Hacker News Reader

Comment by cflewis | Hacker News Reader

It's the jobs. You want to work at Google, you work in CA. You want to work in movies, you work in CA. There are various environmental factors (like the weather) and economic factors (like locking in property taxes when you buy) that keep people in their homes, stunting inventory.

Yeah, I _could_ buy a house somewhere else, just like I _could_ give up on a fulfilling career. But I don't think people are willing to spend the majority of their waking hours in a job they don't like so they can have a house, given the alternative of having a job they do and renting. Everything is a life choice, and home ownership is not be all and end all, but I think it seems very wrong that the dichotomy of career vs home-ownership is as harsh as it is.

View on HN

It's not the jobs.

In New York you can get an apartment in Jackson Heights for $200k and take the F train to work.

https://www.redfin.com/NY/Corona/112-50-Northern-Blvd-11368/...

In the Bay Area it's expensive near job centers but it's still expensive 40 miles away. The sprawling mess is too low density to sensibly cover with trains so people end up with insane highway commutes.

California's problem is property taxes. Tax people fairly - not based on the time they joined the class of property owners - and our problems go away.

It's the jobs. You want to work at Google, you work in CA. You want to work in movies, you work in CA.

This isn't true. I've known Googlers who worked in Ann Arbor, Pittsburgh and NYC. I've enjoyed many films made in Georgia. Places like NM, Georgia, Austin, etc. are enticing filming there because they know the industry can support more than just one hub in LA. Now filmmakers know they can work and play in Atlanta, Albuquerque or Austin, places cheaper than Hollywood. Places where you don't need family assistance for a down payment on a house. A Googler could do the same in Pittsburgh.

I think it seems very wrong that the dichotomy of career vs home-ownership is as harsh as it is

Is it? OK, I'll grant that it is if you have a singular mindset of "I must own a home right now and I can only have a fulfilling career bay area", but you aren't entitled to live and work in a specific place. And who cares? There's so much more to this world than that.

The examples you cite are exceptions, not the rule.

Most Google engineers still work in CA, and it's easier to get hired for a role at HQ because there are always openings for all kinds of positions. For the smaller offices, they might only be hiring infra or only hiring L6+, etc.

For movies, think about what you'd do as a young actor trying to get a major role. Would you live in Atlanta where a handful of films are shot every year, or would you live in LA where hundreds of opportunities come up every month?

Times change though for cost economics as an industry matures. I live in Atlanta and there are now more movies and TV shows filmed in the state of Georgia than in Los Angeles now. I keep seeing reports of people constantly moving to Georgia to work in the entertainment industry and several people I know have ties to the entertainment industry here as well. Almost all the Marvel movies are filmed downtown and in various locations throughout metro Atlanta. Every other Netflix series has been filmed in the area. There are tons of yellow signs pointing to movie and TV shooting locations throughout the city.

Entertainment is a lot more cost-sensitive to labor than most tech companies and while a lot of regulations on filming can be an issue on occasion I'm pretty sure that all of it is dwarfed by the sheer number of bodies necessary to film some scenes on a non-studio location.

During the Great Recession, movie stars kept their 8+ figure checks but almost everyone else took massive cuts. Similar economics happen in labor markets for tech where we are seeing a very clear bimodal distribution of pay for those in FAANGS companies (or very close to them) and those that aren't.

In my experience, a lot of people who live and reside in Los Angeles will take gigs in Georgia. Most people wouldn't actually live there minus their short stints to do the film they are involved in.

> But I don't think people are willing to spend the majority of their waking hours in a job they don't like so they can have a house, given the alternative of having a job they do and renting.

This is... not accurate.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com