Bad news good news

It’s been a tough few days for the tech world: yesterday, AirBnb announced it’s cutting a massive 25% of its workforce, and today, UBER said it will be eliminating over 3,700 positions. It appears the tech sector won’t be immune to the job crunch caused by the coronavirus, especially if the business relies on people being out and about, and traveling to places. It's tough seeing other people lose their jobs, because it seeps in some doubt and anxiety about my own job security. You think you’ll safely weather through this and then suddenly, you get release papers; surely, many at AirBnb and UBER got such a shock.

The personnel cuts at these two companies have direct consequence to where I live, because both are headquartered here in San Francisco. This many high-paying jobs disappearing means people will leave, and that should cause downward pressure on rental prices, if classic supply and demand is to be followed. Not to be a shark smelling blood in the waters about this - you’d hope to be empathetic during these times - but that would be excellent news for me. If I’m lucky enough to still have employment out of this lockdown, I plan to finally move out of the house.

Talk about good timing.

The cost of rent in the San Francisco Bay Area is notoriously one of the highest in the nation, and before COVID-19 happened, there was no end in sight to those absurd prices because the city/region is super slow to build new housing to meet demand. The standard one-bedroom apartment costs nearly as much as my entire take-home pay, which is just insane because I make a solidly middle-class income. Those of us outside of the tech sector have somewhat low-key wished for a recession so that these people would move away from the area, and rent would go back down to slightly more affordable.

Again, the assumption is that I myself doesn’t get swept along with those job losses during the imagined recession. Well, the downturn is very real right now, and I’m lucky to still be afloat above the waters. Fingers crossed that continues.

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Early evening grocery shopping in Guangzhou.

AirBnb is Great, but...

AirBnb is doing wonders for traveling groups larger than three people. Hotels generally cater to groups of two or singles unless you pay through the nose for suites at higher floors. For those of us who aren't willing to share a double bed, AirBnb is simply awesome. I select entire houses, pick the appropriate number of beds, mark the self check-in option, and off I go. 

And in my experiences AirBnb places have ended up cheaper than a hotel for two. Brilliant. 

What isn't so great about AirBnb though is the sheer amount of time I need to invest to find a good spot. Unlike hotels where the star rating can at least guarantee a certain level of decency, when you are staying in a stranger's private home, due diligence is a must. First I look at location - is it close to public transport, then the facilities - if photos show a place more run down than the typical hotel I skip it. After that I look at almost all the reviews: does the place match the description, and is the "landlord" trustworthy. 

All that can easily take many hours just to select one spot. I admit that this may be a situation unique to me seeing as one could easily pick the first spot that looks decent and then put faith in the goodness of the landlord that everything will work out as written. I am not that person. I must look at all the variables and weight all the options. Tedious it may be, I've yet to have a bad AirBnb lodging experience. Knock on wood.