My breath hitched for a moment at the subtitle because I thought you might be the couple who ran a sublease scam on me in San Francisco. It’s the Wild West out west.
“… especially because the building was owned by a religious landlady who refused to allow any unmarried couples to live there (not sure if that was legal, but it also wasn’t legal for us to be there for other reasons.)”
It wasn’t legal, no. My very religious grandfather ran into this issue in the ‘80s, and my dad (a lawyer) had to explain to him that he couldn’t refuse to rent to couples because they weren’t married.
Pair of Lads < You & Nick < Couple < Guy on Phone < Guy who subleased to that guy < Owner ? Or was there one more link in the chain between guy on phone and owner?
insane either way. When I first moved to nyc I subletted a room from someone who was subletting from someone else, and when that time period was up I emailed the owner to ask if I could take over the lease and he was like "my tenant was not allowed to sublet! get out of there by the end of the month!" but i think scarier sounding. the person i was subletting from was like "woah thats crazy i didnt know that" (and i believe him, very nice guy). the next apartment was the tiniest studio 4th floor walkup far from everything, living with bf, another sublet but longer term, and i suspected we were paying way more than the rent actually was. the next one was a real grown up lease (after i got a real grown up job with a real grown up salary).
If there's something I don't understand about this whole thing, it's why on earth Nick didn't want to commit to an actual lease? I've lived in California my whole life and the only sublease I ever had was one summer in college when my old lease ended in June and the new one started in September. The person whose lease I was taking over in September let me sublease the room early.
So glad I’ve lived in low cost cities. When I got a job, I got a harbor view apartment that cost 25% of my income. Paying that much was annoying, so my girlfriend (who I met after leasing the apartment) moved in after 3 months. Paying 12% of my income in rent wasn’t bad.
When we married, my wife wanted to buy a house before I really wanted to, so I insisted we buy a place either of us could afford. We got a fixer upper for $126k, and only fixed the worst warts. By the time we moved out, the mortgage was 3% of our income. We have since moved to a bigger place in the burbs and our mortgage is now 6% of our income, which is fine.
I really don’t understand why people put up with high cost cities. Better to work part time than hump a huge mortgage and not be able to afford the cultural amenities that surround you.
At the time, this felt like our "only" option because of Nick's startup which had to be in San Francisco. Granted, remote work changed a lot of things but this was before that became normalized.
And here is where details would be interesting. Was Nick making enough money to pay for a middle class apartment for two? The chapter wherein you had the mojito mixer for your alcoholic boss suggests you could have earned as much (in real terms) as in Atlanta or Chicago. Did Nick hit it out of the park? Did he think he was going to hit it out of the park, only to fall into a west coast UMC lifestyle with a wife who detests the e-mail mines?
Well, we're not in San Francisco anymore, we eventually lived to an area that I'd say is medium-to-high cost of living but way better then San Francisco. Anyway, at the time of this article, Nick and I were making very little- he was working on a startup and not really bringing in an income and I think I was making like $20-30K. The chapter with the mojito mixer I think we were making a *combined* income of around $120K or so, which sounds high but is still pretty difficult in San Francisco specifically- we left San Francisco a few years later specifically for that reason. But at that point we could sort of afford a one bedroom apartment (we also had rent control.) Ha, waaay more financial info than I wanted to give out but you asked.
that info is essential to understanding your narrative.
there’s a great paragraph in pikitty where he explains how authors used to put prices in their novels but stopped post world war one because of inflation.
Yeah that too, like I remember hearing about someone with $3K monthly rent in San Francisco and thinking that was insanely expensive but apparently now that would be considered a steal? (Insane.)
Because jobs that pay pretty well, and a higher chance of a good dating/social life. Plus so many opportunities for work and entertainment that are hard to get elsewhere.
There are options besides illegal sublets for sure. I've never lived in a sublet and I've never broken the bank on rent, and I've only ever lived in vhcol cities. And another thing a lot of people do is live just outside the city and commute in and usually the commute to work takes just as long as commuting within the city, while costing much less. Or you can rent near a university or sublet from university students, usually much cheaper too
It's rare to get six figure jobs out of College that are not in VHCOL cities. Most people can afford better housing but slum it out because 1) they can 2) they are rarely home 3) roommates are fun. Also you find a rent controlled place and just park it until you're buying a house.
I’ll never know how I would have done in the Manhattan dating market. My first guess is “not very well because I would have been too busy billing hours as a biglaw associate to exercise.”. I imagine making $125k a year (which was alot for a 25 yo in 2001) and being outcompeted by photographers, graduate students, and trust fund babies.
Lower cost of living cities have fewer trust fund babies to compete against.
It's not a zero sum game though. Just because they are earning more doesn't make you earn less.
I lived in NYC for a good few years. Lived in someone's living room for a bit before finding my own 1-bed. Made a lot of friends. Was in the audience of a lot of late night shows. Was tricked into being in the audience of a Maury show and appeared on TV fake-gasping at the reveal that some dude wasn't the father. Watched my favorite comics and musicians perform for $5 or less. Ignored jack black in a bar. Dated a lot of cool people. And all this while I got paid a good amount of money and paid off all my student loans and saved up.
Lots of people earned more than me. Obviously. I was a new grad and it was not long after the financial crash. I was going to be struggling anyway, why not struggle in a city with great energy, opportunity, people, entertainment and hobbies. If I was going to be alone in a city, might as well do that in a place where I can find friends who vibe with me.
I've lived in other cities and God it isn't the same.
My wife and I both hate driving and haven't had cars since 2007. There are simply very few cities in the US where it's possible to live without a car, and they're all HCOL. But that alone is important enough to keep us in a big city.
For my job (software engineer at a big tech company) even though there are possibilities for work in smaller markets or remote, my pay would be reduced significantly if we moved (by 30%+), even if I could stay with the same company. Changing to a company not based in the Bay or NYC, or with software not as the primary business, I'd be lucky to make half what I make here.
Despite the high cost of housing, living where we do is the shortest path toward securing we have enough for retirement, though it may not be our best option to retire here.
Caveat that we only have one kid and live in a relatively small condo. If having a big house is non negotiable, SF is harder to swing even with a tech salary.
Agreed. I hate driving so I could never live somewhere where I need to have a car. (I live in Jersey City, paying over 50% of income to rent, but I think it’s well worth it)
This is exactly the sort of millennial hijinks that I am paying subscription money for! It would be a crime if this novel wasn't immediately turned into a show!!
too absurd to not be true
My breath hitched for a moment at the subtitle because I thought you might be the couple who ran a sublease scam on me in San Francisco. It’s the Wild West out west.
“… especially because the building was owned by a religious landlady who refused to allow any unmarried couples to live there (not sure if that was legal, but it also wasn’t legal for us to be there for other reasons.)”
It wasn’t legal, no. My very religious grandfather ran into this issue in the ‘80s, and my dad (a lawyer) had to explain to him that he couldn’t refuse to rent to couples because they weren’t married.
Back to reading the chapter…
Wait okay so wait it's...
Pair of Lads < You & Nick < Couple < Guy on Phone < Guy who subleased to that guy < Owner ? Or was there one more link in the chain between guy on phone and owner?
insane either way. When I first moved to nyc I subletted a room from someone who was subletting from someone else, and when that time period was up I emailed the owner to ask if I could take over the lease and he was like "my tenant was not allowed to sublet! get out of there by the end of the month!" but i think scarier sounding. the person i was subletting from was like "woah thats crazy i didnt know that" (and i believe him, very nice guy). the next apartment was the tiniest studio 4th floor walkup far from everything, living with bf, another sublet but longer term, and i suspected we were paying way more than the rent actually was. the next one was a real grown up lease (after i got a real grown up job with a real grown up salary).
I think that was the chain yes lmao
If there's something I don't understand about this whole thing, it's why on earth Nick didn't want to commit to an actual lease? I've lived in California my whole life and the only sublease I ever had was one summer in college when my old lease ended in June and the new one started in September. The person whose lease I was taking over in September let me sublease the room early.
I have no idea!
Hahaha so this whole hellish experience started with a reason that has completely been lost to the sands of time. Oh youth!
I don’t think he ever explained it even back then! He just felt scared of making the wrong choice? He has OCD which might explain some of it
So glad I’ve lived in low cost cities. When I got a job, I got a harbor view apartment that cost 25% of my income. Paying that much was annoying, so my girlfriend (who I met after leasing the apartment) moved in after 3 months. Paying 12% of my income in rent wasn’t bad.
When we married, my wife wanted to buy a house before I really wanted to, so I insisted we buy a place either of us could afford. We got a fixer upper for $126k, and only fixed the worst warts. By the time we moved out, the mortgage was 3% of our income. We have since moved to a bigger place in the burbs and our mortgage is now 6% of our income, which is fine.
I really don’t understand why people put up with high cost cities. Better to work part time than hump a huge mortgage and not be able to afford the cultural amenities that surround you.
At the time, this felt like our "only" option because of Nick's startup which had to be in San Francisco. Granted, remote work changed a lot of things but this was before that became normalized.
And here is where details would be interesting. Was Nick making enough money to pay for a middle class apartment for two? The chapter wherein you had the mojito mixer for your alcoholic boss suggests you could have earned as much (in real terms) as in Atlanta or Chicago. Did Nick hit it out of the park? Did he think he was going to hit it out of the park, only to fall into a west coast UMC lifestyle with a wife who detests the e-mail mines?
Well, we're not in San Francisco anymore, we eventually lived to an area that I'd say is medium-to-high cost of living but way better then San Francisco. Anyway, at the time of this article, Nick and I were making very little- he was working on a startup and not really bringing in an income and I think I was making like $20-30K. The chapter with the mojito mixer I think we were making a *combined* income of around $120K or so, which sounds high but is still pretty difficult in San Francisco specifically- we left San Francisco a few years later specifically for that reason. But at that point we could sort of afford a one bedroom apartment (we also had rent control.) Ha, waaay more financial info than I wanted to give out but you asked.
that info is essential to understanding your narrative.
there’s a great paragraph in pikitty where he explains how authors used to put prices in their novels but stopped post world war one because of inflation.
Yeah that too, like I remember hearing about someone with $3K monthly rent in San Francisco and thinking that was insanely expensive but apparently now that would be considered a steal? (Insane.)
Because jobs that pay pretty well, and a higher chance of a good dating/social life. Plus so many opportunities for work and entertainment that are hard to get elsewhere.
There are options besides illegal sublets for sure. I've never lived in a sublet and I've never broken the bank on rent, and I've only ever lived in vhcol cities. And another thing a lot of people do is live just outside the city and commute in and usually the commute to work takes just as long as commuting within the city, while costing much less. Or you can rent near a university or sublet from university students, usually much cheaper too
It's rare to get six figure jobs out of College that are not in VHCOL cities. Most people can afford better housing but slum it out because 1) they can 2) they are rarely home 3) roommates are fun. Also you find a rent controlled place and just park it until you're buying a house.
I’ll never know how I would have done in the Manhattan dating market. My first guess is “not very well because I would have been too busy billing hours as a biglaw associate to exercise.”. I imagine making $125k a year (which was alot for a 25 yo in 2001) and being outcompeted by photographers, graduate students, and trust fund babies.
Lower cost of living cities have fewer trust fund babies to compete against.
It's not a zero sum game though. Just because they are earning more doesn't make you earn less.
I lived in NYC for a good few years. Lived in someone's living room for a bit before finding my own 1-bed. Made a lot of friends. Was in the audience of a lot of late night shows. Was tricked into being in the audience of a Maury show and appeared on TV fake-gasping at the reveal that some dude wasn't the father. Watched my favorite comics and musicians perform for $5 or less. Ignored jack black in a bar. Dated a lot of cool people. And all this while I got paid a good amount of money and paid off all my student loans and saved up.
Lots of people earned more than me. Obviously. I was a new grad and it was not long after the financial crash. I was going to be struggling anyway, why not struggle in a city with great energy, opportunity, people, entertainment and hobbies. If I was going to be alone in a city, might as well do that in a place where I can find friends who vibe with me.
I've lived in other cities and God it isn't the same.
VHCOL cities create a delusion among people who live there to justify the insanity. I have never seen it bear fruit
My wife and I both hate driving and haven't had cars since 2007. There are simply very few cities in the US where it's possible to live without a car, and they're all HCOL. But that alone is important enough to keep us in a big city.
For my job (software engineer at a big tech company) even though there are possibilities for work in smaller markets or remote, my pay would be reduced significantly if we moved (by 30%+), even if I could stay with the same company. Changing to a company not based in the Bay or NYC, or with software not as the primary business, I'd be lucky to make half what I make here.
Despite the high cost of housing, living where we do is the shortest path toward securing we have enough for retirement, though it may not be our best option to retire here.
Caveat that we only have one kid and live in a relatively small condo. If having a big house is non negotiable, SF is harder to swing even with a tech salary.
Agreed. I hate driving so I could never live somewhere where I need to have a car. (I live in Jersey City, paying over 50% of income to rent, but I think it’s well worth it)
This is exactly the sort of millennial hijinks that I am paying subscription money for! It would be a crime if this novel wasn't immediately turned into a show!!
🎶 She even caught me on camera (It wasn't me) 🎶
This is probably your funniest chapter so far. 😂
Oh my gosh how confusingly hilarious!