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by pixelatedindex 647 days ago
> 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.
2 comments
xienze 647 days 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.

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prewett 647 days 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.)
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pixelatedindex 647 days 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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