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Comment by mulmen | Hacker News Reader

You don’t know me or my situation. Houses in Seattle are upwards of 750k for something that isn’t a fixer-upper. And if a house meeds work that’s even more money. Being able to “afford” something is more than having the cash to buy it or credit to finance it.

There’s a huge difference between being rich (or wealthy, not the same) and simply having more than someone else.

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True, I don't know you, but you've now given some information to work with. With a 300k income, you should be able to put away 50k a year without problem. That's a 20% downpayment after 3 years for a 750k house. (If you can't save 50k a year then that's because of lifestyle choices like what car you drive, when and how much you eat out and where you go on vacation. That's fine, but your choice, so don't complain.)

> There’s a huge difference between being rich (or wealthy, not the same) and simply having more than someone else.

No. That's basically the definitions of those concepts. They are relative to how well off everybody else is.

Yes, I could penny pinch to buy a house for an exorbitant sum. That also contributes to increasing housing prices. Or I can keep renting and saving for retirement. The fact is tech salaries are actually modest and everyone else is getting really screwed. The idea that tech workers are villains only plays into the hands of the truly wealthy.

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