Comments on: SF: The Condo and the Single Girl

By: Denise Crawford

Denise Crawford — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 23:01:02 +0000

Oh yeah! the place on Hoffman…I lived half a block away on 23rd street when I was a kid. Back in the 50’s-60’s, the downstairs of Hoffman was the place where I went to buy candy with my first allowance. That was way back when Noe was just an affordble neighborhood for ordinary folks to live. Sigh. My parents didn’t want me to go to Mission High school in the summer of love, and it’s been suburbia (blecch) ever since. I aspire to move back one day.

By: Gary

Gary — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:27:08 +0000

Renting gets old. Landlords get to make the rules, and you always have to worry about being evicted at some point. It’s hard to settle down with those constant conflicts. Plus, honestly: Who wants to sink money into a rental. I’d improve the garden, or re-hab my ghetto kitchen, but I don’t own this place, so why would I spend that money. Instead, I live in relative squalor that makes me sad to come home to.

By: David

David — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:29:58 +0000

I work in the city, don’t live there.

you can afford it–you rent, and given SF’s rent control & eviction rules, you can stay pretty much forever wherever you rent. Plenty of people who love&work in Manhattan can’t even come close to affording the rent.

Just another reason why I don’t quite understand the obsession. Maybe it’s an East Coast/West Coast thing. There are many cities (NYC, Boston, DC) where people rent their whole lives and don’t feel like they need to buy something. Here in California it seems like people regularly break their backs/banks to stretch into something unaffordable when they can literally rent the same place for half as much (and have rent control to keep it just like a fixed mortgage)

By: Marnie

Marnie — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:39:35 +0000

David, I am going to guess you don’t already live/work in the city? Lots of renters like me do, and we dream of being able to stay where we have established a life. We love this city! Being able to afford it is an obsession, but that makes it more worthwhile, the wanting it so much.

By: David

David — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:34:12 +0000

I understand that some people really like SF, but I just have to say that every place in the country has “unattainable” houses/condos/penthouses or whatever. If I’m going to obsess over gorgeous R.E., it’s going to be somewhere like my private Caribbean island, but to each his own I guess.

However, here and in NYC though it seems to be an unhealthy obsession. I mean, I like looking at houses and such, but it’s in relation to where I see value in my house or investment potential. Other than that, it’s just a pile of sticks, metal and rock.