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Rents are plunging in the most expensive U.S. markets

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211–220 of 352 posts

Re: Rents are plunging in the most expensive U.S. markets

#211
post #181

The rents are astounding to me as an Atlanta area resident. My fully loaded mortgage+escrow payment on an entire 3 BR house with a full basement (in which I have an office and wired for Cat6 ethernet) is less than $1100/month. There are tons of tech companies within commuting distance and even more remote work opportunities as a developer. Chances are good that we'll finally have gigabit fiber to the home within a ye…

> The rents are astounding to me as an Atlanta area resident. My fully loaded mortgage+escrow payment... I see this a lot of the time when rents for certain areas of the country come up. My friends in Dallas and Austin say the same thing. FWIW, I own a duplex unit inside the city of Seattle, so my views may also be a little skewed. My usual response is, "yes, but then I'd have to live in [other city]." There are a lo…

And yes, it is about weighing the pros and the cons. I personally have chosen very much to refuse any engagement/job that requires daily commute into an office. I understand that is a privilege that comes with being a developer and not something everyone can do.

Re: Rents are plunging in the most expensive U.S. markets

#212
post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very debatable whether the SF property market could be considered a fair and properly functioning market, given the massive impediments to new construction, legislative rent controls, and crazy tax breaks for longtime residents.

Of course it's properly functioning. There is a ton of demand and a lack of supply. Of course prices are going to rise and that's perfectly okay. But they can't rise ad infinitum. I think we're seeing the limits of how high prices people are willing to spend, and rising interest rates are going to limit that even further. I'm expecting a precipitous plunge in >$2M houses and the sweet spot will be houses in the $750k…

It's functioning, but I wouldn't say it's functioning properly. Prices have had to rise much farther than they would in a less encumbered regulatory environment, and as a result, it's been very disruptive for a far larger number of people than it had to be. If there was less encumbrance, we would have seen a housing construction boom well before the prices got to the current, rather ridiculous levels. Compare the number of yearly housing starts and pricing in Seattle to see a more functional market, which happens to be absorbing a lot of SF's excess demand.

If your bar for a properly functioning market is that prices rising have caused normalizing factors to kick in, then yes, of course that's the case, as always happens in markets that aren't completely messed up.

Re: Rents are plunging in the most expensive U.S. markets

#213
post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The rents are astounding to me as an Atlanta area resident. My fully loaded mortgage+escrow payment... I see this a lot of the time when rents for certain areas of the country come up. My friends in Dallas and Austin say the same thing. FWIW, I own a duplex unit inside the city of Seattle, so my views may also be a little skewed. My usual response is, "yes, but then I'd have to live in [other city]." There are a lo…

And yes, it is about weighing the pros and the cons. I personally have chosen very much to refuse any engagement/job that requires daily commute into an office. I understand that is a privilege that comes with being a developer and not something everyone can do.

[deleted]

Re: Rents are plunging in the most expensive U.S. markets

#214
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The loan repayments on my three bedroom house are AU$47 a day, or about US$35. ($215,000 purchase price in 2016).

It sounds like you have a mortgage... What is your point?

I suspect he's saying that his daily payment on his house is roughly on par, or less than the daily rate of a high priced hostel.

You could have figured that out yourself without the attitude, right?

Re: Rents are plunging in the most expensive U.S. markets

#215
post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The rents are astounding to me as an Atlanta area resident. My fully loaded mortgage+escrow payment... I see this a lot of the time when rents for certain areas of the country come up. My friends in Dallas and Austin say the same thing. FWIW, I own a duplex unit inside the city of Seattle, so my views may also be a little skewed. My usual response is, "yes, but then I'd have to live in [other city]." There are a lo…

And yes, it is about weighing the pros and the cons. I personally have chosen very much to refuse any engagement/job that requires daily commute into an office. I understand that is a privilege that comes with being a developer and not something everyone can do.

I was in the same position, but decided to just move Jakarta to live in a fully furnished 2bd apt (along with other other amenities of the building) for about $750/month (I paid this much for a room in a 3bd apt in Boston, with nothing sort of the amenities). Different pros and cons (see remote working cross timezones).

I think in the long run as more and more work allow for it, it will free up pressure in extremely nominally inflated areas that I consider most top US cities to be, but I see this more as a long term trend since there's a lot of entrenched interests to treat real-estate more like a financial instrument.

Re: Rents are plunging in the most expensive U.S. markets

#216
post #181

The rents are astounding to me as an Atlanta area resident. My fully loaded mortgage+escrow payment on an entire 3 BR house with a full basement (in which I have an office and wired for Cat6 ethernet) is less than $1100/month. There are tons of tech companies within commuting distance and even more remote work opportunities as a developer. Chances are good that we'll finally have gigabit fiber to the home within a ye…

> The rents are astounding to me as an Atlanta area resident. My fully loaded mortgage+escrow payment... I see this a lot of the time when rents for certain areas of the country come up. My friends in Dallas and Austin say the same thing. FWIW, I own a duplex unit inside the city of Seattle, so my views may also be a little skewed. My usual response is, "yes, but then I'd have to live in [other city]." There are a lo…

> ...and I have gigabit fiber, too. ;) What's your provider?

Re: Rents are plunging in the most expensive U.S. markets

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The rents are astounding to me as an Atlanta area resident. My fully loaded mortgage+escrow payment... I see this a lot of the time when rents for certain areas of the country come up. My friends in Dallas and Austin say the same thing. FWIW, I own a duplex unit inside the city of Seattle, so my views may also be a little skewed. My usual response is, "yes, but then I'd have to live in [other city]." There are a lo…

> ...and I have gigabit fiber, too. ;) What's your provider?

CenturyLink.

Re: Rents are plunging in the most expensive U.S. markets

#218
post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The rents are astounding to me as an Atlanta area resident. My fully loaded mortgage+escrow payment... I see this a lot of the time when rents for certain areas of the country come up. My friends in Dallas and Austin say the same thing. FWIW, I own a duplex unit inside the city of Seattle, so my views may also be a little skewed. My usual response is, "yes, but then I'd have to live in [other city]." There are a lo…

I'm in Alpharetta, which is a tech center in its own right by some standards. Housing prices jump $300k across the street from my neighborhood. So yes, prices can go really, really high around these parts.

As an aside, I was going to guess either Marietta or Alpharetta but didn't want to assume, so thanks for fulfilling my mental side bet. :)

Re: Rents are plunging in the most expensive U.S. markets

#219
post #122

Los Angeles though... :( One of my friends just moved here and is sharing a 5-bedroom home with 25 other people. I thought he was bullshitting me, and I still couldn't believe it when I went over. He's paying $600 a month to share a bedroom with four other guys. He told me it was the best thing he could find on 1-day notice. He pays for rent online, and he has no idea who the actual owner is, nor who is actually rece…

Does your friend have a typical well paying tech job? He should save up first month's rent and move out. I don't quite get these hacker houses, if people are earning normal tech salaries they should only be temp solutions.

Re: Rents are plunging in the most expensive U.S. markets

#220
post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in Alpharetta, which is a tech center in its own right by some standards. Housing prices jump $300k across the street from my neighborhood. So yes, prices can go really, really high around these parts.

As an aside, I was going to guess either Marietta or Alpharetta but didn't want to assume, so thanks for fulfilling my mental side bet. :)

You're welcome.
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