So on Tuesday we learned that if you lived in Seattle, WA, that your grocery bill for a BBQ this Memorial Day weekend would be almost 17% less compared to here.

But then again, the food there is always soggy due to rain. Imagine, every meal you eat will be like oatmeal because they don’t have our amazing Californian sun!

For fun, let’s take a look at what $700k (the current median price in Santa Clara) buys you in the area where Amazon/Nintendo/Microsoft employees live!

REALTOR.com: Find a Home – Listing Detail
$698,000
5 Bed, 2.75 Bath
2,570 Sq. Ft.
0.24 Acres
Bellevue, WA 98005

MLS ID# 27032724

Single Family Property, Area: Kirkland/Bridel Trails, Subdivision: Cherry Crest #3, Approximately 0.24 acre(s), Lot is 10400 sq. ft., Year Built: 1977, Single story, Basement, Fireplace(s), Hardwood floors

Wow, that’s a pretty big house!

And just for more fun, according to this cost of living calculator, if you make $100,000 in San Jose (practically the starting salary these days) and you moved to Bellevue/Redmond/Seattle WA:

Equivalent income in the city you’re moving to: $72,891.74.
You may take a 27.11% decrease and still maintain your standard of living.

So your groceries would be cheaper, your house would be nicer, and your general cost of living would be lower. And sure they my have tech jobs, Fry’s, schools, water, diversity, etc.

But ask yourself: Do they have El Camino Real there? Do they have the sun?

Accept no substitutions – accept only perfection: The Bay Area.

As you may recall, last Thanksgiving I found that the exact same groceries at Safeway in the Bay Area were more than the exact same groceries at Safeway in Redmond, WA.

The point of this comparison was to see how Apple/Sony would compete against Nintendo/Microsoft. In that study, I found that on average, groceries cost 20% more here than there.

Which makes sense – have you seen Apple’s stock price? Have you seen our great weather? Of course grey poupon should be 30% more expensive here than there. Grey poupon is simply better here!

Well, Memorial Day is coming up, so I thought it would be fun to come up with a comparison for a BBQ. But to add a twist, I decided to compare groceries in the Cupertino, to groceries in Redmond, Washington – as well as Washington DC!

Yep, that’s right! There are Safeways there – and they sell the same Safeway Select stuff there. The Capital of Innovation versus the Capital of Politics vs the Capital of Rain.

Let’s take a look:

Woot! We win again! Groceries here are 11% more expensive than Washington DC, and 17% more expensive than Redmond, Washington.

Woot! We’re #1! We’re #1! Hurray! Huzzah!

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “WTF? Houses are 2x more expensive than renting, and now groceries are more expensive than in Washington DC, and Washington state – where they don’t even have an income tax? WTH am I doing here???”

Before you consider leaving the Bay Area, just remember that they don’t have any Chinese restaurants, Korean restaurants, Japanese restaurants, Thai restaurants, Vietnamese restaurants, gay-friendly, smart people, diversity, tech companies, snow sports, hiking, mountains, universities, In-n-outs, or 9 months of sun. And let’s not forget our cheap housing, amazing public schools, great roads, low taxes, lack of traffic, and our Governator.

I hope your BBQ turns out well!

Merry Christmas everyone! Did you get that special pack of ramen from your mortgage broker that you’ve wanted all year long? Did he splurge and give you a can of Fancy Feast instead?

Since it’s a holiday, I’m going to recycle this post from Thanksgiving – since it probably still applies.
How to save 20% on your groceries for Thanksgiving

The other title for this entry is “Zune vs iPod, Wii vs PS3, Safeway vs Safeway”. Why?

iPods are made by Apple, which is in Cupertino. PS3s are made by Sony which has a big site in North San Jose. Bay Area companies.

Zunes on the other hand are made by Microsoft in Redmond, WA. Coincidentally, Wii’s are made by Nintendo – which is also in Redmond, WA!

But these places have one thing in common: Safeway. So thanks to a reader, I thought I’d investigate to see what the difference between the Safeways are. Here’s a table comparing the prices of common Thanksgiving items:

First, we’ll start with a turkey…

Here’s a turkey in Nintendo/Microsoft land:

… and the same turkey in Sony/Apple land:

Here’s some milk in Nintendo/Microsoft land:

… and the same turkey in Sony/Apple land:

Average difference: 20% more expensive

(Just to be clear – these were the exact same products on both sides. Same brand, same quality, same count – everything. You can verify the results easily using Safeway.com)

So now you know why the PS3 and iPod are so expensive, compared to the Wii and the Zune. Because the groceries are more expensive too.
Want to save money on your groceries? Easy! Leave the Bay Area for some place that’s not special like Seattle metro area.

Of course if you leave the the Bay Area, you’ll find that they don’t have any Chinese restaurants, Korean restaurants, Japanese restaurants, Thai restaurants, Vietnamese restaurants, gays, smart people, guacamole, tech companies, snow sports, hiking, mountains, liberals, In-n-outs, or 9 months of sun. And let’s not forget our cheap housing, amazing public schools, great roads, low taxes, and lack of traffic.

Yeah. I didn’t think you’d leave. It’s just too special here.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Merry Christmas!

The other title for this entry is “Zune vs iPod, Wii vs PS3, Safeway vs Safeway”. Why?

iPods are made by Apple, which is in Cupertino. PS3s are made by Sony which has a big site in North San Jose. Bay Area companies.

Zunes on the other hand are made by Microsoft in Redmond, WA. Coincidentally, Wii’s are made by Nintendo – which is also in Redmond, WA!

But these places have one thing in common: Safeway. So thanks to a reader, I thought I’d investigate to see what the difference between the Safeways are. Here’s a table comparing the prices of common Thanksgiving items:

First, we’ll start with a turkey…

Here’s a turkey in Nintendo/Microsoft land:

… and the same turkey in Sony/Apple land:

Here’s some milk in Nintendo/Microsoft land:

… and the same turkey in Sony/Apple land:

Average difference: 20% more expensive

(Just to be clear – these were the exact same products on both sides. Same brand, same quality, same count – everything. You can verify the results easily using Safeway.com)

So now you know why the PS3 and iPod are so expensive, compared to the Wii and the Zune. Because the groceries are more expensive too.
Want to save money on your groceries? Easy! Leave the Bay Area for some place that’s not special like Seattle metro area.

Of course if you leave the the Bay Area, you’ll find that they don’t have any Chinese restaurants, Korean restaurants, Japanese restaurants, Thai restaurants, Vietnamese restaurants, gays, smart people, guacamole, tech companies, snow sports, hiking, mountains, liberals, In-n-outs, or 9 months of sun. And let’s not forget our cheap housing, amazing public schools, great roads, low taxes, and lack of traffic.

Yeah. I didn’t think you’d leave. It’s just too special here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAH! 

Did you really think this was going to be in the Bay Area? No way! It’s Friday! Time for a reality check!

With Microsoft in the news this week, I thought it’s time we took a look at what BAY_AREA_MEDIAN_HOUSE-PRICE – $100,000 could buy you:

REALTOR.com: Find a Home – Listing Detail

Redmond, WA  98053
MLS ID#: 26034300
 $659,900
3 Bed, 2.75 Bath
2,930 Sq. Ft.
2.8 Acres
 
Single Family Property, Area: Redmond/Carnation, Subdivision: non tract setting, Approximately 2.8 acre(s), Lot is 121968 sq. ft., Year Built: 1997, View, Two story, Hardwood floors

Yeah… that’d be about $2 million here in the Bay Area. Maybe even $3 million.

But Redmond isn’t the Bay Area. They don’t have our gang problems, our public school funding problems, our traffic problems, our sprawl problems – instead, they have rain.

Bay Area wins by a long shot! Still the best place in the world to live!