4 ms·

um, what? With tiny 400 square foot apartments going for 2500 in San Francisco... how can you possibly say that?

breckinloggins 13y ago
Yeah, I agree with this. A key point of my post is "if you're willing to live with roommates you can find good deals". Of course you still have to find them. I spent over a week glued to Craigslist looking for a combination of the right price, right location, and right people. Yes I got lucky, but not "win the lottery" lucky. I ran across several that were good potentials. The roommates part seems essential. There are a number of reasons but if I had to guess: - With roommates you can often take advantage of someone who has been living there since before some recent price spikes (especially in certain neighborhoods). If you find a place by yourself, the landlord is free to charge whatever they want unless you can find a rent controlled apartment, but those have multi-year waiting lists. - Vacant units are often renovated so the rent can be raised. - Economies of scale. If you live by yourself chances are you want a place with your own kitchen, bathroom, etc. These are shared spaces in a roommate situation. - There seems to be more competition for single-residency housing. I have no data to back this up, but just from talking to people it seems that there are more people who hate living with roommates than who hate living alone.
jlgreco 13y ago
San Fransisco perhaps isn't going to work well for somebody who wants to live on their own and save money, but they are the outlier there. It is trivial in Seattle, and not hard in NYC if you don't insist on Manhattan. I know people who do it in Boston and Chicago (until recently anyway, and technically he was making "ethanol engineer" money, not "tech" money... I digress though.) I am not very familiar with San Francisco, so I left myself some wiggle room ("(at least in most of those cities)") but having a roommate is not a requirement for anybody making a tech salary and wanting to save money in those other cities.
mkehrt 13y ago
That's a one bedroom or studio. As the number of bedrooms goes up, the price per room goes down.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  His point is that it only becomes feasible when you are living with roommates. My point is that San Francisco is unique in that regard.
ffrryuu 13y ago
Why would anyone want to live in SF with that kind of prices is beyond me.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  The prices are because so many people want to live in SF.
  - ffrryuu 13y ago
    But why would they want to live there? It's one of the most depressing place I've been to, it's like those dystopian movies...
    - dragonwriter 13y ago
      > But why would they want to live there? Because they value different things than you do; whether that's the food, the theaters, the museums, the climate, or the social culture, or something else. Different ones of those for different people. > It's one of the most depressing place I've been to, it's like those dystopian movies... Other than in the generic ways that most urban environments are "like those dystopian movies" to someone whose lived most of their life in a suburban environment, I don't really see it.
- chetanahuja 13y ago
  Yeah. Nobody wants to be in SF. It's way too crowded.

Yeah, I agree with this. A key point of my post is "if you're willing to live with roommates you can find good deals". Of course you still have to find them. I spent over a week glued to Craigslist looking for a combination of the right price, right location, and right people. Yes I got lucky, but not "win the lottery" lucky. I ran across several that were good potentials. The roommates part seems essential. There are a number of reasons but if I had to guess: - With roommates you can often take advantage of someone who has been living there since before some recent price spikes (especially in certain neighborhoods). If you find a place by yourself, the landlord is free to charge whatever they want unless you can find a rent controlled apartment, but those have multi-year waiting lists. - Vacant units are often renovated so the rent can be raised. - Economies of scale. If you live by yourself chances are you want a place with your own kitchen, bathroom, etc. These are shared spaces in a roommate situation. - There seems to be more competition for single-residency housing. I have no data to back this up, but just from talking to people it seems that there are more people who hate living with roommates than who hate living alone.

jlgreco 13y ago

San Fransisco perhaps isn't going to work well for somebody who wants to live on their own and save money, but they are the outlier there. It is trivial in Seattle, and not hard in NYC if you don't insist on Manhattan. I know people who do it in Boston and Chicago (until recently anyway, and technically he was making "ethanol engineer" money, not "tech" money... I digress though.) I am not very familiar with San Francisco, so I left myself some wiggle room ("(at least in most of those cities)") but having a roommate is not a requirement for anybody making a tech salary and wanting to save money in those other cities.

mkehrt 13y ago

That's a one bedroom or studio. As the number of bedrooms goes up, the price per room goes down.

jlgreco 13y ago
His point is that it only becomes feasible when you are living with roommates. My point is that San Francisco is unique in that regard.

ffrryuu 13y ago

Why would anyone want to live in SF with that kind of prices is beyond me.

dragonwriter 13y ago
The prices are because so many people want to live in SF.
- ffrryuu 13y ago
  But why would they want to live there? It's one of the most depressing place I've been to, it's like those dystopian movies...
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > But why would they want to live there? Because they value different things than you do; whether that's the food, the theaters, the museums, the climate, or the social culture, or something else. Different ones of those for different people. > It's one of the most depressing place I've been to, it's like those dystopian movies... Other than in the generic ways that most urban environments are "like those dystopian movies" to someone whose lived most of their life in a suburban environment, I don't really see it.
chetanahuja 13y ago
Yeah. Nobody wants to be in SF. It's way too crowded.