Apartment City

Government loves to create winners and losers.  The Chad Mayes led Assembly Republicans , the seven of them, voted to force some companies to buy “credits” to stay in business—this is a tax increase.  Then they also said they prefer government transportation by making it more expensive to drive a car—Mayes and friends voted to raise gas taxes by 63 cents a gallon.  In zoning matters, government really likes to create winners and losers. “Facing down a record number of vacancies on State Street and a citywide backlog of building permit applications , the Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously this Tuesday to enact a six- month pilot program to improve and accelerate the review process for prospective commercial tenants along the downtown business corridor. Applicants for properties between Sola and Cabrillo streets, where more than 30 storefronts currently sit empty, will now be bumped to the front of the line at design review board hearings . Two members of the city’s ...

Best views in the Shire. A WENTWORTH FALLS resident has paid $2.3 million at auction for a two- bedroom apartment with one of the best panoramic views over Cronulla beach. The new owner — a former Shire resident moving closer to family — fought off two local couples for the 117sqm apartment with two bathrooms, single lockup garage and northeast aspect at 4/2 McDonald Street. The second-floor apartment with a huge wraparound balcony has 180 degree, unobstructed views up Cronulla beach to Wanda and Boat Harbour, and out to Jibbon. Views galore. Matthew Callaghan of Highland Property Agents said it sold just under the initial reserve but still within the price guide of $2.25-$2.475 million. “I thought it was a great result, it was very hard to price,” he said. “It was so unique, in an older building but having one of the best views in Cronulla. “Everyone loved the proximity to the mall, easy lift access and that unique north aspect which not many Cronulla apartments have.” Under ...

It’s hard to stand out in New York’s microcosm of over-the- top real estate , where eight-figure listings are a dime a dozen and co-op boards are as steely as they come. One building, however, has managed to take the cake year after year as one of the city’s most exclusive addresses: 834 Fifth Avenue. The co-op, which sits on Fifth Avenue between 64th and 65th streets overlooking the Central Park zoo , was once described by the New York Observer as “the most pedigreed building on the snobbiest street in the country’s most real estate–obsessed city.” How does a building in a city of millions of buildings get this distinction? As one of its units continues to hold the distinction of most expensive apartment for sale in New York, we thought it was time to understand why. An living area photographed shortly after the building was constructed in 1931. Photo: MCNY/Gottscho-Schleisner / Getty Images Background Designed by Sicilian- American architect Rosario Candela , 834 Fifth was built ...

In Reseda, an elderly couple fret about where they will go at the end of the month, when they are forced out of the one-room apartment they have lived in for 29 years. In Tujunga, a retired woman lives in a backyard shed, treating her high blood pressure with tea made from her garden and bathing in an outdoor tub with water heated by the sun. In Arleta, a supermarket employee rents a makeshift room in a house that is home to 10 people, and often waits in a long line to shower before work. I didn't set out last Wednesday to tie these stories together; I was following leads in search of the small dramas that play out daily, beyond the headlines, in homes that do not make the Hot Property column . I traveled the 101 and the 405, the 118 and the 210, and the stories intersected as the highways do, here in a land where all too often plans fall apart, and the daily challenge is to adapt, to endure, to survive. :: "Help!!!!" Caroline Malloy pleaded in an email to me. Her pa...

Dhan Subedi flipped through sheets of apartment listings on Thursday, 15 days before the deadline for her four-person household to vacate Glenbrook Apartments . She’d circled and called the most affordable units in Boise. The earliest one would be available was Oct. 15, nearly a week after her deadline to leave a one-bedroom, $575-a-month apartment. Her 13-month-old son, Kaden, rolled around the floor at the feet of her mother, Mina Subedi. The families of both Dhan and her husband, Prem Subba, are Bhutanese, though Dhan was born during her family’s two-decade stay at a refugee camp in Nepal. Subba’s was one of thousands of Nepalese- speaking families evicted from the country. Located at the corner of South Curtis Road and Cassia Street, the family’s sparse Glenbrook unit is close to the Boise Airport, where Subba works, and State Street, where Subedi works at a market. It’s also close to the former Boise International Market , where the couple owned the Bhutanese and Nepali grocery...

Anyone who's ever lived in—or had dreams of moving to—New York City knows it to be two things: One, it's unlike anywhere else, and two, it's almost absurdly expensive. Making it work here is already difficult, but add super high rent prices (with basically little to no space) and it makes things even more challenging. Unsurprisingly, since entry-level jobs come with entry-level salaries, it's even harder for recent graduates to find a place to call home in the Big Apple. But, plenty of people do make it work—you just have to know where to look (and, of course, be really smart about budgeting). So, where are the more affordable neighborhoods? According to a recent Street Easy report , new grads and entry-level employees will have the best luck looking in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick, and Crown Heights (these three neighborhoods are in Brooklyn and take spots No. 1, 2, and 4, respectively) as well as Astoria, Queens (at No. 3) and Washington Heights in Manhattan roun...

Maintenance problems abounded. Mr. Hunt used a pan to collect the rainwater dripping through the ceiling, graduated to a bucket and, when that proved insufficient, a trash can. Last winter, some of his favorite shirts were soaked by rainwater. “It was imperative for my sanity to move,” he said. Photo LONG ISLAND CIT Y Along the waterfront on Center Boulevard, the many rental buildings were new, but not new enough. Credit Sasha Maslov for The New York Times He envisioned his new place as airy and clean, but also warm and inviting. “Telling a real estate agent your vision is not as clear as making a list,” he said. So he made one, including light, views and a rent of around $2,000 a month for a studio or one-bedroom. Using five apps — StreetEasy, Trulia, PadMapper, Naked Apartments and Zumper — he went to work. “I felt frantic about it,” he said. He contacted every agent who seemed to have a suitable listing. “The idea was zero fidelity.” He planned to remain in Greenpoint. But the fe...

Amazon’s extraordinary growth has turned Seattle into the biggest company town in America. Amazon now occupies a mind-boggling 19 percent of all prime office space in the city, the most for any employer in a major U.S. city, according to a new analysis conducted for The Seattle Times. Amazon’s footprint in Seattle is more than twice as large as any other company in any other big U.S. city, and the e-commerce giant’s expansion here is just getting started. The swarms of 20-somethings crowding into South Lake Union every morning represent an urban campus that is unparalleled in the United States — and they have helped transform Seattle , for better or worse. Amazon’s rapid rise has fueled an economy that has driven up wages and lowered unemployment, but also produced gridlock on the roads and sky- high housing prices . And while Seattle’s booming economy is often attributed to a wide variety of factors, increasingly, it’s all about one company. Amazon now occupies more office space t...

Name: Jean Mortlock Location: Sea Point, Cape Town, South Africa Size: 947 square feet Years lived in: 3 years, owned When Jean bought this apartment three years ago, not much needed to be done at all. Unfortunately, just one year later the apartment flooded — not once but twice — and all within two months! All the floors, cabinets and carpets had to be ripped out and replaced. Luckily, this meant Jean got to choose new paint colors, rugs and flooring, which made up for the inconvenience. Jean is a photographer by trade and has been working in the advertising industry for a while as an art buyer and producer. Only recently has she decided to take the leap, follow her heart and branch out into the interiors and art industry. Judging by her home and Instagram feed alone, this is a field that Jean will excel in. Jean's home is awash with color, artwork and sentimental items collected on travels, all of which have a story and personal meaning. This has created a home with a hea...

On any summer weekend, Venice Beach is the ultimate urban beach carnival : exhilarating, loud, funky and diverse. No wonder Ocean Front Walk is one of the state’s premier attractions: It’s amazing entertainment and it’s 100% free. But unlike other tourist spots — say Disneyland or Universal CityWalk — Venice is still primarily a residential neighborhood . Because of that, Venice has become an epicenter of Los Angeles’ struggle over short-term rentals, what you might call the Airbnb Problem. To get a sense of it, I took what some local housing activists have dubbed a “Lost Housing” tour of Venice on Saturday afternoon. Over the course of four hours, I visited half a dozen buildings on or very close to the Boardwalk that have been converted, without permits, from long- term rental apartments to short-term rentals, or — yes — let’s call them what they really are: hotels. If you are wondering why the rental housing market in a place like Venice Beach is so tight, look no further than y...