<p>My brother and sil are older parents with young kids. They recently moved to the bay area of SF after some years in the midwest. They are renting a very small 3 bedroom house on the outskirts of a good neighborhood, but in an area that has lousy schools. They essentially have a 4 room house-great room which includes the kitchen appliances and a small table for dining, 2 tiny bedrooms 8x10, and 1 12x12 Br, 1 tiny bathroom, no garage, no basement, no attic, no entry alcove, no porch, no deck, no hallways. Cost of $3K a month, mainly because of its location and that it has some yard. Great because it is near a major med center which is needed for them, and very close to work. It is very, difficult for them to save any money with rent of that sort. Frightening because they do gross over $10K a month. But with taxes, medical bills, insurance bills, 2 used but reliable cars, and nursery school/activities for the kids, travel to visit family twice a year, special diet (needed for one kid so they all pretty much eat like him), it is a tough go. </p>
<p>I see the same here in the NYC area. Unless a family bought the house a while ago, that mortgage payment is hefty for a house that is not amazingly luxurious. Finding a house in a neighborhood with decent schools and safe is not easy without paying a lot of money. We, too, are suffering from housing differential having moved from a low housing cost area where our house sale profit didn’t even make a dent in the down payment needed here. But this was where the opportunities for H’s job was; the market was shutting down where we were.</p>