Ms. San Francisco Real Estate (Janice Lee)

Happy thanksgiving to everyone!     

Should you move to SF? Probably not—but maybe Thinking about making the move to SF, the greatest city in the world? The first thing you should know: SF is expensive. Second thing you should know: It’s small. These two factors will play major roles in your decision and life here, should you choose to accept it. If you’re coming from a small town, San Francisco will feel larger than life, and overwhelming. On the other hand, if you’re coming from a large metropolis such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, or even Philadelphia, SF will seem small. With a conservative amount of space—the city measures 46.87 square miles—you might be surprised to find that, for a city considered the capital of technology, it’s somewhat provincial. San Francisco is filled with extremes and contradictions, ranging from the microclimates to the economy. Multimillion dollar homes sit next to tents. Residents want to do everything to solve the city’s housing crisis except build more housing. Deniz...

The better deal in the long run depends on how long your run is San Francisco has always been a renter’s city. Even in recent years, when soaring real estate prices have increased the incentive to buy, the SF Planning Department estimates that nearly 65 percent of San Franciscans rent. The question for a newcomer arriving to the city after both home prices and rents ran away with the bank in recent years is: What makes more economic sense these days, renting or buying? That depends. In the short term, renting is always more affordable—otherwise why would anyone do it?—but after a certain number of years the returns diminish. How long that takes depends on a lot of predictions—or assumptions. In 2018, an increasing number of economic prognosticators suggest that SF is in a weird season when renters are actually getting the longer end of the stick. Here’s the breakdown: In July, real estate site Trulia declared that, for the first time since it began evaluating the relati...

San Francisco ranked fifth best city for tech jobs The Computing Technology Industry Association [CompTIA], a nonprofit trade association for people in the technology industry, ranked which American cities are best for jobs in the tech sector. Among the surprises, Silicon Valley hubs San Jose and San Francisco came in fourth and fifth, respectively, beneath cities in North Carolina and Texas. The report, “Tech Town USA,” compared 20 metro areas “where demand for tech workers is greatest,” and compared how great demand for jobs in those areas was weighed against the local cost of living. Despite the fact that Silicon Valley is, well, Silicon Valley, the top two spots on the list went to cities in North Carolina—Charlotte and Raleigh, respectively—with Austin coming in third. All California destinations ranked somewhere below. Here’s a look at some of the results: -  In this assessment, the best place to work in tech isn’t Silicon Valley but the Tar Heel State:  “Nort...