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Why will home owners vote for pro-housing which reduces the ROI on their homes?

by WWKong 10y ago

djcapelis 10y ago
1) The majority of voters in SF aren't homeowners. 2) ROI isn't the most important thing about a home. 3) Even if you value property values over other values, affordable housing that can support a strong and diverse environment that is vital to maintaining the strength of the region. If you kill that engine, you kill the thing that created the high values to begin with. You can shoot the golden goose if you want, but don't claim it makes good economic sense. It doesn't.
- some-guy 10y ago
  2) ROI isn't the most important thing about a home. I agree, though I imagine the people who can actually afford a home in SF in 2016 feel differently. Edit: clarity
  - djcapelis 10y ago
    Doubt it. Some friends of mine have bought homes here and none of them cared that much about ROI as a large factor in their purchasing decisions. They were buying a home. You gotta be at least a little crazy to live in SF. I hope that's still true. It isn't particularly financially responsible, so you have to want to be here. That means the people who live here generally aren't doing it for their ROIs.
    - WWKong 10y ago
      Are you sure finances is not a factor for most people making the biggest investment of their life? Well, if it isn't they are in for massive joy as every single person I know who have invested in a home sometime back have gotten really really good ROI (if they survived the housing crash).
- WWKong 10y ago
  #2 Sure ROI isn't everything. But when you forgo every other saving/investment opportunity to buy a house, then ROI becomes almost everything. Because that is your investment/future. #3 I buy it that adding housing is overall better. I'm pro-housing. But what do you tell the folks who bought million dollar studio this year? That we are going to improve things for everyone (mostly coming in after you) at the expense of your investment? Are you open to building more housing and using tax dollars to reimburse folks who bought at peak?
  - landryraccoon 10y ago
    One or two bedroom apartments don't decrease the value of single family homes. More jobs and more population density increases the overall value of a city. New grads and singles moving into a city need a place to live, and rental units provide it. Think about it this way - if you demolished all the apartment buildings in San Francisco or New York, would the value of single family homes go up or down? Would brownstones in New York be worth more if there were no apartment buildings Harlem or Queens? If you walled off and burned down the Tenderloin and Point Richmond, would that mean that houses in the sunset would be worth more? I doubt it, since the city overall would be a less desirable place to live with fewer opportunities to work, and lower density means that fewer bars, restaurants, retail establishments, museums etc.. could be supported.
WalterSear 10y ago
Because this town is turning into shit all around us, because of the lack of housing, and we can't even move.

Why will home owners vote for pro-housing which reduces the ROI on their homes?

by WWKong 10y ago

Why will home owners vote for pro-housing which reduces the ROI on their homes?

1) The majority of voters in SF aren't homeowners. 2) ROI isn't the most important thing about a home. 3) Even if you value property values over other values, affordable housing that can support a strong and diverse environment that is vital to maintaining the strength of the region. If you kill that engine, you kill the thing that created the high values to begin with. You can shoot the golden goose if you want, but don't claim it makes good economic sense. It doesn't.

some-guy 10y ago
2) ROI isn't the most important thing about a home. I agree, though I imagine the people who can actually afford a home in SF in 2016 feel differently. Edit: clarity
- djcapelis 10y ago
  Doubt it. Some friends of mine have bought homes here and none of them cared that much about ROI as a large factor in their purchasing decisions. They were buying a home. You gotta be at least a little crazy to live in SF. I hope that's still true. It isn't particularly financially responsible, so you have to want to be here. That means the people who live here generally aren't doing it for their ROIs.
  - WWKong 10y ago
    Are you sure finances is not a factor for most people making the biggest investment of their life? Well, if it isn't they are in for massive joy as every single person I know who have invested in a home sometime back have gotten really really good ROI (if they survived the housing crash).
WWKong 10y ago
#2 Sure ROI isn't everything. But when you forgo every other saving/investment opportunity to buy a house, then ROI becomes almost everything. Because that is your investment/future. #3 I buy it that adding housing is overall better. I'm pro-housing. But what do you tell the folks who bought million dollar studio this year? That we are going to improve things for everyone (mostly coming in after you) at the expense of your investment? Are you open to building more housing and using tax dollars to reimburse folks who bought at peak?
- landryraccoon 10y ago
  One or two bedroom apartments don't decrease the value of single family homes. More jobs and more population density increases the overall value of a city. New grads and singles moving into a city need a place to live, and rental units provide it. Think about it this way - if you demolished all the apartment buildings in San Francisco or New York, would the value of single family homes go up or down? Would brownstones in New York be worth more if there were no apartment buildings Harlem or Queens? If you walled off and burned down the Tenderloin and Point Richmond, would that mean that houses in the sunset would be worth more? I doubt it, since the city overall would be a less desirable place to live with fewer opportunities to work, and lower density means that fewer bars, restaurants, retail establishments, museums etc.. could be supported.

WalterSear 10y ago

Because this town is turning into shit all around us, because of the lack of housing, and we can't even move.