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NIMBY is why you can't have affordable housing in the Bay Area. There are many areas in the US that are essentially a "better deal" for techies if you can work

NIMBY is why you can't have affordable housing in the Bay Area. There are many areas in the US that are essentially a "better deal" for techies if you can work remote.

baskethead 5y ago
False. Is supply and demand and income inequality. Ever since the global internet companies became ludicrously rich, more and more engineers with outsized wallets have squeezed everyone else out. It’s always been expensive and there has always been NIMBYs but it’s been crazy since 2010. It takes one or two houses to change the comps in a neighborhood. I sold my house last year. Two married Google engineers came in $250k above everyone else, which was already $500k above list. We found another all-cash offer that was willing to go 50k above the Google engineers so we sold for $800k above list. Ever since then the house prices in that neighborhood are 300k above those prices. So the price in the neighborhood jumped $1M last year. Saying it’s nimbyism is stupid. It’s capitalism.
- colinmhayes 5y ago
  They're willing to pay that much because there isn't enough housing in the bay. If the neighborhood was denser prices would be lower. There aren't an unlimited number of people looking to buy multi million dollar homes in silicon valley.
- nathanyz 5y ago
  You wouldn't have as much supply problem without the NIMBY's -AND- it is capitalism. Capitalism is the market reacting to limited supply and high demand. Limited supply is caused by NIMBY, and high demand is caused by tech company hiring & growth. Both are true.
et-al 5y ago
NIMBYism is human reluctance to change manifested. Housing prices in Austin, Raleigh/Durham/Cary, Pittsburgh, Boulder, Bend are becoming unaffordable to folks who were there 10 years prior. And I wouldn't be surprised if existing residents are complaining about the influx of new transplants. It's tough to predict housing demands and tougher to build infrastructure and houses fast enough for these population changes. However to f0e4c2f7's point, I agree that unless the Bay Area mitigates its high rents, the region will stagnate. High CoL and creativity are inversely related.

NIMBY is why you can't have affordable housing in the Bay Area. There are many areas in the US that are essentially a "better deal" for techies if you can work remote.

baskethead 5y ago

False. Is supply and demand and income inequality. Ever since the global internet companies became ludicrously rich, more and more engineers with outsized wallets have squeezed everyone else out. It’s always been expensive and there has always been NIMBYs but it’s been crazy since 2010. It takes one or two houses to change the comps in a neighborhood. I sold my house last year. Two married Google engineers came in $250k above everyone else, which was already $500k above list. We found another all-cash offer that was willing to go 50k above the Google engineers so we sold for $800k above list. Ever since then the house prices in that neighborhood are 300k above those prices. So the price in the neighborhood jumped $1M last year. Saying it’s nimbyism is stupid. It’s capitalism.

colinmhayes 5y ago
They're willing to pay that much because there isn't enough housing in the bay. If the neighborhood was denser prices would be lower. There aren't an unlimited number of people looking to buy multi million dollar homes in silicon valley.
nathanyz 5y ago
You wouldn't have as much supply problem without the NIMBY's -AND- it is capitalism. Capitalism is the market reacting to limited supply and high demand. Limited supply is caused by NIMBY, and high demand is caused by tech company hiring & growth. Both are true.

et-al 5y ago

NIMBYism is human reluctance to change manifested. Housing prices in Austin, Raleigh/Durham/Cary, Pittsburgh, Boulder, Bend are becoming unaffordable to folks who were there 10 years prior. And I wouldn't be surprised if existing residents are complaining about the influx of new transplants. It's tough to predict housing demands and tougher to build infrastructure and houses fast enough for these population changes. However to f0e4c2f7's point, I agree that unless the Bay Area mitigates its high rents, the region will stagnate. High CoL and creativity are inversely related.