patrick.net

What I pay now is an obscene amount. I'm an FB. I've been an FB now for less than a year. Prior to that I was a JBR for over 12 years in the Bay Area. I don't expect my place to hold its value in the short term. It is small, rather new and in a great location. I can walk to Trader Joe's, Safeway, Albertsons, Target, (Whole Foods soon), Mervin's and Walmart. I'm only a two blocks from a Caltrain station too. The school district is quite good and my kids are both under 7.

But what I pay is affordable to me right now. It wasn't even close a few years ago. But I no longer have to deal with unresponsive landlords, mold infested bathrooms, and crumbling asbestos popcorn on the ceiling.

Low rent allowed me to save a huge amount of cash. I didn't dump it all into the house. I still have a decent rainy day fund. I never carried a credit card balance, and I still don't. The house is all my debt. But the rate is fixed and rather low by historical norms.

But I'm the demographic that you are competing against. I'm not a boomer. I'm a gen'Xer that saved and toiled for far too long to stay in this crazy Mecca of technology. I hope things level out a little. I waited for it to happen as long as I could stand it. But the rents where I live now are too high. I am satisfied to pay more and own it. My '06-07 property tax is already sitting in a CD waiting for October. And that's not the rainy day fund.

Well if I'm Ha Ha, it's 160/12 otherwise it's 1/3 take home income.