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Builder's Remedy goes into effect in many California cities tomorrow

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Re: Builder's Remedy goes into effect in many California cities tomorrow

#841
post #693

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can have all this (and more!) in cities as well. Lived in Seattle for a bit and my apartment had several neighborhoods of single-family homes within a couple blocks: each with mature trees, yards, and low traffic streets. Sure, the yard maybe isn't as massive as you can get in a suburb, but there's still plenty of space (and far more public parks). Because they were so close to dense housing, they also had the ad…

I dont like noise, light pollution, or crowds. I'd like nighttime to be silent and pitch dark, and the daytime to be mostly silent as well. I go on trips and need to be able to load lots of stuff in and out of "my" or "a" car without living in terror of all of my stuff getting stolen while I'm inside. Where should I live? Note: I lived in three different boroughs of NYC for 25 years

Sounds like you're describing a farm

Re: Builder's Remedy goes into effect in many California cities tomorrow

#842

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With no constraints on construction will there be a small boom in new development, tearing down virgin forest in order to make empty developments? Probably? I live in Michigan, which (with the exception of two spots) has no meaningful limits on construction. Even the cities that technically have-and-enforce zoning, waive all the rules constantly anytime a developer asks. And yes -- it means developers can build alm…

> Unfortunately, it does not mean you get lower cost of housing (prices here are still astronomical, and while they look cheaper in comparison to California, is only because of the severely reduced income locals make -- prices are still at record-all-time highs) Are you taking into account the inflation we've experienced? If the mental anchor against which you compare this "all time high" is 2015, for example, then w…

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MISTHPI

By these numbers, up about 78% since 2008 and 2015, which almost matched.

Up 50% since the previous peak in 2005, so yeah all-time high.

Re: Builder's Remedy goes into effect in many California cities tomorrow

#843
post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of upzoning is to allow for more housing to be built, not to literally force it upon unsuspecting property owners. If nobody wants to sell, nobody wants to sell. But eventually...

Houses in Atherton are already the size of apartment buildings. You could house 10-20 units in them without any change to the exterior. Change will happen, people would gladly pay a normal Bay Area house cost to get 1/10 of an Atherton house and live in that school district

They’re going to be some crazy expensive apartments.

Re: Builder's Remedy goes into effect in many California cities tomorrow

#844

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a certain cost to build a house. It's not like the houses themselves are more in CA (well, maybe a little), it's the land . For example, my house is appraised around $300k but the land is appraised at $1.2 million.

My 4 bedroom house in Oakland had a replacement cost/value of about $400k. That seemed high but not unreasonable. Then the Santa Rosa fire burned down 1000 homes and insurers realized that construction costs in California are insane (especially when you are trying to build a thousand in a year). Replacement cost jumped to $750k in one year. The land used to be worth quite a good fraction of the property, and then it…

My home’s replacement cost is way higher than what the insurer appraised it as, but asking for a higher appraisal counts as warning bells in their eyes (are they planning on burning down their home?).

Re: Builder's Remedy goes into effect in many California cities tomorrow

#845
post #745
post #610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why is that? Maybe because children don’t play on the street at all in the city. So what does the fraction look when we take children playing outside and be healthy instead of just children? The chance remains the same but for the ones that survive there is a better quality of life.

Children do play on city streets, however one of the big differences is sight lines. Suburban streets tend to be dangerous due to visibility issues and often lack well connected sidewalks etc. A core reason for this is developers want to maximize the number of houses they can fit on a given plot of land which will often have odd shapes etc. So kids simply walking to a friends house are often in real danger.

I'd argue it's wide suburban streets that encourage high speed driving. The road I live on is not wide enough for two cars to pass each other if there are also cars parked on each side, and driving even 20mph feels way too fast. But when I go visit family members in the suburbs, the streets are wide enough for two lanes of parked cars, plus 3 lanes of driving cars. Driving under 50mph feels like you might as well get out and walk.

Re: Builder's Remedy goes into effect in many California cities tomorrow

#846

The logical move would seem to be to submit lots of proposals for super tall massive ugly developments on Wednesday. No need to actually have the cash arranged to build them. Propose 100 floor tiny apartments everywhere. Then, they get approved. Then the city gets it's zoning laws in place and regrets the approval of your massive ugly development. But then you go to the city with an offer... Send in a new, more reaso…

It’s this type of poor-faith discourse that has led to some of the, “California-bad”, sentiment you see in the news.

Same energy as states who pay for their homeless to come to California and then blast hit pieces about how terrible California is to live in.

Re: Builder's Remedy goes into effect in many California cities tomorrow

#847

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The local people in every place want to live in rural towns 5 minutes from the big city. It’s built into the human psyche. The problem is it’s geometrically impossible. So it comes down to how important you think “finders keepers” is - do the people who got there first have the right to lock everyone else out forever? However justified they may be in wanting this, it’s hard to deny that the costs imposed on everyone…

// So it comes down to how important you think “finders keepers” is - do the people who got there first have the right to lock everyone else out forever? I get the point you're making and it's not illogical, it's just what do you prioritize? In many situations honoring the existing relationships and the wishes of people in it is the more humane choice. When your dad married your mom, he locked everyone out from marry…

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Re: Builder's Remedy goes into effect in many California cities tomorrow

#848

In principle, I hate this. Cities should be able to plan their own growth. In practice, coming from CA, I am 100% onboard. It's a mess of red tape and bullshit lawsuits.

Maybe if they actually planned growth. In practice they just prevent growth. I'd rather err on the side of property rights--if you buy some land you can build stuff on it (within reason).

Re: Builder's Remedy goes into effect in many California cities tomorrow

#849

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 20% affordable component of Builder's Remedy means you need to propose at least 5 homes so one of them can be affordable. That said, a "missing middle" program is a really helpful thing to help cities get their Housing Element into compliance so if you think there is a place where this density would be helpful, send a comment to your city council and cc HousingElements@hcd.ca.gov.

It can also be 100% affordable to moderate income although that's almost assuredly less lucrative.

It’s not less lucrative, it’s non-lucrative. Labor, materials and land in California all cost a small fortune.

Re: Builder's Remedy goes into effect in many California cities tomorrow

#850
post #48

How would the builder's remedy work in a place like Atherton if the homeowners form a pact and refuse to sell to any developers? E.g. if Marc Andreessen ( https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/marc-andre... ) and Steph Curry ( https://therealdeal.com/2023/01/29/steph-curry-shoots-his-ni... ) form a coalition with other residents then they can effectively keep the city down zoned even if builder's remedy i…

We aren't going to force anyone to sell their property. But realistically, Atherton has many property owners (including many that are far less rich than the ones you mentioned). The chance that none of them ever agree to sell is zero.
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