The housing market needs more condos • Hacker News Board

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#11

Post by HideousKojima » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 7:44 PM UTC

thisrobot wrote: post #4

more_corn wrote: post #3

Because people don’t Like condos?

I think people think they don’t like condos. I currently live in a condo I own and while not without challenges overall I like it. I think people have unrealistic pessimism for hoas. In Seattle there are a ton for town homes being built, split lot and connected, most without any hoa. When they need work I bet you’ll see a lot of neighbors suing neighbors to fix and replace shared elements. I would never move into sha…

My wife and I live in a townhome and we hate it. The noise through the walls, especially if you have inconsiderate neighbors, is a huge pain and you have essentially zero control over it.

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#12

Post by thisrobot » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 7:46 PM UTC

bozhark wrote: post #8

thisrobot wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people think they don’t like condos. I currently live in a condo I own and while not without challenges overall I like it. I think people have unrealistic pessimism for hoas. In Seattle there are a ton for town homes being built, split lot and connected, most without any hoa. When they need work I bet you’ll see a lot of neighbors suing neighbors to fix and replace shared elements. I would never move into sha…

Moved into a condo in the area last April. The water line is not only shared, but they had been piping hot water to their fridge line since the 80’s. Apparently no one cares enough so we ate the cost of re routing. Fuck HOA’s

Cool. So that really only leaves single family homes if you don’t want an hoa. I don’t think it scales.

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#13

Post by Victerius » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 7:48 PM UTC

twalla wrote: post #5

A lot of people have a big chunk of their net worth tied up into home equity because it's sort of the "ordained" path to building wealth for the middle class - condos don't see similar appreciation, get hit harder in downturns and are one of the last types of properties to recover in value afterwards. Start incentivizing treating housing as, you know, a place to live rather than a financial instrument and you'll see…

> condos don't see similar appreciation, get hit harder in downturns and are one of the last types of properties to recover in value afterwards.

This is fine. I don't buy a condo with the hope of recouping my money. I buy a condo to have a roof over my head. I couldn't care less if my condo loses 80% of its value. It would lower my property tax bill in fact. I don't expect a ROI > 0 for the furniture either.

For my retirement, I contribute to a 401k and a Roth IRA.

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#14

Post by sidlls » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 7:48 PM UTC

thisrobot wrote: post #12

bozhark wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moved into a condo in the area last April. The water line is not only shared, but they had been piping hot water to their fridge line since the 80’s. Apparently no one cares enough so we ate the cost of re routing. Fuck HOA’s

Cool. So that really only leaves single family homes if you don’t want an hoa. I don’t think it scales.

Plenty of single family homes are in HOA developments. It’s not impossible but it’s not exactly trivial to find non-HOA SFH in the Peninsula.

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#15

Post by lkxijlewlf » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 7:48 PM UTC

more_corn wrote: post #3

Because people don’t Like condos?

Two reasons I hear most for this:

1) They don't appreciate like houses do (and depreciate faster than houses do).

2) A lot of "condos" are converted apartment buildings. This sucks because the construction is much worse (hardly any sound dampening, etc.).

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#16

Post by asiachick » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 7:48 PM UTC

HideousKojima wrote: post #11

thisrobot wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people think they don’t like condos. I currently live in a condo I own and while not without challenges overall I like it. I think people have unrealistic pessimism for hoas. In Seattle there are a ton for town homes being built, split lot and connected, most without any hoa. When they need work I bet you’ll see a lot of neighbors suing neighbors to fix and replace shared elements. I would never move into sha…

My wife and I live in a townhome and we hate it. The noise through the walls, especially if you have inconsiderate neighbors, is a huge pain and you have essentially zero control over it.

I've lived in "soundproof" condos and in paper thin floor condos. I'd blame bad building construction on noise more than neighbors.

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#17

Post by MattGaiser » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 7:50 PM UTC

thisrobot wrote: post #4

more_corn wrote: post #3

Because people don’t Like condos?

I think people think they don’t like condos. I currently live in a condo I own and while not without challenges overall I like it. I think people have unrealistic pessimism for hoas. In Seattle there are a ton for town homes being built, split lot and connected, most without any hoa. When they need work I bet you’ll see a lot of neighbors suing neighbors to fix and replace shared elements. I would never move into sha…

That’s why I will never buy into shared anything, not why I will warm up to homeowners associations.

You are at the mercy of the average members of your group and the average person let’s things decay until it falls down around them.

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#18

Post by sidlls » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 7:50 PM UTC

No, it doesn’t. Or at least it depends on where. What the Bay Area needs is more genuine family housing, not small 2BR condos. If the condos were majority 3+ BR I’d have a different opinion. But they aren’t: it’s very hard to find good quality condo housing suitable for a 2-child family that isn’t roughly the same as or more than my 7-figure net worth in cost.

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#19

Post by thisrobot » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 7:50 PM UTC

HideousKojima wrote: post #11

thisrobot wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people think they don’t like condos. I currently live in a condo I own and while not without challenges overall I like it. I think people have unrealistic pessimism for hoas. In Seattle there are a ton for town homes being built, split lot and connected, most without any hoa. When they need work I bet you’ll see a lot of neighbors suing neighbors to fix and replace shared elements. I would never move into sha…

My wife and I live in a townhome and we hate it. The noise through the walls, especially if you have inconsiderate neighbors, is a huge pain and you have essentially zero control over it.

I think a lot of modern construction sucks. My condo was built in 1980 and I almost never hear my neighbors. It is also a fairly well designed building where both vertical and horizontal neighbors have aligned spaces for sleeping eating and living. Along with side shard walls being used for closets and bathrooms.

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#20

Post by Rebelgecko » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 7:51 PM UTC

more_corn wrote: post #3

Because people don’t Like condos?

I like my condo. Even though part of why I live in one is cost, another part is that I hate dealing with maintenance. I think it would've been a big transition to go from apartment living, where none of that is my problem, to a house where I'd have to coordinate roofers, gardeners, pool guy, etc. By living in a condo I can outsource a lot of those problems to the HOA, and (in theory, maybe not in practice) benefit from economies of scale