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Parent was posting about buying a house with land. Your example is for a (small) condo - way cheaper than what he was talking about. Edit: Parent was posting a

Parent was posting about buying a house with land. Your example is for a (small) condo - way cheaper than what he was talking about. Edit: Parent was posting about buying a house in Switzerland - and that is really expensive in the surroundings of Zurich. Buying a condo is cheaper in any case - I just made a statement that you can't compare oranges to apples.

kuschku 10y ago
Buying a house with land in a city is a very american thing – which is why the focus on a small condo is a lot more realistic. Imagine a city with everyone living in a small house with land, it’d be impossible to live in, as the distances would be far too large.
- lrem 10y ago
  Have you seen Dublin? ;)
- etatoby 10y ago
  I think even in the US nobody really buys a house (with land) in the city, but in the suburbs. Big difference and much more similar to the 1 hour drive discussed above.
  - tptacek 10y ago
    Most of Chicago, the third-largest city in the US, is single-family houses with yards. For that matter, when I lived in San Francisco back in 99-2001, I had a yard.
    - ams6110 10y ago
      The standard Chicago city lot is only about 25' wide though. The houses are very close together, with a tiny front yard and a slightly large back yard but only a narrow strip on either side.
      - tptacek 10y ago
        That's a big part of what makes them not suburban. I like the narrow lots. Why would I need more than the typical Chicago lot?
        godzillabrennus 10y ago
        He only thing I don't like is that I feel like I live in a bowling alley because all the homes are long and narrow.
        wglb 10y ago
        Antenna towers.
      - willu 10y ago
        Less lawn care. :-) That said, there are large pockets on the northwest side that have lot sizes comparable with some near suburbs.
    - dmix 10y ago
      Toronto was/is like this too. It's a pretty big city similar to Chicago. All of the houses are >$1 million now in Toronto proper. Now the only thing being built are hundreds of cookie cutter condos right in the downtown core. So many were built in recent years that the price of condos actually went down for the first time in forever while house prices continued to rise.
      - tptacek 10y ago
        You can get a decent house in a nice neighborhood on the north side of Chicago for around 200k.
        jordanb 10y ago
        As a person who's currently dealing with the market in Chicago I can say your data is out of date. Bungalows in virtually any decent north side neighborhood are more like 250-300k. The only exception is Belmont-Cragin which is so inaccessible it might as well be a suburb. That being said, yeah, Chicago real-estate is still affordable for the middle class. I think Toronto is in a bubble (or somehow experiencing severely constricted supply) simply looking at the price of housing versus salaries in the region.
        tptacek 10y ago
        My sister just last year bought a house in Jefferson Park for around that, and her neighbor's house just went up for less than 200. I'm sure it's not the best house in the world, but it's a nice neighborhood walking distance from a blue line station.
        jordanb 10y ago
        I don't know about the particulars of their places. The only properties I've seen in Jeff Park for that cheap have been Bank Owned, in need of serious rehab, or have some other mitigating issue like being on a short lot.
    - mortehu 10y ago
      But by European standards, Chicago is a small city of about 100,000 people surrounded by an enormous commuter town.
      - kasey_junk 10y ago
        Which standards would those be?
        kuschku 10y ago
        The standards of the "City" ending where you go from city style buildings (multiple people per building, density high enough that it’s fully walkable, etc) to suburban or rural style buildings (seperate, one or two family homes, unusable by foot)
        tptacek 10y ago
        Chicago is one of the most walkable cities in the country. Moreover, the stuff people actually want to go to --- the various bar and restaurant districts, &c --- are in the residential north side of the city, not downtown, which basically shuts down at 6PM. Almost every neighborhood in the city has a mix of freestanding single family homes, townhouses and 3-flats, and dense apartment buildings.
        bbarn 10y ago
        Are most other big cities like the loop after business hours? I'm always shocked at how deserted it is on weekends, and evenings aside from the odd theatre traffic.
        kuschku 10y ago
        Most big cities after business hours are full of life, full of people out going to bars, clubs, other events, etc. If you go outside in the downtown of most 200k+ cities, on any normal day, you’ll find lots of people there. On the other hand, the residential suburbs will be dead.
- HillaryBriss 10y ago
  Los Angeles used to be approximately like that. We're still emerging from that kind of pattern and distribution. I think, taken as a whole, the greater LA area is still sort of like that. Some people think it is impossible to live in.
  - sologoub 10y ago
    I'm pretty sure LA is still a sprawl and density has increased very little. Even in Santa Monica, and the rest of beach areas, there are plenty of single family homes. Not sure if they make up the majority of residential land, but sure feels that way.
deleted 10y ago
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kuschku 10y ago

Buying a house with land in a city is a very american thing – which is why the focus on a small condo is a lot more realistic. Imagine a city with everyone living in a small house with land, it’d be impossible to live in, as the distances would be far too large.

lrem 10y ago
Have you seen Dublin? ;)
etatoby 10y ago
I think even in the US nobody really buys a house (with land) in the city, but in the suburbs. Big difference and much more similar to the 1 hour drive discussed above.
- tptacek 10y ago
  Most of Chicago, the third-largest city in the US, is single-family houses with yards. For that matter, when I lived in San Francisco back in 99-2001, I had a yard.
  - ams6110 10y ago
    The standard Chicago city lot is only about 25' wide though. The houses are very close together, with a tiny front yard and a slightly large back yard but only a narrow strip on either side.
    - tptacek 10y ago
      That's a big part of what makes them not suburban. I like the narrow lots. Why would I need more than the typical Chicago lot?
      - godzillabrennus 10y ago
        He only thing I don't like is that I feel like I live in a bowling alley because all the homes are long and narrow.
      - wglb 10y ago
        Antenna towers.
    - willu 10y ago
      Less lawn care. :-) That said, there are large pockets on the northwest side that have lot sizes comparable with some near suburbs.
  - dmix 10y ago
    Toronto was/is like this too. It's a pretty big city similar to Chicago. All of the houses are >$1 million now in Toronto proper. Now the only thing being built are hundreds of cookie cutter condos right in the downtown core. So many were built in recent years that the price of condos actually went down for the first time in forever while house prices continued to rise.
    - tptacek 10y ago
      You can get a decent house in a nice neighborhood on the north side of Chicago for around 200k.
      - jordanb 10y ago
        As a person who's currently dealing with the market in Chicago I can say your data is out of date. Bungalows in virtually any decent north side neighborhood are more like 250-300k. The only exception is Belmont-Cragin which is so inaccessible it might as well be a suburb. That being said, yeah, Chicago real-estate is still affordable for the middle class. I think Toronto is in a bubble (or somehow experiencing severely constricted supply) simply looking at the price of housing versus salaries in the region.
        tptacek 10y ago
        My sister just last year bought a house in Jefferson Park for around that, and her neighbor's house just went up for less than 200. I'm sure it's not the best house in the world, but it's a nice neighborhood walking distance from a blue line station.
        jordanb 10y ago
        I don't know about the particulars of their places. The only properties I've seen in Jeff Park for that cheap have been Bank Owned, in need of serious rehab, or have some other mitigating issue like being on a short lot.
  - mortehu 10y ago
    But by European standards, Chicago is a small city of about 100,000 people surrounded by an enormous commuter town.
    - kasey_junk 10y ago
      Which standards would those be?
      - kuschku 10y ago
        The standards of the "City" ending where you go from city style buildings (multiple people per building, density high enough that it’s fully walkable, etc) to suburban or rural style buildings (seperate, one or two family homes, unusable by foot)
        tptacek 10y ago
        Chicago is one of the most walkable cities in the country. Moreover, the stuff people actually want to go to --- the various bar and restaurant districts, &c --- are in the residential north side of the city, not downtown, which basically shuts down at 6PM. Almost every neighborhood in the city has a mix of freestanding single family homes, townhouses and 3-flats, and dense apartment buildings.
        bbarn 10y ago
        Are most other big cities like the loop after business hours? I'm always shocked at how deserted it is on weekends, and evenings aside from the odd theatre traffic.
        kuschku 10y ago
        Most big cities after business hours are full of life, full of people out going to bars, clubs, other events, etc. If you go outside in the downtown of most 200k+ cities, on any normal day, you’ll find lots of people there. On the other hand, the residential suburbs will be dead.
HillaryBriss 10y ago
Los Angeles used to be approximately like that. We're still emerging from that kind of pattern and distribution. I think, taken as a whole, the greater LA area is still sort of like that. Some people think it is impossible to live in.
- sologoub 10y ago
  I'm pretty sure LA is still a sprawl and density has increased very little. Even in Santa Monica, and the rest of beach areas, there are plenty of single family homes. Not sure if they make up the majority of residential land, but sure feels that way.

deleted 10y ago

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