The reason the Bay Area is so high in demand is due to the fact that you are getting in on the ground floor of the high-tech boom that will dominate our economy over the next 50 years (at least). Companies like Google, Apple and Facebook have their HQ in that area - among many others that will lead the economy of the 21st century.
Pursuant to that, this is where you are going to find your best school systems, your best restaurants, the best shopping experience, and on and on concentrated in that area. Yes, the weather and traffic both suck often but that's not going to be a major factor once we go totally wireless and will be able to work during our commutes. For example, Google already transports many Bay Area workers to and from the campus in luxury buses equipped with Wi-Fi and self-driven cars will be here before we know it.
Weather outside not a factor when you are hanging out in cafes, working in sprawling open-area campuses, and being essentially chauffeured in luxury wherever you want to go.
So buying a home in the Bay Area is probably one of the best investments you can make right now, especially if you are young and have high-tech skills.
Ditto for other fast growing high-tech areas such as which you will find in states like Texas, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina and Colorado.
We complain a lot on this board about how manufacturing jobs are going overseas and whatnot but that is not our future. Soon, all manufacturing will be done by robot - and the robotics technology is being developed here in the U.S.
If only we could get the damn government out of the way, our economic future here in the U.S. is very bright indeed. I would love to be 22 years again and just coming out of college with an engineering degree.
Until the market crashes again. Which it does here.
Or until you reach your late 30s, and your company lays you off in favor of a cheaper H1B import. Which they do.
And then you can't find a job. Which is an epidemic here.
So, other than that, real estate in the Bay Area is AWESOME. Because high tech ONLY goes UP, UP, UP!! Never down. Nope, never.
Best schools? Don’t make me laugh
IMO we are very much becoming a two tiered society here. Brazil comes to mind, although we're not quite there yet.
If you were 22 with an engineering degree your have many benefits ahead. But you wouldn’t be buying a house for a very very long time, if ever, on just your salary without maybe a half million cash dow in SillyCon Valley. The rich foreign buyers from you- know- where have bid those old tract houses up to the million and two million dollar level, way way beyond what those nice big computer company pay levels. Times have changed. You can buy a house in the San Joaquin valley 120 miles away and join a “ van- pool” for five hours a day commuting. Even the Calif Highway Patrol has been quoted as saying they understand the problem and they try ( not always successfully it must be said) to give the long- distance commute vans full of engineers and computer programmers “ some space “ as they race into the Bay Area at 90 mph . The vanpoolers have their own culture, too. If one of them gets a speeding ticket, that engineer is relieved of his driving duty for a year so as to not jeopardize his license with a second ( likely “ augmented charges” ticket). People do adapt. But in previous times, they were able to adapt without having to compete with thousands of ( largely all - cash) wealthy bidders from foreign lands. It’s a major change in several American markets (Bay Area, parts of LA, NYC, etc). The young American engineers or whatevers can still live comfortably in Texas and many other parts of the country, however.