281–290 of 562 posts
It looks like the house in the background is being constructed literally from sticks and cardboard.
We do not frame our houses with stones in the US. It’s not cardboard it’s OSB[1] (Oriented Strand Board). The US and Canada make most of it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriented_strand_board
Dear SF, More apartments built will not help make housing more affordable for normal people. Learn about the NYC real estate market- even pre covid apartment vacancy was extremely high, and the true numbers are unknown because building developers are manipulating the market by releasing units slowly. With all the excessive inventory in NYC, you'd think that a normal person (defined by median income) could afford to b…
How about mixed-cost buildings? Some higher-cost "luxury" units whose price/rent subsidizes the lower cost "essential" units, where firemen, teachers, local people can live.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dear SF, More apartments built are the only thing to make housing more affordable for normal people. But, when you think of them, you're thinking way too small. You need to think in terms of, like, literally doubling the number of apartments available, and they may then be in reach of normal people once more. You also need to get yourself together and reverse that trend where your transit system has carried fewer peo…
> More apartments built are the only thing to make housing more affordable for normal people What? No! Rent control is among other something that can lower the rent for normal people. I know SF has rent control, but currently it only applies as long as you don’t move.
And how is rent control supposed to follow tenants? They just show up to a unit costing $3,000/mo and say "my rent control rate is $800/mo, so you need to rent to me at that price." No sane developer would ever build in SF if that is the case, thus exacerbating point #1.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There was no room for negotiation or to even take a day to think it over, if you walked away from it, there were 2 people right behind you to take it. Naive question maybe, but if demand is that high, why don't prices rise even higher to balance it out a bit? Presumably most landlords would prefer another hundred or two a month at the cost of a few extra days on the market?
> Naive question maybe, but if demand is that high, why don't prices rise even higher to balance it out a bit? It's not always legal to charge more in San Francisco.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> More apartments built are the only thing to make housing more affordable for normal people What? No! Rent control is among other something that can lower the rent for normal people. I know SF has rent control, but currently it only applies as long as you don’t move.
Rent control as implemented can only make housing just-as-expensive, and rent control cannot make housing affordable for normal people. Put a plain 2BR in the Mission at, idk, $1500 a month (which Google tells me is a bit over the US median), and you'll have to hold a lottery to figure out which of the ten thousand families trying to get it, actually get it. Maybe you don't always have a lottery, maybe the big winner…
EDIT: I know it might seem unfair if you are a landlord or in the housing speculative market. But heck, you’ve had your chance to play a fair game, and seriously screwed us over. You’ve proven your self unworthy as a player in a fair market to a point that you shouldn’t be allowed to play it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those landlords don't try to sell that small kitchen, they DO sell that small kitchen. When I was shopping for an apartment in SF 2 years ago there was no spot that did not have at least 2 other parties looking at it. There was no room for negotiation or to even take a day to think it over, if you walked away from it, there were 2 people right behind you to take it.
> There was no room for negotiation or to even take a day to think it over, if you walked away from it, there were 2 people right behind you to take it. Naive question maybe, but if demand is that high, why don't prices rise even higher to balance it out a bit? Presumably most landlords would prefer another hundred or two a month at the cost of a few extra days on the market?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're going to need to present some evidence for this, I think. I don't even know what an "inferior toilet" is. I've pooped in a lot of SF toilets and can assure you that they've all gotten the job done satisfactorily.
I've lived in California my whole life, and I have to agree with the sentiment that our water fixtures are not what they used to be 40 years ago. For example, the shower head we wanted to get is illegal in California, because the flow is too high. When we bought a new toilet we had to get the low flow toilet, which definitely clogs more than the old ones did. What I don't agree with is that this bad. These are minor…
The positive externality is even more minor. You are suffering for no good reason.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't it common for Japanese apartments to be super tiny though? As in enough space for a mattress and not much more.
I'm no expert, just a virtual tourist via YouTube. According to (1) average Tokyo apartment size is 20 square meters or a little over 400 square feet vs 700 square feet in San Francisco as found from a quick Google search. Considering some Japanese rent and live in Cyber cafe cubes that are even smaller I'm not sure how fair a comparison really is between the two. Japan in particular seems to have small appliances ge…
215 vs 700 is a very different story from 400 vs 700.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're going to need to present some evidence for this, I think. I don't even know what an "inferior toilet" is. I've pooped in a lot of SF toilets and can assure you that they've all gotten the job done satisfactorily.
I've lived in California my whole life, and I have to agree with the sentiment that our water fixtures are not what they used to be 40 years ago. For example, the shower head we wanted to get is illegal in California, because the flow is too high. When we bought a new toilet we had to get the low flow toilet, which definitely clogs more than the old ones did. What I don't agree with is that this bad. These are minor…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, the infrastructure can handle double its current utilization? Aren’t the sewers in SF literally over a century old? No issues with adequate water supply and sewage treatment?
These are bad faith arguments and therefore you are either debating in bad faith, or a dupe. San Francisco's gross water demand has been falling consistently for the last 50 years. Not per-capita. Gross. In 1998 the demand was 82 million gallons per day and in 2019 it was 63 million, with a population 17% greater. The more people you pile into a city, the less demand there is, because grossly wasteful activities like…