Housing in the Bay Area

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 26, 2016, 1:36 PM UTC

timr wrote: post #301

BurningFrog wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not in real estate economics. Increased supply leading to higher prices would be something that Economist would crawl over each other to study, if true. So where are these studies? Who are the professional economists who support this view?

Pretty much all of them. Nothing I've said is controversial -- the gains are long-term, but the short-term effect is often just displacement: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/12/the-p... "None of this dismisses the fact that displacement from specific homes happens when low-income housing is literally knocked down to build high-end towers. A good amount of new supply in cities, though, can rise on…

Post by ConnorG » Thu, May 26, 2016, 1:46 PM UTC

danjayh wrote: post #259

jevinskie wrote: post #160

There is so much pressure, career-wise, to move to either the Bay Area, the West Coast in general, or a major urban hub. I honestly like living in a semi-rural part of the Midwest. I like seeing fields and forests while driving to work. If I want to get out to some wilderness, I can do so in 15-30 minutes. I travel in a car that, I feel, offers me freedom. To boot, I have a nice, reserved spot in the garage below my…

With you all the way. I have 11 acres, horses, a goat, cats, a dog, and I live 15 minutes from downtown and 17 minutes from work. This is in a mid-sized midwest city (Grand Rapids, MI). While I realize that I could achieve a substantial pay raise on one of the coasts, a similarly sized plot there would cost millions. I paid under 200k 5 years ago with a 1500sf house on it, and it's still probably only worth the mid 2…

Post by humbleMouse » Thu, May 26, 2016, 2:05 PM UTC

abalone wrote: post #308

jevinskie wrote: post #160

There is so much pressure, career-wise, to move to either the Bay Area, the West Coast in general, or a major urban hub. I honestly like living in a semi-rural part of the Midwest. I like seeing fields and forests while driving to work. If I want to get out to some wilderness, I can do so in 15-30 minutes. I travel in a car that, I feel, offers me freedom. To boot, I have a nice, reserved spot in the garage below my…

You're right, you can't have anything like that in SF. (Well, there are some pretty nice forests nearby.) You also can't have any of the culture and city life that a major city like SF has. You see easily 10x as many people in a day in SF than you see all week in a semi-rural town in the Midwest. There's 10 cafes within a 10 minute walk. The nightlife is extensive and amazing. The restaurant scene, world class. And t…

Post by spoonie » Thu, May 26, 2016, 2:10 PM UTC

Post by mikelward » Thu, May 26, 2016, 2:17 PM UTC

shostack wrote: post #233

bduerst wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you really been looking outside of SF? Redwood city, about 30-40 min south of SF, has been booming with building growth. Developers are building, but can't get approvals with local governments fast enough.

Don't get me started on that. RWC resident here, and there have been major issues with the city rubber stamping development without enforcing minimum parking requirements, or giving any major thinking to how to solve the cities insane traffic/parking problems (particularly compared to neighboring cities). Oh, except the thought they had to make Farmhill suddenly go from two lanes to one lane. Yeah, that's a great sol…