High Rent Targets Force Developers Toward Studios
Any new construction unit needs to be significantly higher Rent/SF than existing homes in the area, or else it won't get built at all The way developers keep Prices down is by building smaller units ... like Studio apartments And it's why new buildings are Studio & 1BR heavy
Doctors Are Underpaid and Forced Into Costly City Living
We *drastically* underpay residents Being a doctor is not only tremendous financial cost, but also practically means you have to delay all family decisions by often being forced to live in the most expensive cities near teaching hospitals The human cost isn’t...
YIMBYs Risk Ugly Upzoning by Ceding Design Standards
At minimum it can be thought of as a pragmatic or political concession to expand upzoned places “YIMBY” already frequently makes broad concessions on Rent Control, Union Labor and tenant “protection” requirements … aesthetics is not bridge too far Especially when the...
Use Material Standards and Design Books to Ensure Aesthetic Development
I think the most reasonable way to balance aesthetic standards and certainty for development is with materials requirements and/or "books" of pre-approved designs In areas with sufficiently high land values you can require masonry, stone, metal etc. https://t.co/8i2aoIeE1X
Affirmative Action Lacks Clear Ethnic Verification Standards
On affirmative action, the questions no one will touch are: “Who counts as Ethnic Group” “Who gets to be the arbiter" Do students provide their own ethnic report every school must use, or do college order their own independent one? Such a process would...
A Family‑Friendly City Means Strollers as Common as Dogs
What does it **look** like for a City to be family friendly? “In the City, I want there to be so many babies, so many strollers … that it is as common for you to see a stroller as it is...
Most Prefer Masonry over Ugly Vinyl Townhouses
Both of these are *technically* 3-story townhouses … Obviously some people will oppose everything, but most just don't want to live next to an ugly vinyl monstrosity and would be happy to live next to beautiful masonry https://t.co/Tfs55LCj6R
People Want Density Only When It Looks Attractive
100% agreed Aesthetics absolutely matter. And it’s not unreasonable for people to *want* to only add density to their neighborhoods if it looks “nice”
Smaller Kids' Bedrooms Cut Costs in Rowhomes
More bedrooms ONLY cost more money if they make the overall home size larger … which is exactly why @americanhousing we are building rowhomes with much smaller bedrooms deigned *for* little kids Check out the middle floor of our prototype...
Nursing Pays $80K+ Yearly, Fuels Entrepreneurial Dreams
This is why nursing is a great career choice. My wife was making good money at 21. In a major city hospital, you can easily make $80,000+ on 40 hours/week (on a side note, her income was the only way I...
Cities Lose Kids because Families Become Invisible; Make Them Visible
My theory (and solution) on the fertility "crisis" has been consistent for years: Young people move to the The City for school, opportunity, adventure etc. But they are reaching the (not unreasonable) conclusion that having kids means moving away. So they...
Minor Regulations Add up, yet Remain a Tiny Fraction
"Who Cares" about costs/regulation particularly falls flat in a housing context. Every housing activist trumpets how small details matter **intensely** Take parking minimums: An uncovered parking spot costs $10K. Maybe. Even a garage unit is $40K Or permit fees, recreation fees,...
You Can Be a Savage Founder and Father
💯 agree that motherhood should be high status again. But I think an even MORE important message, esp coming from high profile investors is: “You can be a savage, whether early stage employee or founder AND a husband and father …...
Seeing Kids Everywhere Encourages Young Adults to Parent
I believe, strongly, that the most *effective* way get more young people to have kids isn’t by preaching at them or citing dire statistics … it’s for them to just see kids around: Sitting in high chairs at brunch. Playing...
Minority Quotas Inflate Construction Costs without Adding Value
It’s even “funnier” that this applies to housing projects too. I have plenty of friends who have essentially started companies that sell basic construction items … like doors, cabinets, drywall … where they do ~nothing other than charge a markup...
Warren's Bill Makes 10% of New Homes Triple‑Deckers
Elizabeth Warren loves Boston Triple Deckers more than you love anything Her Road to Housing bill would turn up to 10% of the all new housing units in the US, nearly 130,000 units PER YEAR, into majestic 3-story flats
Boomers Leverage Lower Rates for Tax‑free Cash
This would be a better argument if boomers did not have the ability to pre-pay the mortgage and reset their interest rate Instead, every time rates went down, boomers could lever up and take more $$ (tax free) for consumption and...
Greenbelts Push Residents to Cheaper, Infrastructure‑rich Metros
No. You’d get even more people moving Dallas, Orlando or Austin … or any of the other metros that spend on infrastructure (roads & schools) which enable inexpensive single family homes In America, if you enact greenbelting … people don’t go...
Extra Bedroom Encourages People to Stop Birth Control
This is why we should build Baby Maybe housing ... for a couple, making a choice to have a baby is FIRST a choice to go off birth control And people (generally) feel more comfortable going off birth control when they...
2000sqft Homes for $250k Near Subway
Lots of very inexpensive homes in "walkable" neighborhoods 4 blocks from the subway Both of these 2000sf homes are $250,000 in West Philadelphia https://t.co/8qNyNE00gd
Affordable Housing Requires Massive Metro-Driven Greenfield Development
There is no City that has achieved "affordable" housing (by any definition) without the metro building an enormous amount of greenfield development
Housing Surplus Exists, but Location and Type Limit Viability
There are millions of vacant or low cost houses in the US ... just not in places where people want to live Construction costs have same dynamic. It's regional & type dependent Some kinds of homes in some places make sense for...
Cities Must Build Family‑Sized Units to Retain Residents
This is absolutely correct Building more, smaller units is good ... but cities ALSO need to intentionally plan for and build units that are specifically FOR families, if they want to retain them. Which they should https://t.co/5eEJscuL8y
Dual-Purpose Small Room: Office Today, Blackout Nursery Tomorrow
This is why a *separate* Nursery room (with blackout shades) is really helpful … but it can be small, so that before the baby comes it can be an office A Baby Maybe room https://t.co/g8vejcKI2a
Exploring Tiny Multi-Family Independent Living Projects
Hmmm a project for 3 (or fewer) families living independently?? What could that be 🤔🤔🤔 https://t.co/OwOBaPrN67
People Want Good Homes, Not How They're Built
This is basically the same reasoning for why @americanhousing is a vertically integrated real estate company We are *using* industrial manufacturing to build nice rowhomes for people. They just find the house on Zillow, take a tour, like it ... and...
Rowhomes: Ideal Starter Homes for Urban Families Everywhere
Re-upping a thread that explains WHY we are building Rowhomes: Family Size, starter homes, in Cities where young people already live ... and an *American* typology that exists in every geography https://t.co/avGI3eoAO1
Kids Endured Prolonged Covid Restrictions Despite Adult Noncompliance
The primary “failure” was that Covid measures lasted until the Summer of 2022, especially as they were enforced on children and public school & daycare Well after adults (with a choice) had stopped complying, little kids were masked for 8 hours/day...
City Apartment Types Impact Family Retention and School Budgets
This is another reason why cities should care about the TYPE of apartments being built. Keeping children and families is critically important, both as a thing that is “Good” and because losing children is financially ruinous to city school budgets
Speed Trumps Higher Margins in Home Building
These firms are primarily solving for speed of construction and sales and maximal return on each equity dollar. A 20% margin home they can build and sell in 3 months is BETTER than a 40% margin in 6 months 1.2^4 =2.0736x 1.4^2...
Builders Will Match Demand When Buyers Pay Enough
If people were generally willing to pay this … I’m confident Lennar and DR Horton would build it that way Those firms are **dialed in** on costs and demand
Dream Penthouse with Terraces Outshines Cheap Imitations
A cheap modernist imitation in every way compared to my favorite apartment in my favorite building in Philadelphia 2BR/2.5BA, 2500sf 2 story penthouse on the 27th floor of the Drake with 3 terraces A truly one of a kind apartment https://t.co/nEfpDkFgqJ
Rowhomes: Cozy 14‑16‑Foot Width Ideal for Families
One of the reasons I love rowhomes is because they are 14-16’ wide Narrow, family size homes https://t.co/84eesIRj7C
Housing Shortage: Affordable, Desired Homes Missing in Prime Locations
I too have studied "housing square footage per capita" very deeply. Except rather than looking at it from the macro level, I approach it from the bottom of ... aka floorplans. And I looked at it from the multifamily lens,...
Twitter Appears to Have Removed Trending Articles Feature
Did Twitter get rid of trending articles? That was one of my favorite features ... to see what other links people were sharing.
Attached Design Looks Better, Costs More for Fire Rating
Attached looks better … but is more expensive to build due to fire rating https://t.co/kIp5gggkz6
Smaller BTR Homes Prioritize Affordability over Space
A fantastic BTR unit ... Notice how much smaller they are than typical Single Family Homes Broadly, people do not like to buy units that are this small (in the locations where BTR developments are located). When people buy houses, they...
New Homes Cost More Per Square Foot; Size Must Shrink
New construction always be more expensive PSF than older construction So the only way you can make new homes less expensive than existing homes by making them smaller … on average.
High‑Density Rowhomes Offer Private Yards Per Acre
With Rowhomes, we are building 20-25+ units per acre. 1200–1800sf units All with a (small) private yard.
BTR Homes: Smaller, Affordable, Family‑friendly Alternative to Houses
It’s also v important to emphasize that BTR units are *different* than Single Family Homes that are built to be sold They are smaller, and designed to make rents as affordable as possible. Here’s an example: This is a 655sf 1BR cottage built...
Airport Experiences Vary; TSA and Clear Make It Smooth
I think it really depends on the airport I’ve flown 6 times in the last 2 weeks and it’s been fine every time. (Though I do also have TSA + Clear)
TopGolf Membership Beats Bay Area Co‑working Prices
The TopGolf monthly membership (weekdays from 9-5) is actually the best co-working deal $225/month in Bay Area https://t.co/E708tafi5V
Outlet Malls Thrive on Low Costs and Agglomeration
Outlet malls have a bunch of strategic advantages that make them unlike any other “mall” 1. They are open air, so lower HVAC costs 2. They are far away, so land prices are low 3. Every store has smaller footprint (no large dead...
NYC Two
New York City builds smaller 2BR apartments Here's the distribution of 2BR sizes in NYC vs Seattle & Austin NYC average is 5% smaller than Seattle & 14% smaller than Seattle ... and more than 2/3 of NYC 2BRs are smaller than...
Per‑unit Housing Costs Mislead without Unit Mix Context
This is an example of why I dislike "per unit" metrics in housing discourse & policy $827K/per unit sounds really really bad ... and it's not GOOD BUT ... when you take unit mix, and size, into account it gets a little...
Simple Strategy to Boost Landlord Income Significantly
You think being landlord is easy? This is trivial way to make a LOT more
Spend Less Than You Earn, Find Happiness
His advice is literally the same as Mr. Micawber in David Copperfield (Dickens): “Annual income 20 pounds, annual expenditure 19 pounds, 19 shillings and 6 pence, result happiness. Annual income 20 pounds, annual expenditure 20 pounds ought and 6, result misery”
Short‑term Leases Can Replace Buying for Young Families
People buy homes for 2 reasons: 1) To invest in what is (hopefully) an appreciating asset 2) So that they don't have to move. And this is particularly true for families, or people looking to start them. It's why the...
Cherish One‑On‑One Time with Your Newborn
Not only is it good to have time with just your baby ... when our 2nd and 3rd kids were born, we sent the older kids to stay with my parents for a few days, so that it was literally...
TCR's Impact on US Housing Outpaces All Firms
The effect of TCR on housing in the USA is … a lot. Maybe more than any other firm