Housing Affordability

[PhantasmagoriaX]

So i have spend the majority of my life living in different parts of the bay area, cali and I gotta say there is no way in hell I could afford it on my own now a days, There was an article a few months ago how a single mom was paying almost 2 grand living in someones garage. Its horrible.

I am now living in a suburb of Seattle and when we were looking at new apartments, apartments in downtown seattle were cheaper then the suburb that we live in now (dont get me wrong, its like 10 mins from the microsoft headquarters but its crazy). The little suburb we live in now enacted a moratorium that no new building can be built for a few years with the possibility of extending it for longer.

[Kujako]

So i have spend the majority of my life living in different parts of the bay area, cali and I gotta say there is no way in hell I could afford it on my own now a days, There was an article a few months ago how a single mom was paying almost 2 grand living in someones garage. Its horrible.

To be fair... my garage is really nice. I spent a ton renovating it, added a loft, kitchen and a bathroom with marble heated floors.

[ThatsOurEric]

New Jersey has the highest (or one of) the highest cost of living in the U.S.
Certainly has the highest taxes.

Its a dog shit state to live in, that's for sure. Cannot think of any justifiable
reason why its so fucking expensive here. Even in areas that aren't high-class
or "rich" the cost for a semi-decent apartment is appalling to say the least.

[alexw]

New Jersey has the highest (or one of) the highest cost of living in the U.S.
Certainly has the highest taxes.

Its a dog shit state to live in, that's for sure. Cannot think of any justifiable
reason why its so fucking expensive here. Even in areas that aren't high-class
or "rich" the cost for a semi-decent apartment is appalling to say the least.

Because that's what can be extracted from you. In all of these high housing cost locations the actual build cost + reasonable profit of the apartment/house is 20-50% of the cost of what you are paying. The rest is pure economic rent extraction - simply because they can. The monopoly board game made real. Its ripe for change and given how screwed millennials are by it I think they'll bring that change eventually.

[ThatsOurEric]

The rest is pure economic rent extraction - simply because they can.

That seems to be more of the case as opposed to the reasonable profit you're talking about. There are apartments
and even houses for rent, that based on the rent the landlords are asking for, are waaaaaaay higher than they should
be. 1 room 1 bathroom apartments asking for $1200 or so dollars if not more, and mind you, its not a newly built
building or even in a high value location.

Its greedy bullshit, pure and simple. But as you said, they can charge these rates because they can.

[Thepersona]

There's a housing bubble in the planet, again. In my country the prizes have doubled in the last 4 years in some areas, and inmigration is a non important point of this problem

[kamuimac]

That seems to be more of the case as opposed to the reasonable profit you're talking about. There are apartments
and even houses for rent, that based on the rent the landlords are asking for, are waaaaaaay higher than they should
be. 1 room 1 bathroom apartments asking for $1200 or so dollars if not more, and mind you, its not a newly built
building or even in a high value location.

Its greedy bullshit, pure and simple. But as you said, they can charge these rates because they can.

the are asking for the amount people are willing to pay

just because you are to poor to pay it its your problem - clearly there is ton of people who are willing to pay it

if it werent those flats would be empty - if they arent it means its working ok

Capitalism : God's way of determining who is smart and who is poor

life is hard - people need to get used to it instead whining like kids.

[kaid]

In the coastal cities, San Francisco, New York the rent is very high, home ownership is difficult. Where I live right now everything is cheap, but you'll not get paid as much here.

In the US its largely dependent on you live of how much of a factor this is. The major cities on the east or west coast you have a combination lack of rental properties and stunningly high house prices makes it hard for anybody to own a home or even an apartment by themselves. But away from the coasts costs are much more sane. Depending on ones tolerance for winter I got my home which was 3 bedrooms 2.5 baths with a two and a half stall garage in a nice neighborhood down town for 99k. If you are single or don't have anybody else living with you most of the nicer 1-2 bedroom houses are in the 60-70k for a decent non brand new one.

[Vash The Stampede]

New Jersey has the highest (or one of) the highest cost of living in the U.S.
Certainly has the highest taxes.

Its a dog shit state to live in, that's for sure. Cannot think of any justifiable
reason why its so fucking expensive here. Even in areas that aren't high-class
or "rich" the cost for a semi-decent apartment is appalling to say the least.

And yet, we still don't have $15 minimum wage. But that's OK, cause I hear cardboard boxes make great homes.

[Celista]

The issue is pretty simple. Birthrates and population have out paced home construction. There have been no wars or significant events to lower population.

If that was the case, people would be having trouble finding housing of any kind. But they're not.

- - - Updated - - -

In the US its largely dependent on you live of how much of a factor this is. The major cities on the east or west coast you have a combination lack of rental properties and stunningly high house prices makes it hard for anybody to own a home or even an apartment by themselves. But away from the coasts costs are much more sane. Depending on ones tolerance for winter I got my home which was 3 bedrooms 2.5 baths with a two and a half stall garage in a nice neighborhood down town for 99k. If you are single or don't have anybody else living with you most of the nicer 1-2 bedroom houses are in the 60-70k for a decent non brand new one.

Where do you live?

[Vash The Stampede]

the are asking for the amount people are willing to pay

just because you are to poor to pay it its your problem - clearly there is ton of people who are willing to pay it

I find your lack of compassion disturbing.

Capitalism : God's way of determining who is smart and who is poor

And yet smart people can be poor, and rich people can be dumb. Like Donald Trump!

[Kujako]

And yet smart people can be poor, and rich people can be dumb. Like Donald Trump!

Trump is like Schrodinger's cat, we don't know if he's rich or poor since he wont release his information. We know he has assets, but we don't know how much debt he carries.

[Celista]

the are asking for the amount people are willing to pay

just because you are to poor to pay it its your problem - clearly there is ton of people who are willing to pay it

if it werent those flats would be empty - if they arent it means its working ok

Capitalism : God's way of determining who is smart and who is poor

life is hard - people need to get used to it instead whining like kids.

Wealth and intelligence are unrelated for the most part. Look at the Kardashians...

Also if you work in business you'd know it's mostly average IQ herd mentality types.

[Vash The Stampede]

Trump is like Schrodinger's cat, we don't know if he's rich or poor since he wont release his information. We know he has assets, but we don't know how much debt he carries.

I doubt he's poor. Certainly not food stamps poor. If he's poor, then it's like can't afford two mansions poor. Either way, he's dumb as rocks, but people vote for him and give him money.

[kamuimac]

I find your lack of compassion disturbing.

its not about compasion its about facts

do i feel sorry for those people ? ofc i do but life is brutal - and a summ of choice one makes in it - if they choose path of least resistance didnt learn in in school and end up in shit job - its their own fault.

- - - Updated - - -

Wealth and intelligence are unrelated for the most part. Look at the Kardashians...
.

see i find comments like this hillarius - every actor will tell you that you need to be quite inteleigent in order to succesfully act as if you were stupid

people who make milions of $$$ arent stupid - just becuase they act as it doesnt mean they are - they build whole empire around pretended stupidity - and guess what it worked more then well

so why woudl you condemnd them ?

- - - Updated - - -

And yet smart people can be poor, and rich people can be dumb. Like Donald Trump!

i wouldnt call person who convinced a country to elect him president dumb. just like Kardashins 99,9 % of it is pure act i bet.

[Priya-tan]

I live just outside of Washington, DC and the rent on my 1 bed/1 bath w/ Den (<900sqft) is $2100... my friend living about 45min outside of Kansas City, KS pays $800 for his ENTIRE mortgage on his large, single family home. Feels bad. I know it's all relative but it sucks to think that my HALF of my rent could pay for an entire home w/ a yard somewhere else.

[Narwal]

It depends on the area, the Midwest and the South has some cheap real estate. But those areas aren't really desirable areas...I know someone will come in to disagree, but overall people are moving to coastal cities for jobs and that has increased housing costs there (along with outside investor influence, which is larger than what most people realize).

Rental rates in SF are atrocious. Here in Portland a *modest* one bedroom close-in will run you $1200/month easily. I actually think the average might be higher now.

The reason no one is talking about it, is because these are local issues, not national issues. I don't give a damn if a few popular cities costs of living are unbelievable. That's a product of their own success. Eventually the people they want to hire won't be able to afford to move there for work and the businesses can either a) inflate their wages/costs or b) move their offices/facilities where people work to less congested areas.

- - - Updated - - -

Here's my cities indices compared to New York:

New York is 100%, this means rent is 31.36% of that of New York on average.

I'm in Des Moines, Iowa. It is far more expensive here than in the rest of the state. Rent costs are the one thing most of Americans won't complain about, when you compare it to the rest of the cost of living expenses.

Index Info
Cost of Living Index (Excl.Rent): 76.70
Rent Index: 31.36
Groceries Index: 87.26
Restaurants Index: 65.48
Cost of Living Plus Rent Index: 54.59
Local Purchasing Power: 94.64

[Vash The Stampede]

its not about compasion its about facts

do i feel sorry for those people ? ofc i do but life is brutal - and a summ of choice one makes in it - if they choose path of least resistance didnt learn in in school and end up in shit job - its their own fault.

I don't really understand your logic. At some point even you're susceptible to the same circumstances as those people. At some point you'll lose your job, and maybe even your home. Not because you're dumb or didn't end up in a good job, but because of the march of progress.

i wouldnt call person who convinced a country to elect him president dumb. just like Kardashins 99,9 % of it is pure act i bet.

A guy built his own iPhone 6S 16GB for $300 in China. Is he smart or are most Americans dumb for spending $700 for the same phone?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leFuF-zoVzA

If Kardashins are smart, then the average American is really stupid. That wouldn't surprise me. But if I think Kardashins are stupid, then you don't want to know what I think her audience must be like.

[TheTaurenOrc]

SF is a shithole but the 'tech' jobs are in the south of the bay though, which is really nice in parts. The trouble isn't theres a housing shortage per-say, its a shortage of affordable housing.

There are plenty of new builds all over the south bay. I can think of at least 5 new condo and town house complexes near me in the last 3 years. But they start at $599'999! Totally inaccessible for millennials but don't worry developers someone will buy it and charge $2000 a month in rent instead!

[kamuimac]

I don't really understand your logic. At some point even you're susceptible to the same circumstances as those people. At some point you'll lose your job, and maybe even your home. Not because you're dumb or didn't end up in a good job, but because of the march of progress.

and im perfeckly aware of such possibility - and doin eveyrthing for it not to happen thats why im constantly developing myself - never stop

problem of those people is at some point in life they stopped and thoght "enough lerning / developement for now" and thats what was their grave mistake. whether it was at age of 14 or at age of 40 - in current times one can never stop advancing himself in at least 1 additional field besides his work if he doesnt want to end up miserable.

- - - Updated - - -

SF is a shithole but the 'tech' jobs are in the south of the bay though, which is really nice in parts. The trouble isn't theres a housing shortage per-say, its a shortage of affordable housing.

There are plenty of new builds all over the south bay. I can think of at least 5 new condo and town house complexes near me in the last 3 years. But they start at $599'999! Totally inaccessible for millennials but don't worry developers someone will buy it and charge $2000 a month in rent instead!

so maybe you buy it and instead paying 2k $ per month to some random idiot be done in 30-40 months. no honestly take loan and then take 2 students/roomates tell each of them to pay 500 $ a month you add 1000 and be dont in 3-4 years . but no most people rather pay rent - idiots in my eyes but hey if they like to be dumb its their choice.

its a bs that previous generations could easily afford buying houses - they were paying 20-30 years loans in order to do so - and why should millenials be different ?

- - - Updated - - -

I live just outside of Washington, DC and the rent on my 1 bed/1 bath w/ Den (<900sqft) is $2100... my friend living about 45min outside of Kansas City, KS pays $800 for his ENTIRE mortgage on his large, single family home. Feels bad. I know it's all relative but it sucks to think that my HALF of my rent could pay for an entire home w/ a yard somewhere else.

so why dont you move somewhere else ? because you dont want to live in some shithole only in decent neibourghood . so thats the cost of it.