"Ed Pawlowski" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 29 May 2015 19:38:42 -0700, sf > wrote:
>
>>where I mentioned that median rents in SF were around $3500. Here's
>>the latest: A new study by Zillow shows San Francisco's median rent
>>is now $4,225 a month and rents throughout the Bay Area are up an
>>average 15% over last year.
>>
>>GAG! I'm glad I own my own home and don't need to deal with that.
>>
>
> Wages must be very good in that area. In many places people buy a
> decent house and don't even earn $4225 a month.

You'd have to earn a lot more than that to buy even a small starter house in
this area. And one thing that people don't take into consideration is
upkeep. I tried to tell my husband of this but he didn't believe me. He
actually thought we would call the mortgage company when something needed
fixed. Thought they would handle it! I think part of the problem was that
his dad just let things go. I don't know if he was always this way but in
the years that I knew him, if something broke, it mostly just stayed broken
and...oh well!

I grew up in a house where things were replaced before they broke. Of
course there were occasions where things did break. You can't always tell
when something is starting to go bad. But my parents tried to stay on top
of things.

I was shocked the other day. There is a house behind us that has had an
assortment of people living in it since we moved in. Changed owners several
times and often was used as a rental. Not sure who is living in there now.
For a long time, the gutters were literally hanging off the front of the
house. I was relieved to see that repaired last summer. But the other day
it was very sunny out and I saw the roof shining. I had to go closer to
look at it. It was a white roof, three tab shingles like mine. But so much
of the roofing material had worn off in spots that whatever is under those
little pebble looking things is now showing through.