If there is demand for this, more power to them. However, I feel existential dread considering that demand for this exists (and is potentially growing).
Rent the Backyard (YC S19) wants to build a studio apartment in your yard
21–30 of 154 posts
Re: Rent the Backyard (YC S19) wants to build a studio apartment in your yard
#22In the bay, rent is so high this makes no sense. Why would I give away 50% of rent for something that can pay off my investment in one to two years? Even with the headaches 50% is not worth it. 20% maybe.
Re: Rent the Backyard (YC S19) wants to build a studio apartment in your yard
#23I love anything that creates more housing in the bay, but these are 30-year contracts! I can't even imagine getting into a 30 year contract with a company that might not exist in 30 months. What happens when the start-up goes under, or gets acquired, etc? Is the loan made directly to a third party bank?
I think of the long-term solar contracts that make it hard to sell a house.
Re: Rent the Backyard (YC S19) wants to build a studio apartment in your yard
#24If this isn't reflective of an abject failure of local/state government and public policy to plan and manage the needs of housing and population growth, I don't know what is. Tech companies now employ people, feed people, transport people, educate people, and now they house people. Pretty soon we'll be voting for which tech company governs our society. All the while gutless local city council members afraid of losing…
If this isn't reflective of an abject failure of local/state government and public policy to plan and manage the needs of housing and population growth, I don't know what is.
It's not a failure of local/state government. It's an encompassing failure of society at large. We keep passing NIMBY laws. Society becomes ossified. There's no longer anywhere for the next generation to settle down.
Tech companies now feed people, transport people, educate people, house people. Pretty soon we'll be voting for which tech company governs our society.
Aren't we already voting with our dollars? In a way, it's like our society is becoming the one described in Snow Crash, just with Silicon Valley aesthetics, as opposed to the cyberpunk take on 1990's strip malls. The US government is losing credibility. Everything is privatized and up for sale or lease. Want a better jail cell? Offer the jail franchise your credit card for an upgrade!
"What's it gonna be, the Hoosegow or The Clink?" the first MetaCop says. From the way he is talking, he must be talking to the other MetaCop.
"The Hoosegow, please," Y.T. says.
...
The Hoosegow looks like a nice new one. Y.T. has seen hotels that were worse places to sleep. Its logo sign, a saguaro cactus with a black cowboy hat resting on top of it at a jaunty angle, is brand-new and clean.
THE HOOSEGOW
Premium incarceration and restraint services
We welcome busloadsRe: Rent the Backyard (YC S19) wants to build a studio apartment in your yard
#25It seems like the biggest innovation here would be bringing down the price of building a standalone studio apartment. These units probably cost cost $120k+ to build/install? It would be neat if there was a (high quality) $50k kit homeowners could buy and assemble themselves, almost like IKEA furniture.
There's actually lots of companies that sell these. Google "kit homes"
The fact that there are many players may indicate that none are good enough to be dominant. I added the "high quality" qualifier because I kind of assumed existing kits are not great, based on some previous searching.
What's the best kit home in the U.S.?
Re: Rent the Backyard (YC S19) wants to build a studio apartment in your yard
#26What prevents a homeowner to go directly to: https://node.eco/ or https://livemodal.com/ and do it themselves?
Re: Rent the Backyard (YC S19) wants to build a studio apartment in your yard
#27Can someone more familiar with the Bay Area housing issues and this company’s approach to increasing housing explain or analyze this for a non-Bay Area audience? I ask because this currently is Bay Area only.
One of the core problems in San Francisco and environs is that there's little room to expand. (In earlier boom times there was a fair bit of land created via fill [1], but that's over now.) So basically, we have to increase density.
One way to do that is to tear down small places and build bigger ones. That's definitely happening, but it's fraught. One less complicated solution is what's know as the in-law, in that maybe it's the kind of place you'd build if you wanted space for your mother-in-law that wasn't in the main house. [2] I've seen a number of these in SF; a lot of lots are relatively long and narrow, so people built a house in front with a back yard behind. Later, they replace some of the back yard with a small apartment.
The Bay Area's the right place to start because in-laws (known officially as ADUs, have recently been made legal. [3] I don't expect this company to make a huge difference, but it definitely looks like a way for everybody involved to make a little money while expanding housing stock, so I'm all for it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bay_area_fill.jpg
[2] https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/little-...
[3] http://www.hcd.ca.gov/policy-research/AccessoryDwellingUnits...
Re: Rent the Backyard (YC S19) wants to build a studio apartment in your yard
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's actually lots of companies that sell these. Google "kit homes"
The fact that there are many players may indicate that none are good enough to be dominant. I added the "high quality" qualifier because I kind of assumed existing kits are not great, based on some previous searching. What's the best kit home in the U.S.?
What's the best type of house in the US?
Re: Rent the Backyard (YC S19) wants to build a studio apartment in your yard
#29People who can afford their home will not like watching their property values and quality of life decline because a neighbor “rented” its back yard.
Taking the Uber approach - ignoring laws - won’t work here, so this business is entirely at the mercy of permit laws. I find it astounding that some ideas get prominent backing.
Furthermore, home owners will discover that having people travel alongside their homes to reach the rented studios will be unpleasant and unsafe.
Will the tenant be allowed to come and go at any hour? Will the home owner know that the person creeping alongside their bedroom window at night is the tenant rather than a burglar?
Will the tenant be allowed to park in the homeowner’s driveway, or will they line the front curbs of the house with their car and any visitors’ cars?
Re: Rent the Backyard (YC S19) wants to build a studio apartment in your yard
#30It seems like the biggest innovation here would be bringing down the price of building a standalone studio apartment. These units probably cost cost $120k+ to build/install? It would be neat if there was a (high quality) $50k kit homeowners could buy and assemble themselves, almost like IKEA furniture.
Interestingly, long before the internet the Sears Catalog used to sell mail-order kit houses.