3 bed 2 bath, 1500 SQFT $2.9 million

[Alli]

joke is on anyone who buys this sort of thing in the era of telecommute

Not everyone can telecommute.

 

[Cmaier]

Not everyone can telecommute.

Someone buying a 3 million dollar ranch house in Menlo Park probably can. Someone buying that house is likely a junior VC or angel investor, a junior partner at at AMLAW 100 law firm, or someone who made a lot of money on stock options at a tech company. Most of the lawyers I work with live in Menlo Park, and the Menlo Park/Palo Alto area is thick with major law firms for some reason.

They would be buying the house for the school district, probably. Keep in mind that the public schools in more affordable towns around here are not great. So you have a few choices. You can send your kid to public school and take your chances - if you’re lucky you get assigned to the one or two good schools in your district, or to a charter school. You can send your kid to one of the more affordable private schools, most of which are religiously-affiliated. You can send your kid to an expensive private school like Harker, Pinewood, Castilleja, Bellarmine, etc., assuming you can get in and that you can afford $30,000-$50,000 a year (increasing as you get into upper grades). Or you can buy a house in a town with good schools, like Los Altos, Palo Alto, or Menlo Park, and put the $50k a year toward increased mortgage payments instead of tuition.

 

[thekev]

Unless you're filthy tech-stock rich you're not going to be able to afford a home in the bay area unfortunately, all I could ever do there was rent and it was always a short term goal. I had to move out of the area entirely to the valley where I could afford to buy and the house payments are still cheaper than the rent I had to pay in the bay area.

The median income needed to buy a home there is around $350K a year, I mean what average person makes that? I know just to rent a house in Daly City was nearly $50K a year alone and as I mentioned above, that was just me paying someone else's mortgage for them.

Realistically, it requires a 2 income household with both earners being highly paid.

 

[User.45]

In academic medicine there's this paradox. The higher the prestige, the lower the salary. I didn't even apply to Stanford or UCSF. We couldn't afford to live out there.

Personally, I prefer sights like this:

403 N Wabash Ave Unit PHC, Chicago, IL 60611 - 3 beds/3 baths

(MRED) For Sale: 3 beds, 3 baths ∙ 2249 sq. ft. ∙ 403 N Wabash Ave Unit PHC, Chicago, IL 60611 ∙ $1,850,000 ∙ MLS# 11449887 ∙ Introducing Penthouse C, an extraordinary three-bedroom, three-bathroom home w...

www.redfin.com

One of my co-residents back in the day lived in one of those Townhouses on top of a high-rise setting, that had higher upkeep than our entire annual resident salary. I found it pretty hilarious. It was a great experience though. We could live in very nice condos on a resident salary and except for the winter weather, everything was better and cheaper than in the East Coast, even traffic.

 

[Citysnaps]

Someone buying a 3 million dollar ranch house in Menlo Park probably can. Someone buying that house is likely a junior VC or angel investor, a junior partner at at AMLAW 100 law firm, or someone who made a lot of money on stock options at a tech company. Most of the lawyers I work with live in Menlo Park, and the Menlo Park/Palo Alto area is thick with major law firms for some reason.

They would be buying the house for the school district, probably. Keep in mind that the public schools in more affordable towns around here are not great. So you have a few choices. You can send your kid to public school and take your chances - if you’re lucky you get assigned to the one or two good schools in your district, or to a charter school. You can send your kid to one of the more affordable private schools, most of which are religiously-affiliated. You can send your kid to an expensive private school like Harker, Pinewood, Castilleja, Bellarmine, etc., assuming you can get in and that you can afford $30,000-$50,000 a year (increasing as you get into upper grades). Or you can buy a house in a town with good schools, like Los Altos, Palo Alto, or Menlo Park, and put the $50k a year toward increased mortgage payments instead of tuition.

Spot-on assessment. Especially with the large concentration of VCs along Sand Hill Rd in Menlo Park, close to Hwy 280. As an aside, there are areas along the east edge of 280 where Woodside offers some *relative* bargains in housing, and sought after public schools.

 

[Cmaier]

Spot-on assessment. Especially with the large concentration of VCs along Sand Hill Rd in Menlo Park, close to Hwy 280. As an aside, there are areas along the east edge of 280 where Woodside offers some *relative* bargains in housing, and sought after public schools.

That hotel off of 280/sand hill is pretty wild. I’ve had a few meetings there in the lounge. Luckily I wasn’t paying.

 

[Deleted member 215]

So weird that so many of you are familiar with where I grew up. Not a single place you’ve mentioned I don’t know. My dad worked in an office off Sand Hill Road.

 

[Citysnaps]

That hotel off of 280/sand hill is pretty wild. I’ve had a few meetings there in the lounge. Luckily I wasn’t paying.

Yeah, it's way over the top.

Ten years ago I met a photographer friend there for lunch who worked for O'Melveny in SF, and had to drop off some documents at their office there. IIRC, my burger was around $30. It was probably the best burger I've ever had, though wearing jeans I felt pretty underdressed. That burger is likely $40-$50 now.

 

[Cmaier]

Yeah, it's way over the top.

Ten years ago I met a photographer friend there for lunch who worked for O'Melveny in SF, and had to drop off some documents at their office there. IIRC, my burger was around $30. It was probably the best burger I've ever had, though wearing jeans I felt pretty underdressed. That burger is likely $40-$50 now.

I interviewed at O’Melveny. It was actually my first interview out of law school. I was used to engineering interviews (and mostly on the other side of the desk.). It freaked me out.

First guy had a western mustache he kept twirling. He asks “where do you see yourself in 10 years?” I give what I think is a good answer about the unpredictability of life, tying it to how I had just started working as an engineer around 10 years earlier, etc. He says “no. no. Let me ask it again. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”

Next interviewer is a lady. She asks “you were number 1 in your class at Santa Clara, huh?” Me: “yep.” Her: “why didn‘t you quit and transfer to a good school like stanford?”

Next interviewer: “if you could choose between flying and invisibility, which would you choose?” Me: “um, I assume the correct answer is flying, because invisibility is sneaky?”

I got out of there fast, and consoled myself by remembering that since I didn’t pay for law school, it was only a waste of time and not of money.

 

[Cmaier]

So weird that so many of you are familiar with where I grew up. Not a single place you’ve mentioned I don’t know. My dad worked in an office off Sand Hill Road.

I didn’t know anyone actually grew up here?

I’ve been here more than 25 years, and am beginning a 5 year plan to end up back in New York City.

 

[Deleted member 215]

I didn’t know anyone actually grew up here?

I’ve been here more than 25 years, and am beginning a 5 year plan to end up back in New York City.

I was born at Stanford Hospital and have lived my whole life in the area.

But I'm also working on an escape plan within the next year...time to move to more affordable pastures.

 

[Citysnaps]

I interviewed at O’Melveny. It was actually my first interview out of law school. I was used to engineering interviews (and mostly on the other side of the desk.). It freaked me out.

First guy had a western mustache he kept twirling. He asks “where do you see yourself in 10 years?” I give what I think is a good answer about the unpredictability of life, tying it to how I had just started working as an engineer around 10 years earlier, etc. He says “no. no. Let me ask it again. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”

Next interviewer is a lady. She asks “you were number 1 in your class at Santa Clara, huh?” Me: “yep.” Her: “why didn‘t you quit and transfer to a good school like stanford?”

Next interviewer: “if you could choose between flying and invisibility, which would you choose?” Me: “um, I assume the correct answer is flying, because invisibility is sneaky?”

I got out of there fast, and consoled myself by remembering that since I didn’t pay for law school, it was only a waste of time and not of money.

Whoa, how pretentious and snotty. A few times I met my friend at their Embarcadero offices in SF. Seemed pretty swanky. I remember a few spaces were adorned with Ansel Adams photographs (printed by Adams) and suspect they were worth a lot. They had killer views from their offices. An attorney friend of mine in Virginia characterized them as a white shoes firm. I imagine that means upper crust?

How'd you like Santa Clara's law school? I went to Santa Clara for engineering and thought it was excellent. I did take a contracts law class as an elective and enjoyed that. Already having a a fair amount of engineering design experience before SC, it was the elective classes I found most interesting.

 

[Citysnaps]

So weird that so many of you are familiar with where I grew up. Not a single place you’ve mentioned I don’t know. My dad worked in an office off Sand Hill Road.

I grew up in Redwood City, not too far away. And worked in tech in Sunnyvale and Palo Alto. Speaking of Sand Hill Rd, years ago I went to the Homebrew Computer Club meetings when they were held at SLAC.

 

[Cmaier]

Whoa, how pretentious and snotty. A few times I met my friend at their Embarcadero offices in SF. Seemed pretty swanky. I remember a few spaces were adorned with Ansel Adams photographs (printed by Adams) and suspect they were worth a lot. They had killer views from their offices. An attorney friend of mine in Virginia characterized them as a white shoes firm. I imagine that means upper crust?

How'd you like Santa Clara's law school? I went to Santa Clara for engineering and thought it was excellent. I did take a contracts law class as an elective and enjoyed that. Already having a a fair amount of engineering design experience before SC, it was the elective classes I found most interesting.

I went to “night school” and the whole thing was a very different experience than my engineering school experience. I was older, we had laptop computers, there were female students…

I spent 8 years in engineering school and still think of RPI as “my alma mater.” I never really formed any sort of bond to Santa Clara. Before I went there my wife was an RD there, and I have more memories of that time than of when I was a student there. I was also working full time as an engineer while going to law school, so it really was a different experience than you‘d get as a full time student.

 

[Cmaier]

I interviewed at O’Melveny. It was actually my first interview out of law school. I was used to engineering interviews (and mostly on the other side of the desk.). It freaked me out.

First guy had a western mustache he kept twirling. He asks “where do you see yourself in 10 years?” I give what I think is a good answer about the unpredictability of life, tying it to how I had just started working as an engineer around 10 years earlier, etc. He says “no. no. Let me ask it again. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”

Next interviewer is a lady. She asks “you were number 1 in your class at Santa Clara, huh?” Me: “yep.” Her: “why didn‘t you quit and transfer to a good school like stanford?”

Next interviewer: “if you could choose between flying and invisibility, which would you choose?” Me: “um, I assume the correct answer is flying, because invisibility is sneaky?”

I got out of there fast, and consoled myself by remembering that since I didn’t pay for law school, it was only a waste of time and not of money.

I guess it’s worth pointing out that this is not the worst interview I ever had - I did interview at Transmeta to be a CPU designer. That experience confirmed what people say about Linus Torvalds, and I ended up just telling them I wasn’t interested after about an hour and a half of interviews.

 

[thekev]

I interviewed at O’Melveny. It was actually my first interview out of law school. I was used to engineering interviews (and mostly on the other side of the desk.). It freaked me out.

First guy had a western mustache he kept twirling. He asks “where do you see yourself in 10 years?” I give what I think is a good answer about the unpredictability of life, tying it to how I had just started working as an engineer around 10 years earlier, etc. He says “no. no. Let me ask it again. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”

Next interviewer is a lady. She asks “you were number 1 in your class at Santa Clara, huh?” Me: “yep.” Her: “why didn‘t you quit and transfer to a good school like stanford?”

Next interviewer: “if you could choose between flying and invisibility, which would you choose?” Me: “um, I assume the correct answer is flying, because invisibility is sneaky?”

I got out of there fast, and consoled myself by remembering that since I didn’t pay for law school, it was only a waste of time and not of money.

Those people sound like imbeciles to me, although the third question could have been amusing. You could ask them if you chose flying, whether you would be required to file a flight plan.

The second person just sounds like a complete jerk.

 

[User.45]

Those people sound like imbeciles to me, although the third question could have been amusing. You could ask them if you chose flying, whether you would be required to file a flight plan.

The second person just sounds like a complete jerk.

I'll never understand questions like this. On a panel interview for a faculty spot I was asked what was the worst moment in my career. I just smiled and told them, medicine is traumatizing, but the most pissed I got about was spending 25 minutes on hospital admission orders, so I fixed them to be 3 min. By design, questions like this might to throw some people off balance, but they almost always reflect poorly on the interviewer.

 

[Cmaier]

I'll never understood questions like this. On a panel interview for a faculty spot I was asked what was the worst moment in my career. I just smiled and told them, medicine is traumatizing, but the most pissed I got about was spending 25 minutes on hospital admission orders, so I fixed them to be 3 min. By design, questions like this might to throw some people off balance, but they almost always reflect poorly on the interviewer.

When I interviewed at DEC in Massachusetts (apparently with Dobberpuhl - I didn’t remember that it was him, but when I met him again years later in Palo Alto he remembered me), one of the interviewers asked why I bothered getting a PhD, and didn’t I know it was a big waste of time.

Some people just need to puff themselves up, I guess.

 

[DT]

We've been shopping some places in DC, not quite the pain of the The Valley, but still making me wince ...

 

[Citysnaps]

We've been shopping some places in DC, not quite the pain of the The Valley, but still making me wince ...

Nice being close to a BART station! And Ocean Beach in SF.