Has SF Always Been Expensive?

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Motion

I've noticed how many threads talk about how expensive it is to live in San Francisco. I was just wondering if the city was always an expsenive city to live in? What were things like there in the 70's,80's and 90's as far as this?

It has always been very overpriced, but parts of the city are quite nice. All of the bay area is expensive even with the decline in property values.

Nita

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by jman650

Everything used to be cheaper here in the 90's, and even more so in the 80's. Going to clubs around '95-'96 an average shot of Hennessey or a rum & coke would be about $4 and a Long Island would be around $6, at least at the clubs/parties I was at. Now I can't find a mixed well (meaning bottom shelf) drink for less than $6-$8 and Long Islands/Long Beaches/AMFs are very rarely less than $10-$12.

The difference in price across the board was probably similar to the difference in price of things that we have all experienced nationwide, such as movies in the mid-90s being around $6.50 or $7 (as I recall) and fast food value meals averaging around $3-$3.50 vs. now where we have movies being $10.50 (like at Century Theaters) to $12 (like at Kabuki), or value meals around $5 or $6.

Everything from public transportation (weren't buses only $0.50 for adults in the early 90s?) to bridge toll (still $2 for all bridges in 2000 as I recall, except Golden Gate which was $3) has severely increased since back then and it sucks. Going clubbing before used to only cost about $5-$10 at the door at most clubs in the 90s. Now the average is about $20 and then you need to figure out how to pay for parking and retardedly over-priced drinks. I want the 90s back! lol

and salaries were less as well, taking into consideration inflation, the bay area espcially SF has always been very high. We sold our home in Marin county in 1970 and returned to So Calif, we got twice the house or almost in Ca than what we had: price was within a thousand $$S.

Nita

[bayarea-girl]

To add, SF has always been pricey but the surrounding areas were very reasonable. When my husband was growing up in the bay area he said there was a time when he could have bought a home in SF for $20K and that was expensive then. Our friends bought condos for $50-70 in the Lake Merrit, San Leandro, Hayward, Hercules, SF area then they were able to get $400-600K for them 10 years after they bought them. When we were looking for our first home I put an offer for a home in San Leandro for $75K the same year the people who paid cash for the home relisted it for $250K it then went up to $900K over the years (but I think its current value is around $275K).

Also, many old timers mentioned to me that this housing bubble/burst has happened in the bay area before.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

To add, SF has always been pricey but the surrounding areas were very reasonable. When my husband was growing up in the bay area he said there was a time when he could have bought a home in SF for $20K and that was expensive then. Our friends bought condos for $50-70 in the Lake Merrit, San Leandro, Hayward, Hercules, SF area then they were able to get $400-600K for them 10 years after they bought them. When we were looking for our first home I put an offer for a home in San Leandro for $75K the same year the people who paid cash for the home relisted it for $250K it then went up to $900K over the years (but I think its current value is around $275K).

Also, many old timers mentioned to me that this housing bubble/burst has happened in the bay area before.

It has happened before and will again, however $20,000 for a house in SF, when was this and what kind of a house. Even in the 60s nothing you would life in was that cheap in the city, it wasn't that cheap in the burbs, certainly not the nicer ones..

Nita

[bayarea-girl]

nmnita, I believe it was in the 80's or 70's. Couldn't tell you, just repeating what I was told for SF. He said that the owner of the house he was renting wanted to sell it to his family then and they didn't buy it. He also, mentioned that a lot of areas in SF were not as nice as they are today and in some areas in SF you could get things for close to nothing. In the burbs things were that cheap in the 90's, when I got here. Things were so cheap and my husband and I kept thinking then that the places were over priced.

[globaliesnation]

If you moved here 1979 or prior and purchased a home, you're set for life. Housing costs, like cable cars, have steadily been reaching for the stars. Economic opportunity abounds for certain limited sectors yet remains dismal for many others.

I loved the City when I came here in 1979, though this was during an economic downturn. Beginning in the '80s, the socio-economic diversity became increasingly limited. Blue collar and many middle-class household were driven away. Political corruption has always been a challenge, but the corporations eventually won. Diane Feinstein began her infamous career as a corrupt mayor who discovered that it is not public service that propels one forward, but skilled pandering to corporate greed while simultaneously appealing to the general citizenry with false intention.

Keep in mind that in the U.S., most cities experienced a flight from the urban decay beginning in the mid 1960's. Unbalanced revitalization followed attracting hordes of childlesss professionals and the continued displacement of middle and lower income families.

Yes, revitalization was necessary and inevitable, as was the shift away from traditional SF industries such as commercial port activities, ship yard work, U.S. Navy support, base closures, ect. The era of SF industry which had reached its zenith durring WWII and the two decades which followed was over.

The aftermath of the Loma Prieta earhquake of 1989 allowed the sweeping away of many vestiges of the old City on the waterfront and the S.O.M.A. Look for the second phase of massive reconstruction when the inevitable "big one" finally arrives and decimates large swaths of the City such as the Sunset distict. According to the U.S.G.S., a large majority of residences will collapse and burn just as they did in the Marina in October of 1989.

Will the new City be rebuilt with the needs of a 21st century, diverse, urban population in mind? Or, will the political hacks continue their rule of back-room dealing and pandering? After all, that is a San Francisco tradition.

[dajohnson99]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

To add, SF has always been pricey but the surrounding areas were very reasonable. When my husband was growing up in the bay area he said there was a time when he could have bought a home in SF for $20K and that was expensive then. Our friends bought condos for $50-70 in the Lake Merrit, San Leandro, Hayward, Hercules, SF area then they were able to get $400-600K for them 10 years after they bought them. When we were looking for our first home I put an offer for a home in San Leandro for $75K the same year the people who paid cash for the home relisted it for $250K it then went up to $900K over the years (but I think its current value is around $275K).

Also, many old timers mentioned to me that this housing bubble/burst has happened in the bay area before.

Haha... a house that was $900k at one point went down to $275k in 09'. That same house is probably over $1 million now. Will prices in the Bay Area ever fall like that again?

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by Motion

I've noticed how many threads talk about how expensive it is to live in San Francisco. I was just wondering if the city was always an expsenive city to live in? What were things like there in the 70's,80's and 90's as far as this?

It's been expensive compared to other parts of the country, but it wasn't like today.

I moved back to San Francisco in 2011. I looked at many properties. There were quite a few studios and 1 bedroom condos around the city in the $200's that were NOT bmr. Downtown Oakland had some nice 2 bedroom condos also in the $200's. I bought my condo with cash for $250k in 2011 and sold it around $540k or so at the start of 2016. I think they are now selling around $600k. Besides real estate / rent / auto expenses, the cost of living in San Francisco isn't high. Most of my favorite restaurants were $15 or less. You don't use a/c or heater most of the year. It's really about housing and if your home doesn't include parking, than you have to deal with street parking, which is crappy or rent a parking space for a few hundred dollars or so per month.