Is San Francisco really that bad?

[takilmaboxer]

My parents bought the house I grew up in (Richmond, CA) for $16,000 in 1962. Mom sold it for $192,000 in 1991. I have kept track: it recently sold for $1,000,000. My wife's parents bought their house in Silicon Valley for $12,000 in 1959. Mom, now a 94 year old chain smoking alcoholic in excellent health, is considering selling it as she's "slowing down". Her four descendants are all patiently waiting to see what it will sell for: it's their inheritance. Only one of the four plans to stay in California; we have long lived in New Mexico and cannot imagine that our inheritance would enable us to return to California even if we returned to Arcata. Housing prices are just too high.
No problem with crime, we have plenty right here at home. No problem with divorce; we've been married 30 years and get along great.

 

[Sirius Glass]

My parents bought the house I grew up in (Richmond, CA) for $16,000 in 1962. Mom sold it for $192,000 in 1991. I have kept track: it recently sold for $1,000,000. My wife's parents bought their house in Silicon Valley for $12,000 in 1959. Mom, now a 94 year old chain smoking alcoholic in excellent health, is considering selling it as she's "slowing down". Her four descendants are all patiently waiting to see what it will sell for: it's their inheritance. Only one of the four plans to stay in California; we have long lived in New Mexico and cannot imagine that our inheritance would enable us to return to California even if we returned to Arcata. Housing prices are just too high.
No problem with crime, we have plenty right here at home. No problem with divorce; we've been married 30 years and get along great.

If one lives in the house, the property tax will stay the same as long as they do not rent it out. A nice legacy for decedents.

 

[DREW WILEY]

And another huuuuge reason to stay put in CA if you did buy a house here awhile back. If I had to buy my own house today, I probably couldn't even afford the property taxes alone, minus any house payment per se, since these taxes are based on the time of purchase itself. That merciful law was voted into effect in the first place to prevent older folks from being kicked out of their own homes due to being unable to afford jacked up property taxes due to climbing neighborhood real estate assessments. Of course, voted-in bond and re-development initiatives get added to our property tax bills - in my case, almost tripling it. But that's how we get all our open space purchases and protections, our shoreline trails built, roads and water infrastructure repaired, and of course, some of our local bigwig's pocket's filled with embezzled cash; but that kind of thing goes on everywhere.

While the old man was still alive who first built this house, prior to subsequent remodeling, he told me nobody in the neighborhood even bothered with door locks back then, and that it first sold for 14K. Well, that's quite a bit compared to the $500 cost of my parent's first house in Portland about ten years earlier. But compared to today, my gosh .... I'm just worried if my spare gallons of paint are still good.
I paid about $25 per gal avg (best quality one can buy), but now that same quality is about $125 per gal. The best marine varnishes are now about $150 per QUART, so I'm glad I left my new redwood fence untreated! It's all real heartwood anyway.

 

[wizardofexposure]

Tech heavy cities like San Francisco and Seattle lost a lot of the workforce to the remote office and they’re not coming back anytime soon. This has impacted the vitality of the core area as much as the nightly parade of streets lined with tents on the evening news. It’s the small business that need the foot traffic and it’s the small businesses that will help revitalize the downtown’s. Go, take some photos, have lunch and maybe buy something unexpected.

good advice

 

[faberryman]

And another huuuuge reason to stay put in CA if you did buy a house here awhile back. If I had to buy my own house today, I probably couldn't even afford the property taxes alone, minus any house payment per se, since these taxes are based on the time of purchase itself.

Yes, houses are more expensive than they used to be.

I paid about $25 per gal avg (best quality one can buy), but now that same quality is about $125 per gal.

Yes, paint is more expensive than it use to be.

 

[BrianShaw]

Yes, houses are more expensive than they used to be.


Yes, paint is more expensive than it use to be.

And thoughts are still a penny. No inflation on those!

 

[macfred]

The good old days - my buddy Elmar and me in San Francisco on our way to Yosemite NP. After visiting my brother Bernhard in Ukiah, CA we went to Yosemite for climbing Peruvian Flake (5.10a) amongst others

Essex Hotel
684 Ellis Street, San Francisco, California
April, 1995
Elmar (next to the telephone) and me on our way to Yosemite NP

Elmar - Jack Kerouac Alley (formerly Adler Alley or Adler Place) Chinatown, San Francisco, California - April, 1995 -

Photographs captured with Leica R4s and a 50mm Summicron R

 

[Tom Taylor]

Alder Alley as Kerouac would have seen it before they cleaned it up and put-up a monument for the tourists:

​

But it probably wasn't as well-lit back then. He would exit Vesuvio's to the immediate left and shoot up there.

 

[Vaughn]

My friend and I looked into that. Yes one can save on taxes, but those states then take all the equity when one dies so the family looses out. More importantly those states do not have Class 1 hospitals or doctors so your first heart attack or stroke will be your last.

And often there is no moving back to CA...cannot afford to buy a home. Same when the old folks sold their homes and bought RVs...can't afford to get off the road and can't hardly afford to get on down the road.

 

[VinceInMT]

And often there is no moving back to CA...cannot afford to buy a home. Same when the old folks sold their homes and bought RVs...can't afford to get off the road and can't hardly afford to get on down the road.

It depends on where in the state one wants to move to. My wife and frequently discuss relocating at some point which may or may not ever happen but it’s fun looking. We like your area and I could sell both my places here and buy a place in Eureka. I also like Gold Country, like around Jackson/Sutter Creek and could buy there as well. I would not move to one of the big coastal cities primarily because of crowds and traffic.

 

[wiltw]

Isn't it based on whether there are children involved? In other words, the richer spouse pays more for child support which ends when the children become adults.

Child support amount is very dependent upon the custody arrangement...if split 50/50 and earning are similar for both, there might be no child support necessarily awarded.

 

[Vaughn]

It is wonderful up here...but very few medical specialists. Those are down 4hrs south in Santa Rose, or about the same over in Medford, OR. Having someone "sent to Stanford" is a commonly heard phrase.

But this was two nights ago -- I rode my bike to and up the coast and spent sunset at this spot (no one else) before riding back home (about 20 miles oneway) once it got dark. Hard to beat. Oh, and if you like crab -- that's a crab boat way out there.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I caught part of a news story that five men held up a camera store in Concord[?] California yesterday and all five were arrested today. Something about that they had committed other camera store robberies recently. This might be the end to these camera store thefts.

 

[eli griggs]

Shooting a gun isn't too different from a camera. Nikon makes a good rifle scope. The general concept is the same, be super still and sturdy, press, dont jam the trigger, hold it.

New idea, camera gun! I'm sure someone has already done that, actually.

Yes, this is an old idea that at least one maker made a functional example of, but the issue is the camera can only catch the photo at the instance of the gun firing, which can convict innocent folks in a fast moving situation, ie, that fraction of a second showing a turning away of the killer whom just shot at you, on first seeing your firearm.

XXXXXXL Cameras on cap guns or better yet, paintball and airsoft guns for instant and post-game review.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

Isn't it based on whether there are children involved? In other words, the richer spouse pays more for child support which ends when the children become adults.

Yes, that is an additional complication. In my case, children were all adults and not a factor. Still, the judge did his thing the way I described.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Isn't it based on whether there are children involved? In other words, the richer spouse pays more for child support which ends when the children become adults.

Not necessarily so in California. I was earning more and I got the children and child support. I did not pay alimony. There are no hard fast rules since it depends on the situation and how good a lawyer each has.

 

[Huss]

It depends on where in the state one wants to move to. My wife and frequently discuss relocating at some point which may or may not ever happen but it’s fun looking. We like your area and I could sell both my places here and buy a place in Eureka. I also like Gold Country, like around Jackson/Sutter Creek and could buy there as well. I would not move to one of the big coastal cities primarily because of crowds and traffic.

I had a gf who lived in Auburn, which basically is the beginning of the Gold Country. The problem with that area are the seasonal wildfires which have become more devastating each year. Now it is no longer if, but when.
And the insurance companies know that too - some have refused to write new paper, others have increased rates on those already covered to astronomical proportions.

Had a great time in Placerville, Nevada City, Grass Valley and the rest.

 

[VinceInMT]

I had a gf who lived in Auburn, which basically is the beginning of the Gold Country. The problem with that area are the seasonal wildfires which have become more devastating each year. Now it is no longer if, but when.
And the insurance companies know that too - some have refused to write new paper, others have increased rates on those already covered to astronomical proportions.

Had a great time in Placerville, Nevada City, Grass Valley and the rest.

Yes, that is one reason my sister chose not to retire in that area: fires, lack of water, and insurance issues. She ended up in Washington between Port Angeles and Port Townsend instead. A year or so ago I saw a place for sale, I think it was near Jackson, about 10 acres, large home, pool, vineyard, and it was about $650K. It had an outbuilding that housed some kind of water treatment system from their well but the write up was unclear if the well actually produced water.

Water is, of course, a serious issue in many places. Many people have moved to the Southwest and places like Phoenix are still building out like crazy even though it’s pretty evident that they are going to get thirsty. Here in Montana, once outside city services, one relies on a well but the quality of the water is variable. We see lots of Ford F-150s running around with water tanks in back as they come to town to haul water back to their cisterns.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Yes, that is one reason my sister chose not to retire in that area: fires, lack of water, and insurance issues. She ended up in Washington between Port Angeles and Port Townsend instead. A year or so ago I saw a place for sale, I think it was near Jackson, about 10 acres, large home, pool, vineyard, and it was about $650K. It had an outbuilding that housed some kind of water treatment system from their well but the write up was unclear if the well actually produced water.

Water is, of course, a serious issue in many places. Many people have moved to the Southwest and places like Phoenix are still building out like crazy even though it’s pretty evident that they are going to get thirsty. Here in Montana, once outside city services, one relies on a well but the quality of the water is variable. We see lots of Ford F-150s running around with water tanks in back as they come to town to haul water back to their cisterns.

Of course, they have water problems in Phoenix. It's the desert. You think people would have noticed? When I drove from Sedona to Phoenix to catch a flight back to NJ, it was 95 degrees and all I saw were huge saguaro cacti. Even they looked thirsty.

 

[VinceInMT]

Of course, they have water problems in Phoenix. It's the desert. You think people would have noticed? When I drove from Sedona to Phoenix to catch a flight back to NJ, it was 95 degrees and all I saw were huge saguaro cacti. Even they looked thirsty.

My mom lives in Mesa and I get down there frequently but prefer to go during the winter, However, a year or so ago she’s fallen and I went to stay with her for a while and it was in June. 115 degrees F everyday. I’m a runner and would go out at 5:30am and it was still in the low-90s. And, yes, everything looks thirsty, except the golf courses. They seem to find the water they need.

 

[VinceInMT]

Had a great time in Placerville, Nevada City, Grass Valley and the rest.

Some of my favorite motorcycle roads are in that region.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I could cite any number of reasons why SF back in its glory days of the Summer of Love, with its rapid deterioration, was a far more dangerous place than now. Likewise, across the Bay in Berkeley. I saw all of that firsthand. And even with all the News tragedies that are indeed going on, things are generally quite a bit safer today, especially for youth.

 

[Mike Lopez]

I’m a runner and would go out at 5:30am and it was still in the low-90s. And, yes, everything looks thirsty, except the golf courses.

You just might have been the thirstiest thing out there! Hope you upped your salt intake on that visit.

 

[Vaughn]

I could cite any number of reasons why SF back in its glory days of the Summer of Love, with its rapid deterioration, was a far more dangerous place than now. Likewise, across the Bay in Berkeley. I saw all of that firsthand. And even with all the News tragedies that are indeed going on, things are generally quite a bit safer today, especially for youth.

In the fifties and sixties, 2nd Street (or 2 Street) in Eureka still had brothels and questionable drinking establishments servicing the loggers coming into town, as well as the seamen taking redwood to San Francisco. it was the tailend of an era, but still not where a young dumb college kid wandered around. The opposite now for that part of town (Old Town Eureka) -- "... a historic district listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places" -- Wikipedia

But when I arrived in Humboldt County in 1972, I did not go down to 2nd Street...and went south into Eureka as less as possible. For one thing, the two pulp mills were going strong, and they stank. They built a mall in 1973 downwind (typical summer winds) from the mills. Both mills close long ago and the mall barely hangs in there.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Heck. Sally Struther's ran the most expensive bordello in SF when people llke Humphrey Bogart went there, and then afterwards, she became the long-time Mayor of Sausalito across the GG Bridge. The most famous brothel near here, in Port Costa, has been left as-is architecturally, but is now a gourmet restaurant replete with vintage photos of its prior years. All the old doors and widows, warped n' all, somewhat weathered bare like driftwood, are still there. I have photographed that entrance a number of times, including just a few weeks ago.

If you want Old West cowboy mentality, still whorehouses n' all, that would be Ely NV. But the new McDonald's etc outskirts have their own curiosities, like the gas station that gives you a discount in their adjacent weed shop with a fill-up. It had an unusual name I might not remember quite correctly, maybe, Pot & Pump. Not quite as quite as questionable as a local oil-change facility called Lube & Latte. I wonder what they are actually serving in those hot cups.

But being from a logging mill town, or at least within a 3-mile walk from it, I know that story. The last remaining section of flume is across a rock face up on the Beasore Mdws Rd. Back in the day before trucks, they'd place a dugout in that flume, take a hair-raising ride all tge way down to Fresno in it for sake of a wild night of drinking etc. Then it took the rest of the weekend, two full days, to ride horseback back uphill to the logging camp. Allegedly quite a few people died from those flume rides, as well as those whose jobs was to clear any logjams. I once had a big collection of rusty antique hooks and pikes etc used by them, plus a number of long crosscut saws, but gave them to a nephew because the local museum was winding down for lack of funds. Not far from there is the thickest tree in the world, the only remaining mature Giant Sequoia in that grove that wasn't cut down, simply a long enough saw didn't exist. Kinda odd to photograph that monster with an 8x10 all by itself, with everything around it being stick forest, or else titanic Sequoia logs they never figured out how to move.