6 ms·

I live in SF, find it a beautiful city but I’m not particularly attached to it, so I rent. The area where that property is located is really good, I live nearb

I live in SF, find it a beautiful city but I’m not particularly attached to it, so I rent. The area where that property is located is really good, I live nearby. I think the property is worth that amount, since someone paid for it in a competitive market, that terrace with views of Sutro tower is spectacular. It’s also a good deal compared to its previous 2019 sale price ($1.4M), so it’s likely it was intentionally priced below market, the owner never meant to sell it at the asking price. The city just has so, so many wealthy people, it’s difficult to comprehend. I, a complete nobody, know a lot of people in their 20s with $10M+ net worth. I’m in my 30s with a $6M liquid net worth and I’m the least successful in my peer group. It’s not unreasonable to drop that much in a beautiful city with such a scarce inventory. I don’t think that property value will significantly drop any time soon, if ever. You are entitled to your own opinions and venting, but it might be more productive to just vote with your feet and leave, if this is too frustrating to deal with.

tossandthrow 1y ago
The housing market in SF is definitely an indication of concentrated wealth. That said - relatively few participants are needed to price the market. This is the case for housing, stocks (where ETF-holder do not perform pricing), etc. You are also likely not a nobody, not even in SF terms, with $6M liquid (assuming that there are quite a bit of investments on top of that). This would either require some successful speculative investments, top-level position in a successful company, inheritance, or successful exits. only inheritance with a long frugal lineage would yield a wealthy nobody.
Compzilla 1y ago
I appreciate that you and your peer group are doing well, but saying, “if you don’t like it, leave” kind of proves my point. It illustrates a bit of tech wealth blindness. My mother always told me... "just because you can doesn't mean you should." Maybe those with such means shouldn't be so quick to just contribute to the affordability crisis and force out families who have lived there for generations. The city has become a luxury good, a playground for the wealthy, not a place for the other classes to live. That’s the problem I’m trying to document, not just complain about. By the way, my daughter was born in this city. She just graduated from a very good school, but she will still never be able to afford this place as long as people like you maintain such a callous attitude about those who came before them.
- deanmoriarty 1y ago
  > as long as people like you maintain such a callous attitude about those who came before them. I think you might be barking up the wrong tree here since I just rent a very modest apartment here and I’m not going to ever buy a property, nor vote against any housing shortage policies. My suggestion was purely practical. But what would you expect exactly? The Bay Area has a massive marketing machine that screams to the world: “come here, make big bucks quickly and easily!”, which is true. Do you expect people not to take that bargain? People will always be looking to improve their situation, I came from the other side of the world just like many others. It should be up to the government to either limit the inflow of people (via immigration control or other means), massively increase housing inventory or any other solution (I’m not an economist so I don’t know what’s the right one). The condo you listed just sold for less than its last 2019 sale value when accounting for the massive inflation rate of these past 5 years. Thinking that it was a bubble-driven price is really not the right attitude, in my opinion. It’s how much it’s worth, and the market confirmed it.
  - Compzilla 1y ago
    I get your point that you’re not the buyer, and you’re not the one inflating prices. That said, if you are worth as much as you say, you are clearly not middle income with average resources. You say I’m barking up the wrong tree, but the tree in question is a system that’s pricing out entire generations. Are we just supposed to shrug and say “that’s how it works”? This is capitalism I know, but that doesn't mean it's right. The fact that something sells doesn’t mean it’s justified, it means the top 1% still has the liquidity to win every bidding war. That’s not “the market”... that’s an engineered, artificial scarcity propped up by investment groups, zoning failure, and captured politics. My goal isn’t to change you... it’s to chronicle and question what's become accepted practice.

tossandthrow 1y ago

The housing market in SF is definitely an indication of concentrated wealth. That said - relatively few participants are needed to price the market. This is the case for housing, stocks (where ETF-holder do not perform pricing), etc. You are also likely not a nobody, not even in SF terms, with $6M liquid (assuming that there are quite a bit of investments on top of that). This would either require some successful speculative investments, top-level position in a successful company, inheritance, or successful exits. only inheritance with a long frugal lineage would yield a wealthy nobody.

Compzilla 1y ago

I appreciate that you and your peer group are doing well, but saying, “if you don’t like it, leave” kind of proves my point. It illustrates a bit of tech wealth blindness. My mother always told me... "just because you can doesn't mean you should." Maybe those with such means shouldn't be so quick to just contribute to the affordability crisis and force out families who have lived there for generations. The city has become a luxury good, a playground for the wealthy, not a place for the other classes to live. That’s the problem I’m trying to document, not just complain about. By the way, my daughter was born in this city. She just graduated from a very good school, but she will still never be able to afford this place as long as people like you maintain such a callous attitude about those who came before them.

deanmoriarty 1y ago
> as long as people like you maintain such a callous attitude about those who came before them. I think you might be barking up the wrong tree here since I just rent a very modest apartment here and I’m not going to ever buy a property, nor vote against any housing shortage policies. My suggestion was purely practical. But what would you expect exactly? The Bay Area has a massive marketing machine that screams to the world: “come here, make big bucks quickly and easily!”, which is true. Do you expect people not to take that bargain? People will always be looking to improve their situation, I came from the other side of the world just like many others. It should be up to the government to either limit the inflow of people (via immigration control or other means), massively increase housing inventory or any other solution (I’m not an economist so I don’t know what’s the right one). The condo you listed just sold for less than its last 2019 sale value when accounting for the massive inflation rate of these past 5 years. Thinking that it was a bubble-driven price is really not the right attitude, in my opinion. It’s how much it’s worth, and the market confirmed it.
- Compzilla 1y ago
  I get your point that you’re not the buyer, and you’re not the one inflating prices. That said, if you are worth as much as you say, you are clearly not middle income with average resources. You say I’m barking up the wrong tree, but the tree in question is a system that’s pricing out entire generations. Are we just supposed to shrug and say “that’s how it works”? This is capitalism I know, but that doesn't mean it's right. The fact that something sells doesn’t mean it’s justified, it means the top 1% still has the liquidity to win every bidding war. That’s not “the market”... that’s an engineered, artificial scarcity propped up by investment groups, zoning failure, and captured politics. My goal isn’t to change you... it’s to chronicle and question what's become accepted practice.