see the Santa Cruz
Mountains every morning from my front yard,
because with stock options my husband and I have a
chance at making a windfall profit, and because
there are NO mosquitoes, cockroaches, or chiggers
in Northern California. Apple Computer is right
down the road. Summers are cooler, winters warmer
than in Texas. People are, by and large, friendly
(once you get used to the fact that they're all
Yankees). My city, San Jose, is so ethnically
diverse that there is NO majority ethnic
group--not white people, black people, or brown
people. My children go to school with kids from
Bosnia, Japan, Mexico, China, and India. San
Francisco is an hour away, Santa Cruz half an
hour. We vacation in Tahoe and Yosemite. Hawaii
is closer, and cheaper, than a visit home to
Texas. There are two major league baseball and
football teams, a basketball team, a hockey team.
Liberal politics are not a novelty item here. And
I drive my 1965 Mustang convertible to work every
day, with the top down. For that, I'll put up
with the congestion, smog, high gasoline prices,
and the fact that thanks to the crowds I won't be
able to get in to see "The Phantom Menace" until
sometime in October.

There are a lot of factors that go into the
decision to move here. Take them all--good, bad,
and ugly--into account.

--
Sarah Stegall || Senior Technical
Writer
Terayon Communication Systems ||
stegall -at- terayon -dot- com
2952 Bunker Hill Lane || voice
408-919-5893
Santa Clara, CA 95054 || fax 408-727-6204

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