5 ms·

California Exported Its Worst Problem to Texas

16 points by __Joker 4y ago

dotcoma 4y ago
I thought they were talking about Musk…
- sudders 4y ago
  What I came here to say
newaccount2021 4y ago
Austin has more current permitted housing construction than any major metro in the nation I see residential construction of all kinds (high density, low density) all over the city including in the middle of downtown Austin will never be a dirt-cheap city, but it is cheaper than the Bay Area and they are actually trying to build Yes, the result will be some sprawl but Texas is big and families do not want to live in apartments
- ClumsyPilot 4y ago
  the reason you folks hate apartment is that you never seem to design them right. They can be spacious and nice to live in. In ex soviet block countries apartments were surrounded by greenspace, courtyards, playgrounds, etc. you are not reliant on your garden
  - muro 4y ago
    Wow, putting eastern block apartments as an example is ... not great. Pretty much everyone who grew up in one was looking for ways to move out. Small, no noise insulation, shared space usually in a bad state - e.g. frequently broken elevators, bike rooms with no expectation your bike won't get stolen, lawn in front of the house with dirt paths (shortcuts), usually broken playgrounds. Things are better now - elevators usually work, lawns have tiny fences to avoid walking on them, but now it's dog shit all over the place instead, including playgrounds. I just don't believe shared big buildings / neighbourhoods work well.
    - badpun 4y ago
      I live in post-Soviet apartment block. It's either that or a (more expensive) house far away in the suburbs, where life probably would be worse - often no sidewalks and narrow streets, so walking isn't safe, far from anything interesting so lots of driving etc. Plus, all the maintenance work. I prefer the noise and occasional dog shit over that.
    - dalke 4y ago
      Okay, then Swedish apartment buildings. It's clearly not the case "families do not want to live in apartments" here. I've lived in apartments in the US (Tallahassee, Urbana IL, Mt. View, Santa Fe) plus visited others, and can say that the Swedish apartments I've lived (Gothenburg, Trollhättan) in have all been a step or two above their US equivalents. We have basement space, with an exercise room, which is great for the kids to play in on a rainy day, or to have a party without disturbing the neighbors. Other apartment complexes often have a space which people can book for parties or other larger gatherings. Some even have a guest apartment, which you can book when you have visitors. (Essentially shares the cost of having a rarely used guest bedroom.) There's solid walls, so we barely hear the neighbors under normal circumstances. The rare times the elevator breaks, it's quickly fixed. The shared laundry area is a bit of a nuisance because it needs to be booked. On the other hand, there's plenty of space for washing, drying (both tumble dryer and in a drying room), and a folding/ironing room. Heat (via district heating) and insulation is excellent. We don't have a green space as part of the apartment, but the nearest park is a block away, and several more parks are within easy walking distance. Many apartment buildings/complexes have their own small playground (default is a play platform with slide, sandbox, and swing), and again, with larger parks and greenspace nearby. Since I'm centrally located, I don't need a car - walking, biking, and mass transit work well. Yes, I've had one bike stolen from me. Then again, given how much I've saved by not having a car (depreciation, insurance, gas, etc.) that's not the only factor. Plus, in the US I had one window shot out by a bored teenager with a BB gun, and two tires punctured by someone going around vandalizing cars. Dog shit has not been a problem. To be sure, there are many people who live in less dense regions of town, in row houses or detached houses, and have a car. My point isn't that everyone prefers apartments, but rather that apartments, and the areas around them, can be designed better than I'm used to in the US, and can absolutely work well. FWIW, I live in a smaller city, with about 60K people. The apartment buildings are generally about 5 stories high - definitely not high-rises. Perhaps that's not what you mean by "big buildings", in which case my backup point is that this sort higher density housing is, for the most part, illegal or impossible to build in the US. And yes, there's much bad to say about, say, the concentrated tower blocks from the Million Programme. I don't mean to say that all Swedish apartments are great, but rather that there's plenty of evidence that shared big buildings do work, in that people raise families there even when they have the option and means to move to single-family homes.
  - neither_color 4y ago
    I haven't been to ex-soviet countries but I've stayed in upper middle class "luxury" apartments in a few different Asian countries with lush amenities like gardens, pools, tennis courts, etc. In the end I just prefer a regular old suburban house. You trade walkability for privacy and comfort. Also something about high rise compounds with elevators annoys me. It's like you arrive home but you're still not home, you still have a mini commute through your compound.
    - badpun 4y ago
      > You trade walkability for privacy and comfort. Yep, precisely. "Comfort" including being relatively noise-free, whereas in apartments, people are in worst cases forced to sell and move out because of inconsiderate neighbors. On the con side, suburban house will require regular maintenance , whereas in apartments there are people who automagically take care of that for you.
      - ClumsyPilot 4y ago
        |> "Comfort" including being relatively noise-free, whereas in apartments, people are in worst cases forced to sell and move out Is it really impossible to sort out insulation in the 21st century? Like you can have censory deprivation rooms, why can't we put same material between units?
  - Dma54rhs 4y ago
    People absolute hate living in these commie blocks. I've lived there as a kid and it's worst design idea you could give regarding high density buildings.
- technofiend 4y ago
  The killer from this sprawl growth is traffic. Austinites just need to look South to Houston to see what a huge urban area with limited public transportation looks like.
  - karanbhangui 4y ago
    minor nit: Houston is not south of Austin
  - readthenotes1 4y ago
    They don't even need to leave the city. Just look at the SoCo
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
elzbardico 4y ago
[IMPORTANT: not in the US now] The asked prices are high, but are the business being closed? I have the habit of perusing real estate sites for passing time and keeping a general idea of the prices, should I have/want to move, and one thing that I've noticed is that while prices are high, there are a lot of houses in the ads that have been advertised for a really, really long time. Different sites and different ads for the same house sometimes have different cover photos, but I have been seeing the ads for such a long time that I can immediately recognize a lot of those houses on the first look at the ad.
- Fatnino 4y ago
  There's a house in Atherton that's been on the market since at least June 2021. First they asked $20m then dropped to $18m and now $17m with no nibbles. It was last sold in 2015 for $7m.

16 points by __Joker 4y ago

dotcoma 4y ago

I thought they were talking about Musk…

sudders 4y ago
What I came here to say

newaccount2021 4y ago

Austin has more current permitted housing construction than any major metro in the nation I see residential construction of all kinds (high density, low density) all over the city including in the middle of downtown Austin will never be a dirt-cheap city, but it is cheaper than the Bay Area and they are actually trying to build Yes, the result will be some sprawl but Texas is big and families do not want to live in apartments

ClumsyPilot 4y ago
the reason you folks hate apartment is that you never seem to design them right. They can be spacious and nice to live in. In ex soviet block countries apartments were surrounded by greenspace, courtyards, playgrounds, etc. you are not reliant on your garden
- muro 4y ago
  Wow, putting eastern block apartments as an example is ... not great. Pretty much everyone who grew up in one was looking for ways to move out. Small, no noise insulation, shared space usually in a bad state - e.g. frequently broken elevators, bike rooms with no expectation your bike won't get stolen, lawn in front of the house with dirt paths (shortcuts), usually broken playgrounds. Things are better now - elevators usually work, lawns have tiny fences to avoid walking on them, but now it's dog shit all over the place instead, including playgrounds. I just don't believe shared big buildings / neighbourhoods work well.
  - badpun 4y ago
    I live in post-Soviet apartment block. It's either that or a (more expensive) house far away in the suburbs, where life probably would be worse - often no sidewalks and narrow streets, so walking isn't safe, far from anything interesting so lots of driving etc. Plus, all the maintenance work. I prefer the noise and occasional dog shit over that.
  - dalke 4y ago
    Okay, then Swedish apartment buildings. It's clearly not the case "families do not want to live in apartments" here. I've lived in apartments in the US (Tallahassee, Urbana IL, Mt. View, Santa Fe) plus visited others, and can say that the Swedish apartments I've lived (Gothenburg, Trollhättan) in have all been a step or two above their US equivalents. We have basement space, with an exercise room, which is great for the kids to play in on a rainy day, or to have a party without disturbing the neighbors. Other apartment complexes often have a space which people can book for parties or other larger gatherings. Some even have a guest apartment, which you can book when you have visitors. (Essentially shares the cost of having a rarely used guest bedroom.) There's solid walls, so we barely hear the neighbors under normal circumstances. The rare times the elevator breaks, it's quickly fixed. The shared laundry area is a bit of a nuisance because it needs to be booked. On the other hand, there's plenty of space for washing, drying (both tumble dryer and in a drying room), and a folding/ironing room. Heat (via district heating) and insulation is excellent. We don't have a green space as part of the apartment, but the nearest park is a block away, and several more parks are within easy walking distance. Many apartment buildings/complexes have their own small playground (default is a play platform with slide, sandbox, and swing), and again, with larger parks and greenspace nearby. Since I'm centrally located, I don't need a car - walking, biking, and mass transit work well. Yes, I've had one bike stolen from me. Then again, given how much I've saved by not having a car (depreciation, insurance, gas, etc.) that's not the only factor. Plus, in the US I had one window shot out by a bored teenager with a BB gun, and two tires punctured by someone going around vandalizing cars. Dog shit has not been a problem. To be sure, there are many people who live in less dense regions of town, in row houses or detached houses, and have a car. My point isn't that everyone prefers apartments, but rather that apartments, and the areas around them, can be designed better than I'm used to in the US, and can absolutely work well. FWIW, I live in a smaller city, with about 60K people. The apartment buildings are generally about 5 stories high - definitely not high-rises. Perhaps that's not what you mean by "big buildings", in which case my backup point is that this sort higher density housing is, for the most part, illegal or impossible to build in the US. And yes, there's much bad to say about, say, the concentrated tower blocks from the Million Programme. I don't mean to say that all Swedish apartments are great, but rather that there's plenty of evidence that shared big buildings do work, in that people raise families there even when they have the option and means to move to single-family homes.
- neither_color 4y ago
  I haven't been to ex-soviet countries but I've stayed in upper middle class "luxury" apartments in a few different Asian countries with lush amenities like gardens, pools, tennis courts, etc. In the end I just prefer a regular old suburban house. You trade walkability for privacy and comfort. Also something about high rise compounds with elevators annoys me. It's like you arrive home but you're still not home, you still have a mini commute through your compound.
  - badpun 4y ago
    > You trade walkability for privacy and comfort. Yep, precisely. "Comfort" including being relatively noise-free, whereas in apartments, people are in worst cases forced to sell and move out because of inconsiderate neighbors. On the con side, suburban house will require regular maintenance , whereas in apartments there are people who automagically take care of that for you.
    - ClumsyPilot 4y ago
      |> "Comfort" including being relatively noise-free, whereas in apartments, people are in worst cases forced to sell and move out Is it really impossible to sort out insulation in the 21st century? Like you can have censory deprivation rooms, why can't we put same material between units?
- Dma54rhs 4y ago
  People absolute hate living in these commie blocks. I've lived there as a kid and it's worst design idea you could give regarding high density buildings.
technofiend 4y ago
The killer from this sprawl growth is traffic. Austinites just need to look South to Houston to see what a huge urban area with limited public transportation looks like.
- karanbhangui 4y ago
  minor nit: Houston is not south of Austin
- readthenotes1 4y ago
  They don't even need to leave the city. Just look at the SoCo

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

elzbardico 4y ago

[IMPORTANT: not in the US now] The asked prices are high, but are the business being closed? I have the habit of perusing real estate sites for passing time and keeping a general idea of the prices, should I have/want to move, and one thing that I've noticed is that while prices are high, there are a lot of houses in the ads that have been advertised for a really, really long time. Different sites and different ads for the same house sometimes have different cover photos, but I have been seeing the ads for such a long time that I can immediately recognize a lot of those houses on the first look at the ad.

Fatnino 4y ago
There's a house in Atherton that's been on the market since at least June 2021. First they asked $20m then dropped to $18m and now $17m with no nibbles. It was last sold in 2015 for $7m.