Who let this nerd in?

> Rent prices are driven exclusively by the balance of supply vs. demand in a given market.

This isn't fully accurate. Yes, the supply relative to demand is a major driver. Average incomes and income distributions also impact prices.

In Boston, we have low supply relative to demand AND high average incomes AND high dispersion of incomes.

This results in landlords being able to price available apartments at high prices because the pool of potential renters: a) don't have a large supply to choose from, and b) some in the renter pool have very high incomes and are willing to pay a lot because of the low supply.

I haven't tried the locations in Boston. But the one I did try was really good. Great chicken + great sauce + great texas toast.

You're over thinking this.

Just screw in a curtain rod. Use a decent curtain rod (not some $10 piece of crap), and do a good job installing it. Leave it installed when you move out.

Your landlord won't thank you for improving their property, but they also won't charge you.

I was just going to say this. It’s quite nice in person

My last gas bill was $380. I'm mentally preparing for a $600+ bill now that it's actually cold.

I lived in that area for a year. I had a car, but almost never used it. It was just a pain in the butt to own a car because I didn't have off-street parking.

I used an e-bike and the T to get everywhere.

There's lots of cars taking that exit around the same time.

Yes, the Watertown RMV allowed walk-ins the the last time I was there 6 months ago.

But in this scenario, the landlord would effectively be requiring the upfront payment because without it they would reject the tenant.

Paying upfront is a really, really bad idea.

Let's say your landlord ends up being horrible, breaks the law, and you need (legally) break the lease and move out early. Now you may be in a situation where you have to sue to get your pre-paid rent returned...good luck with that.

The Revolution Hotel.

It's right downtown in a very nice area. It's within walking distance of South End, Back Bay, Downtown Crossing, Chinatown, etc. It's close to the train lines. It's about as good of a location as you can get.

It's relatively cheap because the rooms are about 115 sq ft and don't have bathrooms in the room. Instead, you have to walk down the hall to a shared wash room. The shared wash rooms are quite nice, and you get your own individual bathroom in the wash room (door that locks, toilet, sink, shower, towels, etc).

I mean, ya you should be getting higher mbps for that price.

But in reality, the difference between 100 Mbps vs 1 Gbps won't be noticeable to most people.

And who can forget about all of the parking tickets! There's too many to count! Haha such great parking police!

Winter is the best. It's such a blast trying to find parking on the street after some snow. My favorite winter activity!

My favorite day of the week is street cleaning day. It's the best because I get these fun little notes left on my windshield for parking on the wrong side of the wrong between 8am-12pm. Clean streets woooo!

Ahhhh such fond memories.

Oh boy do I love reminiscing about how great cars are relative to public transit. Soooo many good times.

I remember this one time where my car got rear ended by an SUV going 50 mph. Boy was that fun!

Oh, and there was this other time where my battery died in the middle of no where. Haha good times!

There was this other time where I got a flat tire and didn't have a spare. lol!

Oh I forgot, there was another time where my wife and I got t-boned. What a fun ride!

And there was another time where it took 4 hours to get home when it usually takes 30 minutes. Silly traffic!

There was another time where I almost went into the ditch because my car lights randomly turned off. Surprise!

> Have they declined as fast as they should have?

I always find this thought experiment interesting. It's fun thinking about the path dependencies of tech and gov't policy.

In hindsight, it's quite clear to me that given where we are today with the current state of internet technology, it would have been beneficial for maximal government intervention. We'd probably have broader coverage, lower prices, and the fast speeds we're starting to see today would've been rolled out more quickly if the government just built it all itself.

But this is in hindsight, and doesn't necessarily apply to the future. It very well may be the case for the intermediate future, too, but I would generally bet on the (sort of) free market over long time horizons when it comes to things that aren't quite broken. Housing and health care and energy (for f*cks sake, can we just utilize the super high energy density of uranium already!) = badly broken. Internet = 👌🤷 pretty decent.

The price of internet has fallen on average over the last 25 years. Yes, that's right, internet service has averaged nearly -1% inflation per year for 25 years.

Additionally, there are programs for low income households that help get internet for free or cheap (eg Affordable Connectivity Program).

So again, I disagree. While ISPs certainly aren't perfect, I think there are much bigger issues.

I don't believe people are paying wildly different rates. Most people are paying +/- $30/mo for comparable service.

Our internet is internationally competitive. This is especially true when you consider the fact that the US is so huge and lacks population density. Plowing fiber in rural areas is very expensive. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars just to reach a single house.

Internet costs are the least of a poor person's concerns. Regardless, there are already govt programs that assist with internet expenditures for poor people.

We will always need more internet speed. More speed enables new technologies. Imagine if we were still stuck with 56kb internet. It'd be almost useless, even if it was free.

I disagree with or dispute every sentence.

Price per speed has fallen by a factor of…I don’t know…1000 in the last decade? And stability has been significantly improved.

What’s the problem?

I got a ticket because they put up a brand new no parking sign while I was parked there. I contested and lost.

In other words, no, don't bother contesting.

I find it easier to just mentally allocate like $200/yr to tickets/towing.

True. Yet somehow I managed to do this when I was new here and had no concept of direction in Boston.

Do not panic if you end up in a tunnel, lose GPS signal, and end up 2 miles from your destination (maybe even on the other side of Boston Harbor). It happens to all of us.

If you're feeling afraid while entering a large, busy roundabout...good. The fear is what keeps you safe.

Right around here on Chestnut Hill Ave is free and doesn’t require a permit.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Vs6yy1VsYbrPxF3M9?g_st=ic

This is a good suggestion. The East Watertown apartment I live in is valued around $700k. 1,200 sq ft, 2.5 bed, 2 bath.

Quiet/safe area, close to the Charles (big if you bike) and Arsenal Yards. Transit is ok: 15 min to Harvard, 40 min to Copley.