It's no secret that Marin County real estate is red hot.

A three-bedroom San Rafael house that was open to the public Thursday was listed at $839,000.

But it's all too much for Bruce Martin, the popular fire chief in San Rafael. He's quitting after 16 months on the job because he can't afford a house.

"My wife and I have been searching for a house for over a year now," said Martin. "We've looked at 80 different properties. We have been in the competitive bidding real estate market four times unsuccessfully, and at the end of the day the amount of money that we had to spend just couldn't get us into the kind of house that we wanted or needed."

It's particularly sad because the chief grew up in Marin and wanted to stay, but he couldn't do it, even on his salary of $132,000 a year.

"It's a tough spot," said Martin. "I'm not real thrilled with it."

But he's typical, even of people in high-income jobs. Colin Hensley is not only a volunteer firefighter, he's also a mortgage broker, and we asked him how far a salary of $132,000 would go in Marin.

"You know, that's a definite starter here in Marin," Hensley said. "That's somewhere between, let's say, the $600,000 to $800,000 range, depending on how much you're willing to put down. If you can put the 20% to 30% down, maybe you're closer to $900,000 or $1 million. But it won't get you much."

With the median home price in Marin now more than $800,000, it's no wonder city employees from cops to teachers to firefighters must look elsewhere. As for the chief? He'll move to Fremont, where he's been offered the top job there. His salary will jump up to $175,000, and the houses cost $200,000 less.

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