Escaping San Francisco

This story makes no sense. $3700 can get you a nice 1 bedroom anywhere in SF, so it’s unclear why they couldn’t have found another place. If you’re renting, you find mold, and your landlord does nothing then by CA law you have the right to break your lease for unsafe living conditions.<p>The author’s LinkedIn is filled with executive&#x2F;founder&#x2F;CEO roles (and claiming a 7 figure exit) and yet still needing to use GoFundMe for $50k?<p>Also don’t understand how his existing health insurance through his work would not cover him. He claims he doesn’t have it anymore because they wouldn’t treat him? I’ve never heard of a situation where you get insurance through your work and you are dropped because they won’t treat you for some reason.<p>Lastly the mold is clearly visible in all the videos and pics he linked! It’s not like they four years later decided to pull out some carpet or something and only then discovered the place was filled with mold. They seriously lived there for 4 years without questioning that at all? If the story is true (questionable, really) then I would have to question their mental capacity if they thought nothing of all the clear as day black mold all over their apartment while getting sick without thinking twice about it.

This article is literally nonsense, it’s at the same level of medical rigor as an anti-vax rant, and appears to be crafted intentionally to get people susceptible to this kind of narrative to give them money.<p>I can’t believe it’s being taken seriously here.

It&#x27;s really sad that in US you have to ask for donations for your healthcare, this is absurd in a country on this level. I live in EU and I have been to US (and SFO) and I feel like live a more comfortable life here in EU. And I live in the &quot;poorer&quot; Slovakia (compared to west EU). I don&#x27;t need to think about costs if I get sick or injured (+ I get social support in case I can&#x27;t work during that time).

&gt; We eventually discovered the apartment building we were living in was built in 1908.<p>Come to England, we have houses built in 1600. Growing up in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the entire country, living in SF and having to wait for a few fixes (fix your own damn doorbell?) to your apartment is not Victorian level penury.<p>But man if I’m not enjoying the juxtaposition of Mr Crypto Blockchain Free Thinker with ‘why won’t someone fix my doorbell for me’: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;trentlapinski.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;trentlapinski.com&#x2F;</a>

&gt; We eventually discovered the apartment building we were living in was built in 1908. Yes, we were living in a “sick” building that was over 100 years old, and never knew. We even found photos of our former apartment in historical archives dating back to the 1920’s.<p>Is being just a hundred years old some kind of inherent problem? Obviously rotting is bad but they talk about discovering that it existed in 1908 like they found out that it’s a time machine, or that people didn’t take photos in the 20s. What’s the big deal about the age?

&gt; after we finally called the city, their inspectors discovered a number of safety, structural, and health violations<p>They probably should have called the city on day one of moving in. Did they really go years believing this place was inhabitable? Did they never have a friend stop by and see the shitty conditions and insist they should call the city?<p>There is an inspection department who can haul your landlord into court. You can also withhold rent when your unit is in these conditions and if you show up to court with the photos from these posts, your landlord will be in for a bad time.<p>They claim the building suffered from lack of oversight from the city; and sure the city didn’t know it was being rented out. But it also suffered from lack of someone actually notifying the city.

&gt; At one point our doorbell stopped working, resulting in at least a half dozen packages being stolen (..) It took us over 9 months of emails and complaints to the landlords to finally get the doorbell replaced<p>Is this a fucking joke? Remote doorbell costs like 4USD. You should just buy it yourself...<p>&gt; 3,657 USD per month for an apartment<p>It is cheaper to go to EU by plane, get a job for like one month, get proper healthcare and come back ;)

&gt; We were paying $3,657.60 per month for an apartment built in 1908 that got us and our dog severely sick<p>Why did you not move ? $3600 will get you a nice 1bd in San Francisco...

I’ve been paranoid about how bad places in SF can be, and have had some issues with mold occasionally. I have a rent controlled apartment I’ve been in for 8 years, but I’ve done the maintenance myself to improve the place and keep health issues down, which largely boils down to making sure surfaces are sealed and cleanable:<p>Paint the bathroom and use a mold killing primer.<p>Refinished hardwood floors.<p>Wash walls with TSP and paint using an oil-based primer (only one room so far, this was more for lead-based paint sealing)<p>Keep the windows cracked often<p>Clean the bathroom walls with bleach often (several times a year)<p>Clean some other room walls with bleach occasionally (once a year)<p>Clean window sills a few times a year<p>Bought a dehumidifier (I will actually buy another soon)<p>I don’t pay $3k+ a month though. One of the reasons I did all that work is precisely because I have been worried about moving to a new place, spending s fortune, only to find the landlord has never maintained it or knows how terrible it is.

9 months of stolen packages because of a broken doorbell? Here, I&#x27;ll help <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Zeapa-Receivers-Transmitter-Indicator-Waterproof&#x2F;dp&#x2F;B07G9XYF8N" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Zeapa-Receivers-Transmitter-Indicator...</a>

The only thing more toxic than the mold in the apartment are the comments here.<p>Yeah it sounds like Trent could have handled the situation better. It also sounds like he didn&#x27;t and is now pretty screwed. There&#x27;s no need to pile on.<p>In the end I just don&#x27;t think this post belongs on HN but I guess upvotes don&#x27;t lie.

I am no lawyer but it sound like the landlords are liable in a huge way.

This is promoting victim culture. Many red flags and many GoFundMe links.<p>If you can’t afford a lifestyle, move. If you can’t afford the lifestyle, but continue to live there, don’t create a gofundme and craft a sob story highlighting your negligence.<p>On a positive note, you can get a job, graduate high school, and not have kids out of wedlock (dogs are not cheap either). You have all 3 of those going for you. You are tougher than you think.<p>You should reject all of those GoFundMe dollars or have a plan to repay people who donated.

For $3700 a month you can live like a king in a 300m²+ serviced mansion apartment here

&quot;We are both suffering from lingering neurological damage, chronic fungal infections on our skin, GIs, sinuses, and even my ear canals. I’ve even lost some hearing (possibly permanently) in my left ear. Our health and immune systems are still compromised and <i>we need regular access to a low EMF infrared sauna, hyperbaric oxygen chambers, and may even need stem cells to make a full recovery</i> so we can regain our stamina, mental faculties, get married, and hopefully if we still can, have children. The clock is ticking on our recovery so we can try to have children and we simply can’t wait or rely on the possibility of the courts to rule in our favor a year or two from now.&quot;<p>Gonna need to see some peer reviewed medical journal citations regarding effects of mold in humans to take any of these claims seriously.<p>&quot;low EMF infrared sauna, hyperbaric oxygen chambers, stem cells...&quot;<p>Stem cells?!... to treat what exactly?<p>You can&#x27;t exactly stroll into a pharmacy with an Rx for a petri dish of freshly harvested stem cells for self administered intracerebral injection.

As someone planning to move to San Francisco from outside the US soon, is living in SF really as bad as all the blogs make it to be?<p>I chose SF mainly because of its proximity to the outdoors (which I value highly) and relative lack of a concrete jungle feeling compared to NYC<p>EDIT: I have visited SF a few times for work before, and found the homelessness and filth to be confined to a few neighborhoods..

This is the most san francisco thing ever..

The toxicity in the comments section here is revolting. Seriously disappointed in HN here.<p>Anyways back to the post, it would seem like the landlord should be liable for all these damages.<p>San Francisco has a ton of problems that literally just don&#x27;t exist in other first world countries. From overpriced low quality apartments with toxic mold to so much poverty and financial desperation that one&#x27;s grocery delivery gets stolen in 10 minutes, SF has never appealed to me in the slightest bit even as a software engineer.<p>I hope they&#x27;re able to find the help they need, and I appreciate their bravery in speaking out. Don&#x27;t let the oddly defensive anonymous keyboard warriors silence you.

So interesting (and sad). Is there a simple way for people to detect mold in apartments without opening the walls ?

Is GoFundMe really a popular way to pay for healthcare costs in the US?

For $3700 you can have a brand new apartment in the Dogpatch of SF... if I find mold I am not staying, especially if the landlord won&#x27;t fix it.<p>There&#x27;s a lot about this story that just doesn&#x27;t seem to add up... its weird.

Author should have posted a &#x27;Roast me&#x27; article on Reddit. It would&#x27;ve been faster.

I feel stupider for having read this, but I get solace from the idea that fools are giving other fools money. Keeps the fools from bothering me.

I hate to say this seeing what the OP is going through: But this seems largely their responsibility. While the landlord, in theory, should provide these baseline services of cleaning and repair, sometimes you got to take matters with your hands.<p>I have been in this situation before and there were either one of these two solutions: Fix things yourself if you can&#x27;t afford a new place; or find a new place and make sure things are fixed. I prefer finding a new place but sometimes you can&#x27;t afford that and need to take matters with your hands.<p>Where should I start?<p>&gt; It took us over 9 months of emails and complaints to the landlords to finally get the doorbell replaced.<p>Replace the doorbell yourself. Should be easier than the endless contact with your landlord. Should be fixed in 1-2 days. Return the old doorbell when you are leaving the property.<p>&gt; We ran home, but by the time we got there the box was gone.<p>I&#x27;m not really sure. But if I got a package stolen, I&#x27;ll probably stop ordering delivery. I thought delivery is mostly useful for those living in suburbs but if you are in the city, just walk to the nearest store? And that would help preserve the community too, right?<p>&gt; the gold rush mentality of the tech industry, which is mostly a lie.<p>Which sounds like the OP profile? <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;trentlapinski.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;trentlapinski.com&#x2F;</a><p>If you think it&#x27;s B.S. don&#x27;t do it for the sake of money or fitting in. It&#x27;ll just make you miserable.<p>Let&#x27;s look at the photos:<p>&gt; <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;techpost.io&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;mold-document-4.jpg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;techpost.io&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;mold-document-4.jpg</a><p>This is &quot;inside&quot; the house. It&#x27;ll take months for such a mold to develop. They probably have a problem with water but hell sure they have a problem with cleaning. Mold is easy to remove from my experience. Just clean the damn thing.<p>Tip: Paint is cheap. Buy a bucket and paint it yourself.<p>&gt; <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;VCFLDxz" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;VCFLDxz</a><p>I might be wrong here but this dust looks like it built up over a very long period. Looks like the guy and his girlfriend don&#x27;t clean up?<p>&gt; <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;techpost.io&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;mold-document-2.jpg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;techpost.io&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;mold-document-2.jpg</a><p>Jesus. Did it ever come up to your mind that this doesn&#x27;t look healthy? If you didn&#x27;t see it, do you ever change your bed sheets?<p>You are paying $3500&#x2F;month. The repairs could have been done by you in the weekend or the end of the day. Probably costing you less than $1000 for a one year value worth until new repairs.<p>Here is a tip: If your landlord is non-cooperative, tell him you are fixing it yourself but will invoice him later. He might&#x2F;might not accept that but at least you get it fixed.<p>tl;dr: Time to grow up?