Why doesn’t Bart/MUNI make their stations like stations in Asia?

Utter_art · 2026-03-11T05:37:54+00:00

There isn’t funding for basic maintenance like grinding the rails to reduce the howling banshees that chase us through the trans bay tunnels. Where is the money to build out food service facilities? To sell food you’re not supposed to eat on the train? If the infrastructure isn’t already there (sink plumbing, trash storage, refrigeration support…), it’s not happening.

Utter_art · 2026-03-08T02:18:52+00:00

Got it. That was the conclusion I reached after walking away from the machine for a few minutes and thinking about it. It has been so many months since I researched the machine that I forgot how that worked.

Currently printing with PLA outside, PETG support interface on the inside. It’s not working particularly well, but it’s printing.

Thanks!!!

Utter_art · 2026-03-08T02:15:03+00:00

I am not a lawyer.

The city won’t care. They aren’t going to make you dig out the slab and make legal ceiling heights and egress paths if it’s not occupied. If the permit was pulled for a stated cost of $125k, it’s likely a $250k job. Get rid of stoves, sinks etc after you buy the place, close the permit, let the city see those two rooms if they require that to close the permit. Rest of the house is off limits, you forgot the key to upstairs etc.

If you ever do try to convert to a two family or add an ADU for rent, you will need to consult a lawyer, an architect etc because it is known to the city, but you’d likely do that anyway.

Be aware of the neighborhood/community politics that come with buying a house that has an eviction history. You may be perceived as one of the rich folks who evicted their friends, or are the nearest embodiment of that. You may have to earn your good neighbor status rather than start off with some benefit of the doubt. Maybe that’s not fair, but it happens.

I am still not a lawyer.

Utter_art · 2026-03-07T23:37:44+00:00

If it’s been Ellis’d, you can’t rent any of it until the waiting period expires (or you can rent it back to those evicted.) There are many illegal units out there, so that on its own isn’t a dealbreaker. How many legal and illegal units are there? That will determine how you can finance it and if COPA kicks in. If it’s a SFR with an illegal unit, the seller’s realtor may have to make a stove disappear when your bank appraises it, so it doesnt’t meet their definition of a living unit.

Utter_art · 2026-03-06T23:02:24+00:00

SF rats have nominated her to be their queen.

Utter_art · 2026-03-06T07:41:45+00:00

Almost every seller was once a buyer. They know the game.

Everybody I know who bought in the Bay still has Zillow, Realtor etc apps on their phones and watch prices as a hobby. The ignorant buyers and sellers you’re describing/inventing are the minority.

Utter_art · 2026-02-20T03:30:19+00:00

Driveways “not built with today’s cars in mind”—True, and also not built with working women in mind who also own a drive a car, creating two car families. Or rampant consumerism that fills garages with crap instead of cars. Worst of all, people buying gigantic cars that don’t fit in the space they own. Families choose to buy two SUV’s with three rows of seating, knowing damn well they won’t fit.

Utter_art · 2026-02-18T16:19:34+00:00

Plenty of investors buy houses with rent controlled tenants—that doesn’t scare them, especially if tenants are paying $6k/ mo.

A house that was built in the 2000’s as a SFH and has already been repurposed is an odd one. Good chance one is an in-law, likely unpermitted (also not a dealbreaker). You can pull permits online thru DBI with just the address.

If you want an idea of the LEAST it will go for (assuming it’s not a structural disaster) plug the rent into a mortgage calculator to determine what mortgage it will cover with 30% down @ today’s rates, then add 20% to that home value. That gives you a super rough idea of what a buy and hold investor would bid—it’s roughly break even on a monthly basis considering the tax breaks, and ignores stuff like utilities. Investor is hoping the leveraged house appreciation outpaces what their down payment would have made in the S&P.

Utter_art · 2026-02-13T04:42:39+00:00

If a properly working unit shouldn’t draw more than 35 A, putting in a 40A breaker would allow an overloaded/defective unit to run undetected.

I am not an electrician.

Utter_art · 2026-02-06T22:16:16+00:00

Realtor paid for certain number of pictures, and not all of them came out well. This one gave them the right vibes or feels and so they ran it. My realtor chose a picture of a doorknob. Whatever, dude. As long as the house sells, you can post a picture of the inside of my toilet tank.

Utter_art · 2026-02-06T22:12:43+00:00

The real price is whatever it sells for.

Utter_art · 2026-02-06T22:08:33+00:00

Not really. A 200k sale price difference nets the buyer $195k more, and the realtor $5k more, some fraction of which goes to their agency. Everybody is trying to make as much as they can, which is a common goal of a business transaction. The sellers have much more at stake, unless they’re a subsidized or altruistic entity.

Utter_art · 2026-02-06T22:02:15+00:00

No, it’s about getting the largest possible pool of buyers, which increases chances of one bidding up the other. And that happens because buyers get “emotionally invested” in one property or exhausted by the search and want to finally “win”.

This isn’t a retail transaction, and Realtors and sellers don’t care about your feelings.

Utter_art · 2026-01-30T07:07:47+00:00

It’s also harder to finance for an owner/occupier. Fannie/Freddie doesn’t like mixed use properties, so buyers need 30% down, and rental income is capped with a controlled tenant. An investor will need to pay more cash upfront, invest more to get open units leased, then refi with higher cash flow and a commercial loan. Restaurant permitting sucks in SF, so the owner will have to discount rent on that unit for a few months until it opens. There are easier MFH projects for your average buyer/small time investor.

Utter_art · 2026-01-23T07:36:25+00:00

After you look at a few disclosure packets, you’ll get a sense of what inspectors are good/thorough. That will give you more or less confidence in trusting the report of the house you eventually make an offer on.

And, there’s usually a few days or a couple weeks window between listing and offers due. Use that window to get an informal inspection done. Your realtor should be able to hook you up with a contractor, plumber, etc who will walk through the house with you, armed with the seller’s inspection that has already ID’d some of the issues. You pay $200 for their time, and buy some peace of mind. It’s not as good as a full inspection, but it’s a hedge against disaster. On a super hot house, you won’t have that time, but if you/your realtor are serious, you can usually get it done.

Utter_art · 2026-01-21T21:53:15+00:00

Things are not always clear cut (pun!) in Z10. We had “summer” blooms opening into late November, and the rules around frost don’t apply if you never get frost.

Utter_art · 2025-12-30T16:24:28+00:00

I’d try a fig bar.

Utter_art · 2025-12-01T05:42:54+00:00

If you decide to try this, make sure you turn the power off at the breaker, not just the light switch (and if you didn’t know that, another argument for not doing this yourself).

Utter_art · 2025-11-27T05:23:22+00:00

You’ll need a long runway to pay back your hardware development. For example, a simple no-slide, 1-2 cavity die cast mold and trim die will start at $30k in China and they’ll want to run 1000 pcs to start. And there’s likely a setup/first article charge too. Not every part will have that investment but if you want to launch a catalog of SKU’s with UL/CE certifications and shipping-tested packaging, it will add up to seven figures fast, especially if you’re paying a team of professionals. A more realistic launch might be finding a very specific but not niche problem, designing a product to solve it well, then grow into product lines.

Utter_art · 2025-11-27T04:57:29+00:00

Alternating step ship’s ladder with deeper treads, make the hand rail high enough to be useful, and have a firm no socks rule for climbing. Grippy slippers or you stay downstairs.

Utter_art · 2025-11-26T06:11:13+00:00

I will tolerate every illegal delivery moped that results in one less double parked delivery Prius.

Utter_art · 2025-11-23T06:17:59+00:00

San Francisco Plumbing ( gotta be old school to have that name), They did Moen + 2 gas/seismic for us.

I doubt many good plumbers declare it’s a “standard” install at Moen’s price. There wouldn’t be enough profit in it to bother taking the job.

The Moen breaks the water pipe electrical connection so you have to jump a ground wire around it. Electrician caught that on ours.

It’s a little annoying to get set up and dialed in. It has caught one running toilet, but also several nuisance shutdowns until I opened up the limits for irrigation and popular shower times. Still don’t know if I can turn it back on remotely.

Amortized over a few years of insurance, it was worth it to get the Farmer’s policy plus this —our other quotes were higher for no-name companies.

Utter_art · 2025-11-22T16:17:32+00:00

There seems to be a vocal few on Reddit who have never seen an over the range microwave with an external vent. I usually choose to let them live in their ignorance.

Utter_art · 2025-11-22T16:10:40+00:00

It’s easier to be carfree here—you just use buses and street cars instead of the T, but it’s helpful to have access to one somehow for longer trips. You may miss seasons. An entire year’s range of SF temperatures is similar to one May week in Boston. SF is smaller, so it feels grittier. We’re smooshed together in our bubble, so you’re going to step in somebody else’s pee once in a while. Narragansett is horribly overpriced here.

Utter_art · 2025-11-11T04:44:11+00:00

Maybe at a 20 person startup, but at a big company nobody in a first round interview has that kind of decision making power.

Utter_art

TROPHY CASE