Could These Tv Characters Afford Their Bay Area Homes Today? | Neighborhoods.com

Buying a house in the Bay Area might seem like the kind of thing people can only afford to do on television. In reality, there aren’t enough homes and the prices keep going up. The region recently broke records for home prices and sales seem to regularly require buyers to go above and beyond the asking price. And if you do see a home you like on the market, you better buy it fast cause it’ll be snapped up before you know it.

Some of the most popular and iconic TV shows have been based in the Bay Area, and in many of them we’ve had a chance to see how and where our favorite characters live. What we often never stopped to ask ourselves was … could they actually afford their home?

So we here at Neighborhoods.com decided to investigate whether or not America’s favorite make-believe Northern Californians could afford to live there with today’s prices.

In order to find out, we took a look at a few specific factors. First, we figured out the approximate cost of the residence used in the TV show. Then, using Glassdoor’s salary guide, we tried to figure out how much those characters would make today given their stated professions. From there we use Smart Asset’s home affordability tool to presume housing budgets and determine if the homes these made-up people live in are actually affordable. Of course, we can’t take into account things like down payments, savings, and investments, all of which would factor into these decisions, so you’ll just have to cut us some slack.

“Full House”

Note: It is not one of the famous Painted Ladies, common misconception

Residence Type: An iconic Italianate Victorian four-bedroom house originally built in 1883

Location: Lower Pacific Heights

Approximate Cost: It was actually sold for $4.15 million to the Full House creator last year.

Profession: Danny Tanner (co-host of “Wake Up, San Francisco”), Jesse Katsopolis (professional musician), Rebecca Katsopolis (co-host of “Wake Up, San Francisco”), Joey Gladstone (comedian/radio show co-host)

Salary: Danny ($80,000), Jesse ($40,000), Rebecca ($80,000), Joey ($42,000) = $242,000

Could they afford this house today?

Maybe this seems crazy considering how many breadwinners live under that roof, but not in a million years.

“Fuller House”

Residence Type: An iconic Italianate Victorian four-bedroom house originally built in 1883

Location: Lower Pacific Heights

Approximate Cost: $4 million (see above)

Profession: DJ (veterinarian), Stephanie (DJ), Kimmy (party planner)

Salary: DJ ($118,000), Stephanie ($26,000), Kimmy ($50,000) = $194,000

Could they afford this house today?

If the combined “Full House” salaries weren’t enough, the combined “Fuller House” salaries won’t cut it either.

“Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper”

Residence Type: Craftsman two-bedroom with den and sweet basketball court

Location: Oakland

Approximate Cost: $700,000

Profession: Mark (former NBA player turned high school teacher and basketball coach), Vanessa (emergency medical technician), Geneva (high school principal).

Salary: Mark ($56,000), Vanessa ($38,000), Geneva ($106,000) = $200,000

Could they afford this house today?

Yes, they should be able to hang with that house even before we factor in Mark’s NBA earnings.

“Parenthood”

Residence Type: Adam and Kristina’s four-bedroom Craftsman

Location: Berkeley

Approximate Cost: $1 million

Profession: Adam (special needs school headmaster), Kristina (special needs school consultant)

Salary: Adam ($100,000), Kristina ($150,000, we’re spitballing here) = $250,000

Could they afford this house today?

Hard to tell because their salaries are so hard to predict, and we don’t know about their nest egg from beforehand. We’re going to say yes, but barely.