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Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

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Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#681

Post by [deleted] »

mathattack wrote: post #599
captaincole wrote: post #102

I am living in SF now and this confirms a very clear pattern that I have seen emerging, particularly of tech workers. I would say that >50% of the people I know who were living in the city have left, or are in the process of leaving. Some examples (there are countless): 1) All three of the roommates that I had are choosing to leave either permanently or temporarily. 2) A friend who works for google who is going on a…

Once upon a time SF was expensive, but affordable enough for a bunch of non-tech folks right out of college to room together. Most of tech was down South so you had to want to be in the city. If the city reverts to a quirky countercultural moderately overpriced spot, minus some of the tech workers, it’s not the end of the world. And the rest of the US will benefit from more dispersed tech brainpower.

[deleted]

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#682

Post by asdff »

smallnamespace wrote: post #282
kbenson wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article actually notes this: > It should be noted that San Francisco had an unusually low inventory relative to other large cities prior to the pandemic. Historically, the ratio of homes for sale relative to total housing has been a quarter of New York's. But then they go on to assert that this is important regardless, but don't actually provide any information to back it up. > Regardless, the 96% year on year ch…

If you're a renter and you when lease renewal time comes up and you see twice as many open units in your apartment, wouldn't you also bargain more aggressively with your landlord? Conversely, if you're a building manager and you an X% occupancy rate target, you're going to need to cut prices in order to maintain that rate if a bunch of tenants don't renew. This is pretty much textbook microeconomics 101. Going a bit…

In reality, most landlords will sooner tell you to walk and hold an empty apartment for a year than balk on rent.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#683

Post by asdff »

zucker42 wrote: post #355
mjevans wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In practice I've never known how many other units were occupied, and the land lords are incredibly incentivized to sit on empty units over reducing the value of the property by lowering rent ever. The numbers thus _only_ go one direction.

Rents dropped significantly at the start of the pandemic in my area (from $3400 around this time last year to $2500). It's partly because I'm right next to a big college.

In my area in LA the only drops that I've seen are management companies offering a month or so free, to keep up base rent at full price. Maybe smaller landlords are dropping prices, but it's hard to see much of a trend. I will say when I moved out of my complex into a more private place, my parking lot had like 50% capacity (it used to be full before the pandemic).

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#684

Post by asdff »

neltnerb wrote: post #131
kbos87 wrote: post #24

It seems very tough to draw any conclusions on this just yet. The media has clearly latched onto a storyline of a mass exodus from American cities, but the reality is probably much more complex. It seems plausible that SF already had such low inventory numbers that any change would look huge on a chart like this, though that doesn’t appear to be the case in the other highly competitive markets seen here. I’d love to…

I was surprised that in SF of all places the impact of COVID on AirBNB rentals wasn't even mentioned. I'd expect some people doing that have decided to just rent it like normal housing and actually increase the housing stock. But way too early to tell, I'm still never expecting to move back there.

I see that on LA craigslist. You can find plenty of apartments that come 'fully furnished' with that spartan airbnb black particleboard furniture, cheap tv, and futon. Some of them are only month to month, in anticipation of going back to airbnbing whenever that becomes profitable again, like a lightswitch.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#685

Post by mjmj »

ulfw wrote: post #677
defnotashton2 wrote: post #642

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an sf visitor, it's a bit of oasis, it's like 68f year around, beaches and sunny...

Beaches???

Chrissy field beach was amazing on Friday, whole family got sunburned and didn’t want to leave. Ocean beach is massive and awesome, great for bonfires. Both those are 10 min drives for us. Or head to one of multiple nudist beach just south of Pacifica or north Baker beach near the GG. I totally relate to SF being associated with beaches and ive been here 15 years now. We used to have to drive in over 1hr of LA traffic to go to the beach, don’t miss that.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#686

Post by tumanian »

My partner and I capitalized on dropping rents and just moved into a large 1br with amazing views and garage in SF, for a marginal increase in rent. I am hoping that with tech moving out and commercial real estate getting cheaper, the new generation of artists will come to the city, bringing with them the weird culture, the creatives, the experimental. Its not the first boom of this town and after every bust the city heals itself to something even better.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#687

Post by asdff »

tjr225 wrote: post #92
fountainofage wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those activities are also restricted and limited during COVID - either explicitly via state and local ordinances or via social pressures to not spread the virus. Basically, the optimal solution right now is to not go anywhere or see anyone unless you absolutely have to. Which if all someone should be doing is sitting at home or getting groceries, they could do that for a lot less than SF prices.

Hiking/cycling/camping can be crazy socially distant and probably one of the best things you can do for your own mental and physical health right now. A ride up Tam isn’t going to be any more or less dangerous than it was before. Outside of a few extremely popular spots it is not restricted in Washington, at least to my knowledge. If it is in the Bay/CA then it is news to me. In any case, that stuff will still be the…

It's actually pretty tough to camp these days. Everyone is doing it, so the familiar spots are packed with people eager to not wear a mask and rip through 24 beers in 24 hours.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#688

Post by deepakhj »

diebeforei485 wrote: post #516
Bud wrote: post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The property prices are due to "stunning incompetence of SF government"? I'm not buying that. Public officials are not in charge of—nor do they have any real control over—property values. Your co-worker who bought property elsewhere wasn't able to do so because the mayor of that town was incredibly competent. That had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Yeah, the SF Board of Supervisors refuses to change the current zoning regime.

It’s totally the bos and not the nimby residents. /s

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#689

Post by dang »

wwwwwwwww wrote: post #199
lotsofpulp wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If SF decided to show compassion and start spending the massive amounts of money needed to help the homeless via education or mental health facilities, every other municipality in the country will start shipping people in. This isn’t a problem any city or state can address. It’s only solvable on a federal level, and that’s only because there is a military to enforce borders.

So you decide to not help people, because then you would need to help people?

Would you please stop using HN for flamewar and posting unsubstantive comments? We ban accounts that do that and you've unfortunately done quite a bit already.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#690

Post by welder »

01100011 wrote: post #439
bamboozled wrote: post #40

Have others noticed this kind of "revolt against cities" attitude lately too? I do wonder if people consider the huge advantages city living can provide? I'm reading constantly that current dream is buying a plot of land in the middle no where, signing up for StarLink and growing watermelons while trying to work a full time engineering job. The thing is though, this is all just a temporary thing, even if this pandemi…

Why would I want to live in a city and compete with the best of the best? I don't want my kids to go to a top school in an urban environment. I want them to do well in an above-average suburban school and have access to recreational activities outside the city. I want to live an affordable life that allows me to save and build wealth. I want a good work/life balance. I don't see the city providing me any of that. The…

Even if you lose competing against the best, you're still better off than the ones not in the competition.
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