The "Real Seattle"

[kpom]

[RottedOak]

[perfectfire]

[Kary Krismer]

[deejayoh]

you choose to blog, you make yourself a public figure. It's the internet. Hardly hidden. Google is your friend.

FWIW, I didn't raise the issue of your post, but the subject was brought up here and I have no misgivings about commenting. I don't feel the need to come over and register at the PI in order to get your blessings.

[perfectfire]

[Lake Hills Renter]

Wow. I did my first real home search on Redfin tonight. There is absolutely no way a typical single Microsoft income can afford anything even close to 3x salary in the I-90 corridor even out to North Bend and beyond, unless you want to buy a single-wide. Maple Valley or Renton seemed to be the only places even remotely within sanity range, and that commute makes me shudder to even consider it. Guess I'll keep renting...

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[redmondjp]

LHR,

You're 100% correct--local housing prices are so far out of whack from the median income that it's not even funny.

I live 0.8mi from the Red West campus of MS, so I guess I am living in the Inner Circle, the Golden Triangle, Pink Pony Central, AKA Ardell's favorite neighborhood.

Median income in Redmond (home of Microsoft, Nintendo, and a whole host of other hi-tech companies) from the last census was $69K, which I'm also guessing is close to what a lot of MS employees make. Median housing prices in this area (around MS, not the city as a whole)--around $700K (1970s split-level for $500K, 3500sf McCrackerbox for $1M). So you can get into a house for somewhere between 7-14x median income for the area. Hmmm. Does that sound affordable to you?

And you're right about the commute--I reverse-commute northbound 405 from Kirkland up to Bothell (then east to Monroe) every morning, and I am so thankful that I'm not sitting on the other side of the divider! Renting is a far preferable 'hell' to sitting in traffic for two hours a day.

[Lake Hills Renter]

Crashing real estate prices aside (which at this point I'm not convinced is a given) I'm wondering if it would be financially feasible to rent for the next 10+ years and wait to buy outright when I retire. Fortunately, I want to live far away from the metro area, so the places I'd want to buy after working should be quite a bit cheaper than in-city. I live meagerly compared to my salary so I'm saving quite a bit of money right now, and have been for the last few years. If all the money I'm saving, including the savings of renting instead of buying, was invested wisely, I wonder if I would be better off financially to give up on buying completely until I retire, then take my savings and buy free and clear out in the country. If prices don't come down to reasonable, that may be my only option, feasible or not.

As anecdotal evidence, I make quite a bit more than the median income you quoted for Redmond, and I was looking for small rural houses out I-90 -- 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, more trees than immediate neighbors. The only one I found I really liked from the listings (aside from the 30 mile commute) was 5x my salary. Most were priced above my even exaggerated upper limit. And that's for a very small house (by today's standard) pretty far from the metro. Not your typical home fare these days.

Running approximate numbers, my rent is about half the monthly cost of buying that house, and it was one of the cheapest I saw. And my commute is literally 10x shorter. As much as I am aching for my own place, it just doesn't come close to making financial sense for me right now. And there will have to be some serious changes to the equation parameters for it to make sense any time soon.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[kpom]

[perfectfire]

No, no, no. Don't look at the whole thing.


There, now isn't that much better? I'd fly on that plane wouldn't you?

[Ubersalad]

Kary is a stud...a retired lawyer turning into real estate agent. You can't call him a monkey, because he actually has a law degree.