Real Estate in the Bay Area

This is not really related to medicine, but it is a pertinent nightmare about living in the bay area. Over the last few months, we started throwing around the possibility of buying a house. In the last year or two, a surprising number of our friends have made that impressive first purchase around here. On the other hand, our friends practicing medicine in other parts of the country have been happily living in beautiful, large properties for years. While I had heard a lot about trying to buy in the bay area, I wasn't ready for the shock of it. The housing market is a little ridiculous around here. Before ultimately renting, we made a few offers for houses, averaging around fifteen percent above list price, and for most of the places, we weren't even close. The crazy silicon valley competitors here have distorted the market so much that even bidding hundreds of thousands of dollars above the list price isn't enough to secure a house. Ultimately, we realized it wasn't in the cards this year; we'll give it some time and see where the market goes.