Looking4Ward
Full time employment: Posting here.
Rule of thumb is 1 percent per month for a rental to be profitable. Here in Silly Valley, a $2M house rents for $5,000 to $6,500 a month. Buyers are often from Asia and think about real estate in terms of generational wealth, not current cash flow.
OP lives in a similar market where ownership demand from well compensated tech employees outstrips supply. Employment growth and low interest rates fuel higher prices.
The boom is not going to last forever. At some point the music stops and homeowners scramble for the chairs. What were these houses in Westlake selling for in 2009? Even here in the Bay Area, prices do go down.
If OP knows he is gone in five years, renting probably makes more sense.
In most cases less than half of what they are selling for now.