[tempsy]

This story makes no sense. $3700 can get you a nice 1 bedroom anywhere in SF, so it’s unclear why they couldn’t have found another place. If you’re renting, you find mold, and your landlord does nothing then by CA law you have the right to break your lease for unsafe living conditions.

The author’s LinkedIn is filled with executive/founder/CEO roles (and claiming a 7 figure exit) and yet still needing to use GoFundMe for $50k?

Also don’t understand how his existing health insurance through his work would not cover him. He claims he doesn’t have it anymore because they wouldn’t treat him? I’ve never heard of a situation where you get insurance through your work and you are dropped because they won’t treat you for some reason.

Lastly the mold is clearly visible in all the videos and pics he linked! It’s not like they four years later decided to pull out some carpet or something and only then discovered the place was filled with mold. They seriously lived there for 4 years without questioning that at all? If the story is true (questionable, really) then I would have to question their mental capacity if they thought nothing of all the clear as day black mold all over their apartment while getting sick without thinking twice about it.

[keiferski]

The doorbell story made me stop and question the article.

You can get a digital door bell on Amazon for $15. It didn’t occur to the author to do so for 9 months?

Edit: I didn’t want to imply that the author is lying. Hopefully he is able to get healthy again. But when someone is asking for money and their story has some odd holes in it, I think it’s only natural to be skeptical.

[TheAdamAndChe]

Tenants shouldn't pay to maintain the property, that's what they're paying exorbitant monthly fees for.

[chrisseaton]

Shouldn't, yes. But why would you choose nine months of inconvenience over paying $10 for a new doorbell yourself? What kind of rational decision is that? How are they valuing their time here?

[keiferski]

Then deduct the cost from your next month's rent. That's certainly a better idea than doing nothing as "at least half a dozen" of your packages are stolen.

[josuepeq]

Currently paying $4200 for a 3 Bedroom 3 Bath fully detached single family house West of Twin Peaks (Midtown Terrace.) Giving up walkability for completing errands, I gain a private locking front porch where packages are never stolen, and lots of mold from living on fog laden Twin Peaks. On the whole, San Francisco is fairly damp; ensuring good ventilation is key - along with weekly maintenance to alleviate mold and keep things “clean.”

I don’t expect to have everything done for me either; there’s lots of un-fun tasks to complete around here. While deferred maintenance issues are a landlord’s responsibility to correct; the tenants could have taken a more proactive approach to remediation of the mold; or any other nonissue complaint lodged against San Francisco.

As a QA Engineer, I have an unfair advantage when it comes to understanding the need to mitigate risk. Seems this couple makes decisions without any regard to future consequences.

1. Didn’t mention whether or not they discussed the condition of the property with the current tenants in the building or any neighbors prior to signing the lease. 2. Clearly no understanding of tenant rights and responsibilities; would have known that rent can be withheld for fixing things. 3. Didn’t get mold coverage riders on renters insurance; yet has lived in a damp city for much of their lives. 4. Orders packages to an apartment without any way to safely store them; taking into account any/all edge cases 5. Didn’t do homework / ask questions to landlord regarding package delivery best practices for tenants back before lease signed in ‘15. 6. Didn’t see if other alternatives existed for broken doorbell. 7. Cancels health insurance because they couldn’t help with costs from the mold situation; forgets that a multitude of other accidents, trauma, and sickness still occur in the present and future.

All of their complaints seem to come back to being unprepared for handling problems that appear in life.

[huffmsa]

City slickers man. Wouldn't recognize a black mold if it was poisoning them every day for 4 years.

[tempsy]

I don’t understand how someone that clueless could be CEO of anything

[huffmsa]

Then you haven't met many people who like to call themselves "CEO".

[dcow]

I bet this is some stupid personal marketing stunt. Waiting for the “I convinced a bunch of purportedly smart people to give me 50k with a fuck SF sob-story” followup. Hired.

[huffmsa]

Likely. I've yet to find a person who both has their personal site / profile / portfolio written in the 3rd person and is normal / trustworthy / not an egomaniac

[buckminster]

That's kind of the point. The mould can cause psychological problems. Initially, you think it's merely unsightly so you develop health problems. And then you don't have the ability to understand it clearly.

(Which is not to say I necessarily believe the story, but it's not completely implausible.)

[anovikov]

To be honest i'm not impressed at all, is $3700 per month super expensive? In any major city people pay as much or more.

Here in Limassol (not a major city by any measure), a single bedroom is about 1/3 as much (EUR 1000, i'm paying 1100 for bit nicer one), but tech salaries are 3000-5000 net, and 5000 is very rare. Seems to be about same level of affordability: a mediocre developer pays 1/3 salary for a 1-bdr. And nobody is upset with housing costs here, things look just fine.

In Paris, Frankfurt, and Munich you easily pay same amount (3400 EUR a month) for a 1-bdr an no one complains. And tech salaries are completely nowhere like Valley's, in fact it's pretty common to pay the entirety of a mediocre developer's (net) salary for 1-bdr rent. They can't afford living in cities and commute for hours.

[ratww]

> In Paris, Frankfurt, and Munich you easily pay same amount (3400 EUR a month) for a 1-bdr an no one complains.

That's a gross exaggeration. That's twice or thrice the price of a well-located AirBnb in those places, let alone a contract rental.

[anovikov]

You are right, i took a look - apparently i was mainly considering luxury rentals because that's what caught my eye.

Anyway, (tech) salary vs rental in the Valley isn't so bad. Life sucks there for other people though - who's not in tech.