Search found 1130 matches

by Bungo
Mon Jun 26, 2023 11:23 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: FAANG+/CS - Career vs. lifestyle/location/housing
Replies: 121
Views: 8542

Re: FAANG+/CS - Career vs. lifestyle/location/housing

I spent most of my career as a software engineer in the Bay Area and was able to cash out and retire at age 52, so I'm certainly biased, but here's my two cents anyway: Unless they have an overwhelming need to own a house in the near future, the Bay Area is where they should be at this point in their careers. Yes, there are a few other tech hubs (Austin, Seattle, etc) but the vast majority of tech jobs, especially the really good tech jobs, are still in Silicon Valley. As for housing, renting an apartment or owning a SFH are not the only options. They could rent a house, buy a condo, etc. Who needs to own a house in their early 20s anyway? The numbers may seem unfavorable now, but they're extremely early in their careers and their compensat...
by Bungo
Mon May 15, 2023 7:57 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Are you changing your portfolio in retirement for persistent higher inflation? If so, how?
Replies: 58
Views: 4696

Re: Are you changing your portfolio in retirement for persistent higher inflation? If so, how?

No change to my retirement portfolio, but for the first time in ages I've moved some of my cash holdings into CDs. Even that is me taking advantage of a side effect of inflation (non-negligible interest rates) as opposed to reacting to inflation.
by Bungo
Sat Apr 29, 2023 4:04 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How many are holding cash right now?
Replies: 203
Views: 31076

Re: How many are holding cash right now?

I keep about $100k in cash. It's part of my IPS, not something that fluctuates with market conditions.
by Bungo
Wed Apr 26, 2023 9:20 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]

I'm not a software engineer, but I certainly agree that I am much less likely to give feedback to people over a digital platform. The amount of time I have to spend proofing my critique is ridiculous. I think we are all learning to be consultants and now only provide critique when its practically billable hours. I'm retired now, but my experience was the opposite: even while working 5-ish days a week in the office pre-Covid, the vast majority of communication as a SW engineer, including code and design reviews, was done online. Even most meetings were attended via videoconference, as the relevant participants were usually scattered around various Silicon Valley sites. In-person interruptions were mostly by managers who didn't care about de...
by Bungo
Wed Apr 26, 2023 9:10 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI
Replies: 7638
Views: 1712914

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

“There Will be Fire” by Rory Carroll. Subtitle: “Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes that Changed History.” Highly recommend. The British title of this book was actually “Killing Thatcher.” It centers on the bombing of a hotel where the Iron Lady was staying with much of her party leadership. Great insights into Irish and British history particularly during this 25th Anniversary year of the Good Friday Agreement. The book reads like a thriller - you barely notice that you’re learning! Coincidentally, this was a component of the plot in the fiction book I recently read, Adrian McKinty's "In the Morning I'll Be Gone", which is part of a series featuring a detective in Northern Ireland in the 1980s. This was the third book i...
by Bungo
Wed Apr 12, 2023 12:34 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Capital gains tax on house sale when moving out of state
Replies: 15
Views: 2259

Re: Capital gains tax on house sale when moving out of state

Did you also ponder whether to retire before or after buying the house in the new state? I knew I was moving out of state and most likely across the country, so logistically it was far easier to retire before starting to look for housing, especially given that there were going to be complications due to the pandemic (I retired in April 2021). Fortunately, I reached a particular stock vesting milestone that made the timing of the retirement decision pretty easy. In the end, I spent several months relaxing/decompressing before even starting the house hunt. Since you retired then bought a house in the new state, did you have any issues financing the new house (since you would be unemployed) while still owning/occupying the CA house (or maybe ...
by Bungo
Tue Apr 11, 2023 8:49 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Capital gains tax on house sale when moving out of state
Replies: 15
Views: 2259

Re: Capital gains tax on house sale when moving out of state

Does domicile come into play, in terms of the $500k MFJ capital gain exemption? I read somewhere (possibly wrong information) that the $250/500k exemption requires that the primary residence must be in your state of domicile (in the article I read, the logic stated was that it can’t be your primary residence if you’re already domiciled in another state). IF that is the case (the reason for posting is to solicit opinions), OP would want to ensure that he is still domiciled in CA before selling the CA home. Personally, I’m trying to ensure I don’t trip myself up in a couple of years when I retire and relocate. The IRS rules are laid out fairly clearly here: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p523 From the federal standpoint, in order to qualif...
by Bungo
Tue Apr 11, 2023 2:41 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Capital gains tax on house sale when moving out of state
Replies: 15
Views: 2259

Re: Capital gains tax on house sale when moving out of state

You would owe taxes to both states (CA because the gain is sourced there, and your resident state because it taxes all your income), but can take a credit for the double-taxed income. Which way you take the credit depends on the other state. In most states, you take a credit on your resident tax for tax paid on the same income to another state. But CA has reverse agreements with some states. If you move to VA, for example, you take a credit on your CA tax for tax paid to VA on the CA-sourced income. Thanks for this info, very helpful. Do you happen to know if TurboTax is smart enough to work all this out correctly, including reverse agreement if applicable, assuming I use it for both state tax returns? It won't work things out automaticall...
by Bungo
Sun Oct 09, 2022 6:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Any BH retirees with no pension?
Replies: 134
Views: 17450

Re: Any BH retirees with no pension?

AnnetteLouisan wrote: Sun Oct 09, 2022 5:01 pm
fposte wrote: Sun Oct 09, 2022 4:47 pm Be aware that those of us with pensions often don't get the three-legged stool either; pensions often mean no SS contributions and therefore no SS eligibility, or lowered SS as a result of having the pension.
And of course they are usually not portable. Lifetime employment with a single company is largely a thing of the past except in govt, and even there there are many who have been in both private and public (hopefully at different times).
And moreover, depending on industry (notably tech), if you do stay with the same employer for your entire career, that will likely have a very negative effect on your total lifetime compensation. You'd have to weigh that factor against the value of a pension if one is offered.
by Bungo
Sun Oct 09, 2022 4:04 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Any BH retirees with no pension?
Replies: 134
Views: 17450

Re: Any BH retirees with no pension?

As a software engineer, I never worked anywhere that offered a pension. Retired 18 months ago at age 52. My three-legged stool is post-tax savings (fueled by employer stock plans and Silicon Valley real estate), IRA, and eventually SS. Also expect to be able to manage my taxable income in order to qualify for a subsidized ACA health plan starting next year.
by Bungo
Fri Oct 07, 2022 8:15 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Is it the drop that scares you or the fear of further drops?
Replies: 114
Views: 8924

Re: Is it the drop that scares you or the fear of further drops?

What surprises me is that the current drop is MUCH worse than 2008 yet people are not panicked at all compared to 2008 when people were freaking out. Oct 2007 - June 2008 was only a 11.6% drop, the same 9 month period starting Jan 2022 to current has been 22% drop (all figures dividends included). In addition, other factors now are MUCH worse than 2008 - debt to GDP and inflation. Didn't most of the decline in 2008-2009 occur after June 2008? S&P500 10/1/2007: 1527.29 7/7/2008: 1262.90 (17.3% decline from 10/1/2007 excluding dividends) 3/2/2009: 729.57 (42.2% decline from 7/7/2007 excluding dividends) Fall-winter 2008 was also when the biggest daily swings were happening. If I recall correctly, 5-7% daily changes were not uncommon. Tha...
by Bungo
Tue Oct 04, 2022 6:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 2021 retirees: How are you doing?
Replies: 22
Views: 3912

Re: 2021 retirees: How are you doing?

The cynic in me says I should do this every 18 months anyway until age 65, in order to re-qualify for COBRA instead of ACA. We were on COBRA for 18 months because it was convenient and roughly the same cost cost as ACA after we retired. Nowadays we are on an ACA plan and pretty happy with it. Currently receiving subsidies that make it cheaper than COBRA ever was. And the plan has proven to be pretty good. I've signed up for ACA as my COBRA expires at the end of the month. I don't qualify for a subsidy since I sold my Silicon Valley house earlier this year, but in future years I should be able to manage my taxable income in order to qualify. I got the best platinum plan available where I now live, but it's still only an HMO (there are no PP...
by Bungo
Mon Oct 03, 2022 10:34 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 2021 retirees: How are you doing?
Replies: 22
Views: 3912

Re: 2021 retirees: How are you doing?

I retired in April 2021. No immediate plans to change anything, but I'll consider going back to work for a couple of years to replenish the coffers if things get significantly worse and if I can find an interesting opportunity that allows 100% remote work.

The cynic in me says I should do this every 18 months anyway until age 65, in order to re-qualify for COBRA instead of ACA.
by Bungo
Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:42 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Recommend a Hand Truck?
Replies: 31
Views: 3195

Re: Recommend a Hand Truck?

If you are going to move a full size refrigerator up stairs get the proper appliance dolly with the properly rated strap to secure it and stair climbing treads, not wheels. That 264 pound rating on that dolly is for a static load. When you start yanking on it to overcome gravity and slam it into the next step it is going to snap like a toothpick. Good point, I didn't think to look at the weight rating until you mentioned it. Today I bought an appliance hand truck with a 600 lb rating from Harbor Freight. It was $120, which doesn't seem too out of line. The hand cranks that you use to tighten the belts seem a little flimsy compared with the ones I've rented from U-Haul in the past, but otherwise it seems fine. I used it to move some bulky p...
by Bungo
Tue Jun 21, 2022 11:20 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Recommend a Hand Truck?
Replies: 31
Views: 3195

Re: Recommend a Hand Truck?

I prefer the Harbor Freight one with the bigger wheels with air in them, better for rough terrain. I did end up having to replace the wheels after moving a 350lb 75 gallon water heater with it, as they go lopsided after a long trek through back yard, but still was glad I purchased this one. The local tractor supply store had better wheels, so now it's really good. I have the same model. The pneumatic tires work really well on stairs! I haven't tried moving anything really heavy yet, but I am soon going to have to haul a refrigerator out of my basement. Do you think overinflating the tires would have helped to avoid wrecking them with a heavy load? Also considering whether I should just bite the bullet and buy an appliance hand truck, such ...
by Bungo
Tue Jun 21, 2022 3:18 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: what to do with old engineering text books
Replies: 97
Views: 15844

Re: what to do with old engineering text books

VG81 wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 12:25 pm There is now a 5th edition of Whittaker and Watson's "Course of Modern Analysis" published in Nov. 2021. It has been completely reset using LaTeX.

https://www.cambridge.org/co/academic/s ... 1316518939
This is great to hear, as previous editions had illegible typesetting in some places. On the other hand, conversion to LaTeX is always an opportunity to add new typos. Hopefully the new edition preserves the charming antiquated language such as "shew that" instead of "show that."
by Bungo
Wed Jun 15, 2022 9:58 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The Fed raised interest rate today
Replies: 117
Views: 15866

Re: The Fed raised interest rate today

newyorker wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 9:34 pm
Marseille07 wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 9:27 pm
newyorker wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 9:24 pm If Fed is gonna jack up the rate again, should I pause DCA for now?
Not at all. This is when you can buy equities 20% off.
But what if it drops more? I guess its market timing
Then you'll get an even bigger discount on future purchases.
by Bungo
Thu Jun 02, 2022 7:25 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Return to Work - How is your company dealing with it?
Replies: 593
Views: 84136

Re: Return to Work - How is your company dealing with it?

rob wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 6:39 pm
quietseas wrote: Wed Jun 01, 2022 12:15 pm They might have some leverage that more run of the mill employers do not have in terms of workforce retention and recruitment.
Any employee with unvested options/restricted stock would have to suck it up.... but otherwise yeah for sure.
Maybe, maybe not. If you negotiate reasonably well, you should be able to persuade a prospective new employer to provide an initial stock grant that at least matches the value of your unvested stock at your current employer, unless that value is exceptionally large, and even then if the new employer really wants you they can and will make it happen.
by Bungo
Wed May 25, 2022 2:07 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Sanity check on RSU stock approach
Replies: 17
Views: 1835

Re: Sanity check on RSU stock approach

- As the market has turned in 2022, I've held onto these the past 6 months vs selling (irrationally trying to time the market / hoping price will go back up) In the past, I've known people at several companies (including former employers of mine), where the stock went into a long decline and eventually ended up near zero before being acquired at a fire sale price. Instead of selling their RSUs for what they considered an unfavorable price, they rode the price all the way down, hoping in vain for a recovery. "But that would never happen to my company," you might protest. I'm quite certain that they didn't think it would happen to theirs, either. I've always sold my RSU shares as soon as they vested, even when it was painful to do ...
by Bungo
Wed May 11, 2022 10:16 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

Another data point for Silicon Valley:

Sold my San Jose (Cambrian) house earlier this year: accepted offer mid January, closed mid February. Had 18 offers and the winning bid was 30% over asking price. Got an update from my realtor this morning; she specializes in Cambrian and Almaden Valley:

Her: "Boy you sold at the best time! The real estate market has come to almost a halt with big interest rate increases, stock market way down, increased inventory."

Me: "Probably not too many houses are receiving 18 offers now?"

Her: "Nowhere near…sellers just hoping for a couple offers. Last two I sold had three offers and then the one after that five… but many homes are sitting and getting one."
by Bungo
Wed Apr 20, 2022 10:11 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: For those retired or FI, how much do you spend annually?
Replies: 499
Views: 79476

Re: For those retired or FI, how much do you spend annually?

Weathering wrote: Wed Apr 20, 2022 9:58 pm $5k/month on discretionary items. Everything else is known annually (or even known for a 5 year forecast).
Biggest items of the non-discretionary portion are property tax ($21k) and healthcare ($16k).
Very similar budget here, with property tax a bit lower and healthcare a bit higher. This is excluding separate line items for more sporadic expenses such as car replacement. I'm expecting healthcare premiums to go down significantly next year when I'm off COBRA and on (hopefully subsidized) ACA. The latter is the budget wildcard for the next 12 years before I'm eligible for Medicare - both in terms of cost predictability and maybe availability. Probably the only factor that could potentially force me to go back to work (the horror!)
by Bungo
Wed Apr 13, 2022 7:23 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

The 2M 1500 sq ft. ranch homes in California with vinyl floors, linoleum counters, cabinets falling aparts, stoves with electric burners, lawns covered in weeds, rotting staircases outside, etc. How do people afford 2M for a house but can't even put even modest interior upgrades or appliances in it. I would kind of understand if these things were elaborately remodeled and decked out on the inside and they dug down and built out basements for additional space or something like the wealthy do in London. But no, it's the same piece of crap house it was in 1978. Most likely the sellers paid far less than $2M. E.g. I bought my San Jose house for around $650k in 2012 and sold it earlier this year for well over $2M. Anyway, a full update can pote...
by Bungo
Thu Apr 07, 2022 7:59 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

Apple is giving out $100K+ bonuses like stocking stuffers , when is this reduction in tech salaries supposed to take place and if the earnings have been supercharged for a decade, is this hypothetical downturn really going to put skilled tech workers into financial ruin. It just doesn't seem likely to me, there are no signs of it. Sure, even $200k was a standard annual RSU allotment for senior engineers with good reviews when I worked there (retired from Apple last year). With the strong stock appreciation in recent years, that easily brought total annual income to $800k to $1M. All I'm saying is, remove appreciation from that equation and suddenly the total annual income is more like $400-500k even with those annual RSU grants. Not chicke...
by Bungo
Thu Apr 07, 2022 2:26 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

People keep looking for 2006 housing crash comparisons but the people buying homes now have much higher incomes and are more qualified. I can't speak for other markets, but most or all of the people who made offers for my San Jose house (sold a couple of months ago) were dual-income FAANG or near-FAANG tech workers whose incomes have been supercharged in recent years by stock plan performance. If/when the market for tech stocks cools down (which is maybe not going to happen tomorrow but will certainly happen sometime in the lifespan of a 30-year mortgage), those incomes are going to shrivel. They'll still be well paid, of course (assuming they can remain employed), but for those who stretched for their mortgages during the past couple of y...
by Bungo
Wed Mar 16, 2022 7:58 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Accepted an offer and another company made a better offer the next day
Replies: 149
Views: 12554

Re: Accepted an offer and another company made a better offer the next day

This is a potential opportunity to engineer a bidding war. Use the offer from the second company as leverage to persuade the first company to improve their offer. They need to beat, not match, the offer in order to be competitive. Then you can take that offer back to the second company etc. Optionally, get your current employer engaged as a third bidder! Employers are often in a position to pay a lot more than they offer initially (or a lot more than they're currently paying you, if they're your current employer). But usually the only way to persuade them to do so is via competition. I wouldn't be overly concerned about reneging on your initial acceptance. Candidates do this all the time. So do employers, for that matter. It's just business...
by Bungo
Mon Mar 07, 2022 11:00 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is living in HCOL self sabotage?
Replies: 145
Views: 12524

Re: Is living in HCOL self sabotage?

FIREandNice wrote: Mon Mar 07, 2022 2:49 pm For those that are near to retirement do you regret the extra money it took to live in a HCOL or did you enjoy the experience and did not regret it?
Definitely not, I earned more than enough to compensate for the high cost of living, and more than I could have earned anywhere else on the planet (software engineer and homeowner in Silicon Valley = lethal combination over the past couple of decades). Enough to retire comfortably at age 52. Naturally, I moved out of the HCOL as part of the retirement plan! That said, I wouldn't necessarily advise anyone to move to Silicon Valley now; I have serious doubts that it will pay off nearly as well for new arrivals given the current insane real estate costs.
by Bungo
Fri Mar 04, 2022 12:57 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

vfinx wrote: Thu Mar 03, 2022 11:23 pm I don’t think any of them are accurate but I do notice that Zillow updates their valuation most often. Looking at a few recent sales in my area, I notice that all of them valued the house too low, and the closing price blew away the estimates. But Zillow was the closest.
I only have a data point of one, but my experience with my recent (2 weeks ago) house sale in San Jose was the opposite. All the website estimates were lower than the price it ended up selling for, but Zillow was off by more than 20%, whereas the others were within 10%. However, now that the sale price has been registered, I see that Zillow has revised its estimate and now declares that it's worth 0.4% more than the buyer paid. Guess I should have negotiated harder. :)
by Bungo
Thu Mar 03, 2022 7:35 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: When do you pay your credit card bill?
Replies: 194
Views: 16411

Re: When do you pay your credit card bill?

Generally as soon as I receive the email statement notification. I prefer to click the "pay" button manually instead of relying on autopay, and I'd rather just do it as soon as I review the statement instead of waiting until the due date; one less thing to clutter my brain with. At today's interest rates there's negligible difference between paying immediately vs. delaying a few weeks in order to accrue a few pennies of interest, if that.
by Bungo
Thu Feb 24, 2022 9:00 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I pay a real estate agent 6% to sell my house?
Replies: 236
Views: 25251

Re: Should I pay a real estate agent 6% to sell my house?

I just sold my Bay Area house this month after retiring and moving across the country last fall. My realtor coordinated $75k worth of prep work over a two month period, including interior/exterior painting, ripping out ugly old carpet and exposing the hardwood floors beneath, refinishing the hardwood, modest kitchen and bathroom remodels, etc. The extent of my involvement was reviewing photos/videos from 2000 miles away, and paying the various contractors. The house looked absolutely beautiful when she was done! She also did a great job with the marketing, resulting in well over 100 prospective buyers looking at the house and 18 offers. Between her commission (3% for this "full-service" package) and the $75k for the remodeling, I ...
by Bungo
Thu Feb 24, 2022 6:13 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

blueberrypi wrote: Thu Feb 24, 2022 3:16 pm Put my first offer in today - house was listed for 72 hours, had 120 showings (how is that even possible..) and 25 + offers. Can't play if I don't win, but I don't like those odds!
In a situation like this, I'm not sure that being the highest bidder of 25 qualifies as "winning." The phrase "greatest fool" comes to mind. :D
by Bungo
Wed Feb 23, 2022 12:07 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

I find the stories cute of houses that list for 300K and the winning bid is 325K. Around these parts, 300K won’t even get you dirt. Old homes list at 1M, go for 1.5M all cash with no contingencies, and appreciate to 2M six months later. As my realtor in San Jose put it recently, $2M is the new $1M. For that, you get a 50 year old house that was originally intended as a basic dwelling for people of modest incomes. Now dual-income software engineer couples will bid against a dozen others to "win" it. After which said couple would pour in another $1M for a second story, adding 1000 sqft or so and increasing market value by $1.5M A million bucks to add a second story? It would probably be way cheaper than that to demolish the existin...
by Bungo
Mon Feb 21, 2022 7:58 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

Kookaburra wrote: Mon Feb 21, 2022 11:19 am I find the stories cute of houses that list for 300K and the winning bid is 325K. Around these parts, 300K won’t even get you dirt. Old homes list at 1M, go for 1.5M all cash with no contingencies, and appreciate to 2M six months later.
As my realtor in San Jose put it recently, $2M is the new $1M. For that, you get a 50 year old house that was originally intended as a basic dwelling for people of modest incomes. Now dual-income software engineer couples will bid against a dozen others to "win" it.
by Bungo
Fri Feb 18, 2022 12:19 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

stocknoob4111 wrote: Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:50 pm When I moved to LA in 1997 I remember seeing a condo in Torrance, it was a nice 2 bedroom unit, 1300 sqft or so in a nice area of Torrance, the price was $130,000 or so. A friend of mine bought it and he used to work as an admin assistant at a hotel making $16/hr.
LA had a fairly deep recession in the early-mid '90s caused initially by aerospace cutbacks in the aftermath of the cold war. Then the Rodney King riots in 1992 and the Northridge earthquake in 1994. The real estate market bottomed out right around 1997, in retrospect an excellent time to buy. (Wish I had - I moved there in 1995 but wasn't in a financial position to buy until the early 2000s, by which time prices had shot up.)
by Bungo
Wed Feb 16, 2022 2:51 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

vfinx wrote: Wed Feb 16, 2022 2:20 am I’ve often wondered about this dynamic. We almost got cold feet, and seriously considered backing out of an offer (no contingencies) with our earnest money already paid. We ended up proceeding, but I’ve always been curious to know how it would have played out. Presumably there would be some kind of negotiation, but I do suspect the sellers wouldn’t have refunded all of it. I’ll never know.
I've never had to face this situation, but if I'm the seller and a buyer backs out without a contingency, why wouldn't I keep the full earnest amount (minus taxes, of course)? Isn't that what it's for, to compensate the seller if the buyer fails to uphold his end of the deal?
by Bungo
Wed Feb 16, 2022 2:45 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

slalom wrote: Wed Feb 16, 2022 1:48 am I guess I thought you lost that if your loan fell through while it was a contingent sale too.. typically a couple thousand dollars?
I thought that was the whole point of contingencies: if one of them is triggered and the sale falls through as a result, you get your earnest money back. It can be way more than a couple thousand dollars - in California it's typically 3%. Apply that to a $2M or $3M house and you're talking real money.
by Bungo
Mon Feb 14, 2022 1:12 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Streaming vs. Old-Fashioned DVDs
Replies: 56
Views: 5499

Re: Streaming vs. Old-Fashioned DVDs

adamthesmythe wrote: Sun Feb 13, 2022 6:37 pm Yeah, sure, but what if you are particular? Suppose instead you wanted to see a few of Roger Ebert's 4-star movies? Steaming is, I agree, rather limited.
The Criterion Channel and the TCM section of HBO Max will deliver at least some of these. For movies that you can't find on one of the all-you-can-stream services, you can often rent them a la carte for $4 or so on Amazon or Vudu. The only thing I don't like about the a la carte rentals is that you have a short window (24 hours on Amazon, not sure about Vudu) to finish the movie once you have started it, which has burned me at least once with a long movie that I wanted to spread across two days.
by Bungo
Sun Feb 13, 2022 4:34 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How difficult is it to get a job in Tech if you are "older"?
Replies: 405
Views: 38243

Re: How difficult is it to get a job in Tech if you are "older"?

I have doubts about the effectiveness of networking in FAANG. Sure you jump the initial screen, but if you can't pass the coding rounds, you don't get an offer. Depends on which FAANG and who's referring you. Apple for example doesn't have a standardized process - each team hires based on their own interviewing criteria, and if someone sufficiently senior is vouching for you, your interviews can be surprisingly easy. I was recruited by a director-level manager whom I'd worked with at a previous employer. I was hired as a fairly senior software engineer by Apple standards (ICT5) yet only had to answer two simple coding questions during 6 hours of interviews. A stranger off the street would have had a very different experience interviewing w...
by Bungo
Fri Feb 11, 2022 11:39 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How difficult is it to get a job in Tech if you are "older"?
Replies: 405
Views: 38243

Re: How difficult is it to get a job in Tech if you are "older"?

tlk59 wrote: Thu Feb 10, 2022 1:06 pm I will say as an old fart SWE, many evenings and weekends are still spent working, or working on learning. I'm fine with it; I have no social life anyway, and I'd rather do that than have DW hit me with the honey-do list.
As a recently retired SWE, I feel this pain. My wife now controls me via a honey-do app. :) But I also have plenty of time to continue learning, and I can now focus on whatever interests me instead of what's most immediately useful for the job.
by Bungo
Fri Feb 11, 2022 1:29 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

slalom wrote: Fri Feb 11, 2022 11:58 am In the Bay Area with most SFHs seemingly going for all-cash, the mortgage market doesn't even come into the picture.. it's more just like, who sold the most stock recently..
Is this really true? A quick google search suggests that about 13% of house sales in the Bay Area are cash sales. Not sure if I got unlucky, but I put my San Jose house on the market a few weeks ago and got 18 offers, none of which were all-cash. The closest was someone with a 50% downpayment. Most were in the 25-35% downpayment range. Agree about the stock, though; 17 of the 18 were tech workers with employee stock plans as part of their assets.
by Bungo
Tue Feb 08, 2022 12:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: West-Coaster (many folks now) $500K tax-free Long Term Capital Gains on primary Home, taking any tax-efficient actions ?
Replies: 44
Views: 5878

Re: West-Coaster (many folks now) $500K tax-free Long Term Capital Gains on primary Home, taking any tax-efficient actio

Why move ? The increase in cost basis is more than counterbalanced by the increase in property taxes. Even if one could move when the capital gain is exactly 500k, in the double transaction one would lose registration taxes and the agent fee (not to mention moving costs). There it goes >7% on the total home value. Example: initial home value 1M wait a few year, new value 1.5M Sell and pay no cg taxes, buy an equivalent 1.5M home, with the idea of keep doing this over and over, in order to never pay any cg on the sale. Well, you've gotta give the selling agent 3% of 1.5M, the buying agent 3% of 1.5M and pay the County of XXX, let's say, 0.75% when you sell and 0.75% when you buy. Total outlays: $112,500 Next time you do the trick your home ...
by Bungo
Thu Feb 03, 2022 12:38 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Meet with recruiter if not interested in the job?
Replies: 41
Views: 4330

Re: Meet with recruiter if not interested in the job?

Depends on the FAANG. I usually respond to Google recruiters because I'd consider working there in the future even if not interested now. Facebook and Amazon I ignore because for several reasons I'd never work at either. Apple, been there and done that. Netflix (the N) doesn't really belong in this category anymore IMO, and should probably be replaced with Microsoft, which I would probably also consider but I don't think I've ever heard from one of their recruiters.
by Bungo
Wed Feb 02, 2022 11:51 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

My experience as a first-time home buyer recently in Silicon Valley: -Offer #1: around asking price for a 4-bed townhome in a desirable neighborhood. Got blown out of the water. It went for $170k over asking, 7 offers total -Offer #2: a townhome we really loved, only 2-bed, which was listed artificially low as usual. Offered $130k over asking, we were 2nd highest of 5 but someone offered more than $200k over asking. Our agent's entire office couldn't believe it because it was well beyond any comps/supporting data. -Offer #3: got it accepted last week. 3-bedroom townhome in our second-choice neighborhood. We were the 2nd highest offer (out of 5 total) at $70k over asking but the highest had a loan contingency so the seller accepted ours. Lu...
by Bungo
Tue Feb 01, 2022 5:14 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

fareastwarriors wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 4:16 pm Glad it worked out well for you. :sharebeer

Thanks for making room for those who still want to buy here.
My pleasure! Best of luck - hopefully the market will normalize to some degree as more inventory becomes available, which I expect will happen as more owners are tempted to sell their houses. The extreme low inventory is the main cause of the current chaos. There were only five other houses on the market in my zip code when I listed mine.
by Bungo
Tue Feb 01, 2022 2:59 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

I put my San Jose house up for sale a couple of weeks ago. Received 18 offers, winning offer was 30% over asking, and over 3.5x what I paid in 2012. (Granted, I did sink a couple hundred thousand over the years into maintenance and remodeling, and it's now in really nice condition.) All offers except one had no contingencies. No cash offers but downpayments were in the 25-50% range, so fairly strong buyers. I was even able to push back and get the buyer to agree to split the Measure E tax (a San Jose-specific tax of 0.75% for sales over $2M, applicable to the entire sale price, not just the part over $2M. :shock: ) I would absolutely hate to be a buyer in that market today. When I bought the house ten short years ago, it was with full cont...
by Bungo
Tue Feb 01, 2022 1:20 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tales from this insane real estate market [Home sales]
Replies: 2905
Views: 515411

Re: Tales from this insane real estate market

I put my San Jose house up for sale a couple of weeks ago. Received 18 offers, winning offer was 30% over asking, and over 3.5x what I paid in 2012. (Granted, I did sink a couple hundred thousand over the years into maintenance and remodeling, and it's now in really nice condition.) All offers except one had no contingencies. No cash offers but downpayments were in the 25-50% range, so fairly strong buyers. I was even able to push back and get the buyer to agree to split the Measure E tax (a San Jose-specific tax of 0.75% for sales over $2M, applicable to the entire sale price, not just the part over $2M. :shock: ) I would absolutely hate to be a buyer in that market today. When I bought the house ten short years ago, it was with full conti...
by Bungo
Sun Jan 23, 2022 1:07 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Got my first paycheck with $0 net pay
Replies: 91
Views: 12152

Re: Got my first paycheck with $0 net pay

Alto Astral wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:28 am I wanted to frontload my mega backdoor roth. So I set it at 50% deduction from my paycheck. Little did I know that this will drop my paycheck to $0. I will do this for my next 6 paychecks and then stop. This helps me max out the $61k limit. I thought this was interesting and wanted to post on my most fav forum
I've done something similar a few times in the past when I worked part of the year as a consultant and then later got a full-time job and wanted to fully fund my 401(k) before the end of the year.
by Bungo
Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:19 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What do you all pay for TV and internet? rates just went up
Replies: 64
Views: 6238

Re: What do you all pay for TV and internet? rates just went up

$29.99/mo for 400 Mbps internet from cable company. This is an introductory rate which will increase after two years. No cable TV but I do pay for a few streaming channels.
by Bungo
Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:07 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Do people still wear ties and belts?
Replies: 222
Views: 18565

Re: Do people still wear ties and belts?

I haven't owned a tie nor had one around my neck since the mid '90s. I do wear a belt but it's not visible as I don't tuck in my shirts.
by Bungo
Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:10 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: So what comes after "Enough"
Replies: 150
Views: 19461

Re: So what comes after "Enough"

Upon reaching "enough", I retired. I sold my Bay Area house and bought a replacement in another state for about 1/3 the price, so real estate is now a smaller portion of my net worth, but aside from that I have not changed my 60/40 target asset allocation.
by Bungo
Sat Jan 15, 2022 1:42 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Electric kettle
Replies: 46
Views: 3831

Re: Electric kettle

I've gone through several plastic kettles over the years. The older ones lasted longer (5+ years) but the last few only lasted a year or two before failing. And unfortunately when they fail it tends to be the "auto switch off upon boiling" function that stops working - which means it's a possible fire hazard. After the last one failed I decided to get a Breville, which was substantially more expensive ($150) but sometimes you get what you pay for. Five years later and no problems at all.

That said, for a college student I'd just get a cheap plastic kettle.