The Bay Area is real estate insane. Prop 13 driven NIMBY-ism prevents any reasonable density housing from being built.
After living there for 2 years and paying insane rent (more than $5K/mo on a 1200sqft house), I now telecommute for a Bay Area company, and live in central VA in a 3000sqft house in a good school district with a community pool, etc, which cost less than $400K. I telecommute most of the time, and I fly to CA 5-6 times per year (on the company's dime). My quality of life is so much better. I mostly miss the weather and the food, but not the traffic & the crowds and the prices.
Not to mention that I'm using one of my 5 bedrooms as a private office, which is so, so, so much better than a low-walled cube in an open office environment.
After living there for 2 years and paying insane rent (more than $5K/mo on a 1200sqft house), I now telecommute for a Bay Area company, and live in central VA in a 3000sqft house in a good school district with a community pool, etc, which cost less than $400K. I telecommute most of the time, and I fly to CA 5-6 times per year (on the company's dime). My quality of life is so much better. I mostly miss the weather and the food, but not the traffic & the crowds and the prices.
Not to mention that I'm using one of my 5 bedrooms as a private office, which is so, so, so much better than a low-walled cube in an open office environment.