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Rents are dropping across the US

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Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#201
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With many tech industry jobs mostly WFH until the end of the year and the future in general uncertain, a lot of people, especially those with leases coming up for renewal, are thinking this is a good time to make a move. Once the pandemic ends and employers stop allowing WFH again, there might be a large surge in pricing as suddenly everyone wants to get back into those cities.

The pandemic is here for at least 1-2 years in that time many businesses will have perfected WFH/remotely where possible. So I don't think they will go back to previous way of doing things that easily. Another thing is this pandemic also has shown the risk factor of having most of your workforce in one place/city. So even if businesses don't do wfh they would probably go for more satellite offices in smaller cities.

1-2 years lol

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe they really want to be with their extended family in a suburb of Cleveland. This especially made me laugh because the VP of Eng at one of my Silicon Valley startups was from Cleveland and would often joke "I escaped a prison sentence by leaving Cleveland" and "The place is so polluted the river caught on fire, TWICE!".

That fire was in 1969. This is kind of like moving to SF because it used to have hippies. I've been to Cleveland and it's actually a pretty solid place to live. I would argue you could have a far better life there with a $50k house than slavishly working for the rest of your life for a multi-million dollar tiny home in a giant sprawled out suburb. FWIW I never met a single person in the bay area that didn't want to l…

I do understand the attraction of parts of SF, Marin, the Santa Cruz mountains, etc. But not so much the Valley. And of course the places I just named are eye-wateringly expensive relative to other very attractive/relatively expensive places in the country that are also very attractive in terms of outdoor recreational activities and other such benefits.

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#203
post #77
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are doing more than that. A former colleague caught folks working remote overseas as well.

What do you mean “caught”? Is there a stipulation on time zone or country? Truly don’t see the problem of bopping off to another country as long as you’re still doing your work and active in the team?

Yes many companies have rules about which countries their employees are allowed to work in. Some countries are deemed High Risk (hard to extradite for one example).

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#204
post #2

Not only are they dropping, the incentives being offered around NYC are pretty nice. 50% off security deposit and 1 month free are what I've recently received. I checked back to see a week or two after and they were offering 2 months for free with 50% off the deposit.

I actually got a rent drop, I never expected that to happen in NYC.

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#205
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids change mindset. Kids love yards. They love the little creek that runs past. I love the safety. Small neighborhood, we all know each other and look out for the kids that run around playing.

The problem with suburbs is they don’t allow kids to get any amount of independence because they must be driven everywhere by their parents. I moved from a US suburb to a small city in Europe when I was 12 and it was liberating. I could suddenly walk or bike downtown alone.

Downtown of our small 130k town is a mile walk.

We can walk to many things. We are still considered suburban.

Further out and walking to shops is less plausible. But then you have lots of nature to wak around

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#206
post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people who live in cities are people who want to live in cities, not people who need to live in cities I'm not under the impression that the droves of techies riding free company shuttle buses from SF to Silicon Valley want to live outside of the city. Maybe that's a uniquely SF thing, as I believe Silicon Valley still employs more tech people than SF, despite SF becoming a tech hub itself post-mobile. People don't…

> People don't live in downtown SF because they need to, they already live there because they want to. Maybe downtown SF is just the lesser of two evils between SF and SV because of job location. Maybe they really want to be with their extended family in a suburb of Cleveland.

Wouldn’t the lesser of two evils in that case be somewhere around San Mateo? You’re roughly equidistant, IIRC, from SV and downtown SF there, the only geographical disadvantage being that you’re effectively cut off from the East Bay. But, for some, that’s not much of a disadvantage at all.

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm aware. Renewables and electric cars are on a tear. Don't force density when you can use technology instead to lower your impact. It's clear the city is too expensive for many, and folks are going to filter out of urban cores until a density equilibrium is reached. Do you care if I live in the middle of nowhere in the mountains if all of my power is clean solar, our cars are electric, I work from home, and pay for…

We don’t have enough lithium on the planet for everybody to have their own electric car. Just because something is on paper sustainable, doesn’t make it actually sustainable.

Lithium is absurdly abundant. It can be recycled. Lithium concentrations in electrolytes are constantly being lowered. Finally it is possible to manufacture batteries without cobalt. Cobalt is a bigger problem than lithium because most production facilities extract cobalt as a byproduct of other mining activities. Dedicated cobalt mines are possible but it would result in higher costs.

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#208

On a related topic, for those of you who maybe unemployed or know someone who is unemployed. Beware of rumor spreading when you are looking for work there are companies that are setup for a single purpose. They keep track of the recently unemployed and specialize in spreading rumors at every and any company that you interview at (They masquerade as in-person advertisers or MLM companies). They do this to keep you une…

Citation?

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#209
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I've been thinking of this the same way. As someone who plans to stay in NYC, I'm looking forward to a time when WFH is more normalized and people who live in cities are people who want to live in cities, not people who need to live in cities. It could be win-win for both types.

> people who live in cities are people who want to live in cities, not people who need to live in cities I'm not under the impression that the droves of techies riding free company shuttle buses from SF to Silicon Valley want to live outside of the city. Maybe that's a uniquely SF thing, as I believe Silicon Valley still employs more tech people than SF, despite SF becoming a tech hub itself post-mobile. People don't…

Considering how many techies put up with 2-3 hours of commuting per day, just to live in SF, I don’t think many will be leaving.

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#210

I for one am ready and rarin' to go for a housing market crash (or "correction" if you wanna call it that) here in NYC, and strongly encourage everyone who doesn't feel like living here to strike out for the heartland. It'll be a better city all around with fewer people and lower rents.

I've been thinking about this and the problem I keep circling around is that basically everyone I know says the exact same thing (waiting for a housing market drop so they can buy in). That implies that the latent demand in the market is huge and any price drops will immediately be gobbled up by an army of millennials who've been waiting for their chance. The question to me is if there are more homes existing owners can't afford anymore or more buyers with enough money to pick them up when they drop a few percent.
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