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One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

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Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#111
post #60
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can have good mass transit or affordable housing, but not both. This sucks.

>> "...but not both." What about Chicago. Way cheaper than New York, and has the second best train system in the country.

Brutal climate, though

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#112
post #56

Please don't come to Austin. I moved from SF to Austin a little over two years ago, and I want to make it clear that it's terrible. The food is bad, the people are lame, and all the musicians are out of tune. I hear Chicago is where it's at, so please go there. Or New York. Or anywhere else, really. Just don't come to Austin.

Please do come to Bend (although not all at once - at 80K, it's not big enough to absorb that many people at one time). But bring your anti-NIMBY hat! It's time the US grew up a little bit and realized that moving to "the next place" and repeating the same patterns that made the first place too expensive isn't going to work.

Yay! Bend is gorgeous, I'm from Portland, Oregon and at least it's still affordable. Great food, music, housing, nature, etc.

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#113

Please don't come to Austin. I moved from SF to Austin a little over two years ago, and I want to make it clear that it's terrible. The food is bad, the people are lame, and all the musicians are out of tune. I hear Chicago is where it's at, so please go there. Or New York. Or anywhere else, really. Just don't come to Austin.

To add to your list: the bigotry of the Texan people seeps into Austin, the job market is tiny compared to the Bay, it is in a state where Republicans call the shots regarding social issues, their tech job market is dominated by contracted talent firms, and it gets hot as hell.

>> the bigotry of the Texan people

A somewhat interesting counterpoint: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/04/28/the-m...

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#114
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I'm sure the fact that there's an increasing trend of empty Chinese investment properties isn't helping." This. This. This. A couple of years ago, I found myself utterly shocked by the price of homes in San Francisco. In a fit of frustration, I fired off a few emails a few random real estate firms in SF, asking one simple question: "Who the BLEEP can afford these homes?" You see, I was frustrated. I have a great j…

What would make it a less interesting investment is if there were a credible threat to add enough supply to devalue it. That's generally how markets keep prices regulated: if they go up enough, more people jump in to producing the good. That mechanism is severely broken in the Bay Area, among other popular places in the US.

Alternatively, repealing Prop 13, so that property taxes rise with the value. Or increasing property taxes as you get more homes. Both of these would decrease housing prices significantly.

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#115
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I'm sure the fact that there's an increasing trend of empty Chinese investment properties isn't helping." This. This. This. A couple of years ago, I found myself utterly shocked by the price of homes in San Francisco. In a fit of frustration, I fired off a few emails a few random real estate firms in SF, asking one simple question: "Who the BLEEP can afford these homes?" You see, I was frustrated. I have a great j…

What would make it a less interesting investment is if there were a credible threat to add enough supply to devalue it. That's generally how markets keep prices regulated: if they go up enough, more people jump in to producing the good. That mechanism is severely broken in the Bay Area, among other popular places in the US.

Or we could tax foreign investment properties at a higher rate. "Remove barriers and let the market work" isn't the only solution to any given problem.

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#116
post #49
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But were they? Really? 100+ temps in the summer... landlocked in Texas.

Landlocked? There is water EVERYWHERE in Austin. There are 7 miles worth of Greenbelts that cut through the entire downtown/urban area. We have Lake Travis and Lake Austin. The Colorado river (Town Lake) is right beside 1st street. We have Barton Springs just south of 1st street. We're also getting a surf park (Nland) this year and have a ton of wake-boarding/cable parks. An hour south we have Dripping Springs and Wi…

Take those photos and add enough people that it's standing room only.

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#117
post #74
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm inclined to believe many are empty investment properties. A documentary about the housing costs showed a Chinese investment tour of Cupertino for such purpose: https://youtu.be/SBjXUBMkkE8?t=2m35s The other issue is that the high school I went to there, Monta Vista High School, is extremely well-ranked. As such some investors buy houses, then rent them to a single custodian who boards as many students as possible…

> As such some investors buy houses, then rent them to a single custodian who boards as many students as possible so they can attend the schools. These custodians don't seem to have a high priority on keeping the house in great shape. This sounds like student housing in any major city.

This is also why cities have occupancy rules, codes for maintenance, etc.

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#119
post #82

Please don't come to Austin. I moved from SF to Austin a little over two years ago, and I want to make it clear that it's terrible. The food is bad, the people are lame, and all the musicians are out of tune. I hear Chicago is where it's at, so please go there. Or New York. Or anywhere else, really. Just don't come to Austin.

I'm going to clarify that I'm not picking on you, but I loathe this attitude. I see it in Denver constantly. I moved here, but now we're full up. Ironically, it mostly comes from people that are transplants themselves. It's rather elitist to tell people where they can and can't live especially with the "forget you, I got mine" dynamic going on from the transplants themselves.

Denver has so many wonderful things, but this undercurrent of "I hate all the new people" is so gross. I've encountered it in situations where I'm literally handing money over to someone who is bitching about people moving here.
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