Real Estate in your city

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by dchan

What's everyone's preferred room to face direct southern light during the wintertime? My parents recently purchased a condo in the UES, and it has big windows in the living room facing the south. It's really wonderful.

The kitchen & dining area is also nice with southern light if you spend lots of time there.

Looking at our floor plan again, north is up, so our living room/sun porch on the 1st floor and the family room on the lower level both face due south and both have lots of windows, so on these low-angle winter days, the sunlight comes streaming in. And because our basement isn't terribly deep in the ground, the windows down in our family room are still reasonably big and let in lots of light, with a sill height of 42" and a head of 78", which is actually pretty decent for basement windows. In fact the light-filled basement family room was one of the deciding factors that swayed us to purchase this duplex-down unit over the dozen or so others we saw when we were hose hunting, most of which had dark and uninviting lower levels.

But the trade-off is that our north facing kitchen and breakfast rooms never get direct sunlight.

[hauntedheadnc]

To absolutely no one's surprise:

Report: Asheville area rents up 25% over the past year, most expensive in NC

ASHEVILLE - Apartment rents jumped 25% over the past year, making Asheville the most expensive city in North Carolina to rent in.

That's according to the most recent rent analysis from Apartment List, which tracks the industry.

"Looking throughout the state, Asheville is the most expensive of all North Carolina's major cities, with a median two-bedroom rent of $1,771," Apartment List stated in a press release. "Of the 10 largest North Carolina cities that we have data for, all have seen rents rise year-over-year, with Asheville experiencing the fastest growth — up 25.2%."

The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Asheville stands at $1,336, the company said.

***

Asheville rents are high even compared to larger cities.

"Many large cities nationwide show more affordable rents compared to Asheville," Apartment List noted. "Compared to most large cities across the country, Asheville is less affordable for renters."

***

"Renters will generally find more expensive prices in Asheville than most large cities," Apartment List said. "For example, Detroit has a median two-bedroom rent of $923, where Asheville is nearly twice that price."

[MaryWenzelp]

Hello, gents! We had a lot of property to sell for 15-35k$ in Derby in 2013-2018. Prices went up last year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic lockdown crisis. Now all property costs raised around 15% overall in the real estate market. Thank god I invested in property before the COVID-19 global crisis lockdown by my Mortgage Advice Derby service suggestion, so now I have a pretty good chance to rent my property and have a good profit from that. I think I will recover the property cost fully in about two years.

[dchan]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Looking at our floor plan again, north is up, so our living room/sun porch on the 1st floor and the family room on the lower level both face due south and both have lots of windows, so on these low-angle winter days, the sunlight comes streaming in. And because our basement isn't terribly deep in the ground, the windows down in our family room are still reasonably big and let in lots of light, with a sill height of 42" and a head of 78", which is actually pretty decent for basement windows. In fact the light-filled basement family room was one of the deciding factors that swayed us to purchase this duplex-down unit over the dozen or so others we saw when we were hose hunting, most of which had dark and uninviting lower levels.

But the trade-off is that our north facing kitchen and breakfast rooms never get direct sunlight.

Nice, pretty cool that you can get two levels of sun. I can see that the southern windows (formed into a bay) are sort of designed to maximize the sunlight enjoyment in those rooms.

Yesterday was a great day, so I took this picture of the southern-facing living room & windows in my parent's new condo:

[Investing In Chicago]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Looking at our floor plan again, north is up, so our living room/sun porch on the 1st floor and the family room on the lower level both face due south and both have lots of windows, so on these low-angle winter days, the sunlight comes streaming in. And because our basement isn't terribly deep in the ground, the windows down in our family room are still reasonably big and let in lots of light, with a sill height of 42" and a head of 78", which is actually pretty decent for basement windows. In fact the light-filled basement family room was one of the deciding factors that swayed us to purchase this duplex-down unit over the dozen or so others we saw when we were hose hunting, most of which had dark and uninviting lower levels.

But the trade-off is that our north facing kitchen and breakfast rooms never get direct sunlight.

Assuming you live on a tree lined street, it's surprising you get direct sunlight on the first floor/basement when there are leaves on the trees.

We rented a duplex down in old town when we first moved to Chicago, that faced South, and our family room never got any real natural light because of the large oak tree in front of our building.

[Steely Dan]

^ EAB's took out the two mature ash trees in our parkway before we moved in 4 years ago.

Also, the discussion here was about winter sun and southern exposure. Deciduous trees in Chicago (and most other places) thoughtfully drop their leaves every fall so that the low angle sunlight can come streaming through south-facing windows when we need it most (at least when it's not cloudy ).

but our basement family room really does get decent direct sunlight in the winter. ignore the clutter (we were cleaning out closets), this is just the most readily available pic i have.





for the lower level of a duplex-down in chicago, that's about as sunny as things can get.

[dchan]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ EAB's took out the two mature ash trees in our parkway before we moved in 4 years ago. Now there's just some small little replants that won't be meaningfully blocking sun for a good long while to come.

Also, the discussion here was about winter sun and southern exposure. Deciduous trees in Chicago thoughtfully drop their leaves every fall so that the low angle sunlight can come streaming through when we need it most (at least when it's not cloudy )

Yup, and the same deciduous trees provide shading during the summer, though the sun is at a much higher angle by then. Instead, it's mostly eaves of the house that are providing the summer shading at the southern windows.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Considering that the vast majority of Chicago was laid out over a century ago on a very regular street grid with 25' x 125' residential lots, it is what it is at this point. There's no practical way to go back in time and change that fundamental aspect of the city's DNA.

so, long and skinny it is!

Sounds pretty similar to SF lot sizes.

Here's what it was like back in 1878:


And now:

[Chisouthside]

I lived off Liberty and Valencia for a few months and the Victorian I stayed in definitely reminded me of a typical Chicago long apartment.

Originally Posted by homebucket

Sounds pretty similar to SF lot sizes.

Here's what it was like back in 1878:


And now:

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by homebucket

Sounds pretty similar to SF lot sizes.

Here's what it was like back in 1878:

With its long skinny lots, did San Francisco build a lot of vintage "flat" buildings like Chicago back in the day, where 2 - 4 single-floor homes are simply stacked on top of each other? Or was it more of those giant old victorian homes like the one you posted that then later got chopped up into multi-unit?

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

With its long skinny lots, did San Francisco build a lot of vintage "flat" buildings like Chicago back in the day, where 2 - 4 single-floor homes are simply stacked on top of each other? Or was it more of those giant old victorian homes like the one you posted that then later got chopped up into multi-unit?

There’s a decent amount of housing stock like what you’re describing where it’s a single building but 2-4 units stacked on top of each other that share an interior staircase and garage space (although the garage thing is more specific to SF since Chicago doesn’t really have street facing garages as I understand it). There are a lot of Victorians and other newer true SFH homes like in the Sunset that were never built to be multi family though. I’m not sure what the percentage breakdown is though.

[mrnyc]

closed on the new staten condo today - yay!

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

closed on the new staten condo today - yay!

Congrats!

[dchan]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

closed on the new staten condo today - yay!

Congrats! Which part of SI are you going to live in?

[dchan]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

but our basement family room really does get decent direct sunlight in the winter. ignore the clutter (we were cleaning out closets), this is just the most readily available pic i have.





for the lower level of a duplex-down in chicago, that's about as sunny as things can get.

That's pretty nice natural lighting for a basement room.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

closed on the new staten condo today - yay!

congrats!

if you're comfortable sharing, please tell us more about it.

Originally Posted by dchan

That's pretty nice natural lighting for a basement room.

it's one of the most un-basement-like chicago basements i've ever been in.

they're usually deeper in the ground with only a few small little slit windows up near the ceiling, and thus FAR darker.

and like i said earlier, the big and plentiful windows down there were a big reason why we bought the condo we did.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by dchan

Congrats! Which part of SI are you going to live in?

north shore -- right next to the staten island ferry.

it seems we're neighbors with pete davidson.

[Crawford]

Say hi to Kim K. if you see her in the neighborhood.

Nice to see Pete Davidson finally moved out of his mom's basement.

[mrnyc]

^ haha i know, right?

actually there is more to the story about that with our place.

it will have to wait a bit until we get the keys.

[lio45]

Newish condo tower, or old converted building with only a handful of units?

(Not sure which type is more common, I mostly remember SI as being SFH territory.)