3 ms·

This has nothing to do with rent control. San Francisco is just one part of the Bay Area, and the Bay Area is just one part of California. The entire state ha

by rayval 14y ago

This has nothing to do with rent control. San Francisco is just one part of the Bay Area, and the Bay Area is just one part of California. The entire state has high real estate prices, despite pockets of low-priced housing (Stockton, for example). Law of supply and demand: a lot of people don't want to live in freezing Minneapolis or bleak Detroit. Or Mumbai or Monterrey, for that matter. Rich or poor, they would rather be in place where there is a chance to bask in the sun by the ocean, even if requires an hour or two drive from their gritty neighborhood.

bgentry 14y ago
Stockton hasn't had high real estate prices since 2008 when their market crashed harder than anywhere else in the country.
- rayval 14y ago
  That's why I said it was a pocket of low-priced housing.
mahyarm 14y ago
If it's really weather, why are almost all of the east coast sun states significantly cheaper? And two of them don't have a state income tax! (Florida and Texas). New York also has fairly shitty weather comparatively and it's even more expensive. It's more complicated than that. Prop 13, cities forcing a lack of density and other polices and forces I don't know about push California to it's sky high rates.
- bitops 14y ago
  > If it's really weather, why are almost all of the east coast sun states significantly cheaper? Simple - people don't want to live in those states as much as California. For example, we have palm trees in California. They have them in Florida too - it's not the same! Similarly, Texas also has nice weather but it's way more variable than California which has a fairly temperate climate. In TX crazy temperature swings are the norm. Also, I've known a number of Texans throughout my time in the Bay Area, pretty much all of them from Austin. The culture of Austin is the most like California and San Francisco - artsy, liberal, etc. Places like Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio are decidedly not like San Francisco. To your point about Prop 13, I agree that it's an issue, and it's definitely a major part of why we keep having this budget crisis over and over and over again, every friggin' year. Sadly, I don't think Prop 13 will be abolished or really revised until the state is completely broke - much worse than it is now. But eventually it will change.

by rayval 14y ago

bgentry 14y ago

Stockton hasn't had high real estate prices since 2008 when their market crashed harder than anywhere else in the country.

rayval 14y ago
That's why I said it was a pocket of low-priced housing.

mahyarm 14y ago

If it's really weather, why are almost all of the east coast sun states significantly cheaper? And two of them don't have a state income tax! (Florida and Texas). New York also has fairly shitty weather comparatively and it's even more expensive. It's more complicated than that. Prop 13, cities forcing a lack of density and other polices and forces I don't know about push California to it's sky high rates.

bitops 14y ago
> If it's really weather, why are almost all of the east coast sun states significantly cheaper? Simple - people don't want to live in those states as much as California. For example, we have palm trees in California. They have them in Florida too - it's not the same! Similarly, Texas also has nice weather but it's way more variable than California which has a fairly temperate climate. In TX crazy temperature swings are the norm. Also, I've known a number of Texans throughout my time in the Bay Area, pretty much all of them from Austin. The culture of Austin is the most like California and San Francisco - artsy, liberal, etc. Places like Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio are decidedly not like San Francisco. To your point about Prop 13, I agree that it's an issue, and it's definitely a major part of why we keep having this budget crisis over and over and over again, every friggin' year. Sadly, I don't think Prop 13 will be abolished or really revised until the state is completely broke - much worse than it is now. But eventually it will change.