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0 pointspixelatedindex1y ago0 comments

> Because everyone is a YIMBY until until they own a SFH house in a nice neighborhood and a proposal to plop a Section 8 high rise next door comes up.

I would argue that is because you’re buying with the wrong intention. If you just want a place to live, rather than expecting insane home appreciation that we have seen in the last decade, then I doubt this would be as much of an issue.

Personally, I think it’s because Americans have an aversion to high density housing. “I don’t want anyone living on top of me” is a common refrain I’ve heard, along with wanting a backyard. This was feasible when we had population levels of the 1940s, but not today.

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xienze1y ago

> If you just want a place to live, rather than expecting insane home appreciation

You're focusing on the wrong thing here. What motivates someone to not one day unexpectedly become neighbors with a Section 8 building is not primarily about property values, but rather avoiding the increase in crime and blight that will follow.

prewett1y ago

I'm firmly in the "I don't want anyone living on top of me" camp now. I'm in an older building (built in the early 1900s). I can hear the people upstairs talking at a normal level. I can hear their TV at a normal level. I have to wear earplugs to avoid getting woken up by the creaking of the floor (they are not as ... svelte as the previous people). I hear their phone when it buzzes if they have on the table. This is definitely a HCOL area, and my rent, which I think is substantially under market value, would pay for a mortgage on a nice house pretty much anywhere else in the country. So, I'll be moving when my lease is up, and it will be a SFH unless the property can demonstrate that I won't be able to hear my neighbors. (Plus, I want to plant a nice English country garden in the back yard.)

pixelatedindexOP1y ago

> I'm in an older building (built in the early 1900s). I can hear the people upstairs talking at a normal level.

> This is definitely a HCOL area, and my rent, which I think is substantially under market value

But that’s exactly it, right? Because it’s under market value they don’t get enough revenue to do things like proper sound isolation. I live in a modern apartment where there is no rent control, and I have none of these problems.

And I think the rent you pay will pay for mortgage somewhere else because the relative income is low in that area. How much more do you have to pay to get a mortgage in a similar area?

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