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0 pointsaaroninsf10y ago0 comments

Preach, sibling!

My wife and I have put in more than 20 unsuccessful offers attempting to stay in our unfortunately popular neighborhood in the last two years. We have been chasing the affordability train for some years now, our increasing bids never getting ahead of the frenzy... (today, it seems we're at peak market and it'd be foolhardy to buy perhaps...)

NB: we don't just 'move further out' not only because of 20 years of community, our love of bike commuting, and our great 'hood...

...we are bound by the location of our excellent public school. Non-parents may not realize the staggering import of lucking into a K8 public school you truly love... for two siblings in SF, staying in our school instead of paying for some private (assuming we could get into one) will amounts to well over half a million dollars in post-tax income over the next decade...

We too are part of the tired story of 'middle' class (by SF standards... :P) professional families with 2x full time incomes finding it almost impossible to hold on to a life of modest middle class comfort in SF (where middle class means: a 1000 sq ft 2 bedroom home for family of four; one 25K car; public schools; etc.)

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2 comments · 2 top-level

beachstartup10y ago

in my opinion, you're not really competing with those people, the real money that moves those markets comes from overseas. the local tech people just rent from the real owners.

with a global equities slump more foreign money might pour into california real estate.

geofft10y ago

Yeah, the way that the public school district system happens to interacts with housing markets is a remarkably powerful way of impeding class mobility. If your family already has a home in a well-funded school district, or if you can afford to move there, you can do very high return-on-investment things for your children. (Or, as you mentioned, if you can afford a private school.) And moving your home is a market with very long timescales.

Note that I am not saying that the school district system is somehow intrinsically morally bad, or that I know of a better alternative to it, just that it has this unfortunate result if you think class mobility is a good thing.

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