Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 06/08/2026That crooked cabinet handle bothers the s*** out of me Just straighten it before taking the listing photos! 1100
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 21/07/2026Another *crazy* 2BR apartment floorplan … where neither the Living nor the 2nd Bedroom have a direct window And at 1400sf, it’s bigger than a Starter Home. And rent is $3200/month AND all but 1 of these layouts has leased 451
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 18/07/2026At least it would’ve been consistent with the theme 020
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 17/07/2026hooooooo boy, this is a **tough** floorplan For combination of silly room names "Mingle" and "Stir" to a truly ludicrous bathroom layout ... this one has it all 390
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 14/04/2026I love townhouses. They're a housing type that has filled the neighborhoods of American cities around in and around downtowns for centuries Smaller, family oriented housing … so the young people who move in to the City for opportunity can have kids and STAY www.thesisdriven.com/letters/the-...thesisdriven.comThe Return of the TownhouseAn endangered housing typology is en vogue once more 1171
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 25/03/2026Since the Road to Housing ban specifically excludes triplexes … the funniest take is that Warren is actually just trying to promulgate the Boston Triple-decker as the dominant BTR form across the US Imagine if this is how every new suburban community looked! 2150
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 23/02/2026Now **that's** a strange floorplan 1BR/1BA, 475sf, $2720/month, Washington DC 510
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 14/02/2026Here's the full episode (I really need to learn to look into the camera) www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5eY...youtube.comCities Are Great! But You Can't Afford It Anymore | Reasonably OptimisticYouTube video by Reasonably Optimistic 020
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 14/02/2026I did a podcast with the Washington Post last week: How cities have become places of demographic churn (young people move in but leave when they have kids) ... and how my company is building housing to fix that. 141
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 28/01/2026The 3-Story Rowhouse is *THE* American prototype … the perfect starter home 2293
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 15/01/2026I'm willing to engage in back and forth on ideas about how to make cities better, housing for families, parking, mixed-use, regulations, etc here on bluesky I will pass on political ones with you, other than perhaps in person And I'd ask that you stop, unless it's about above list 110
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 15/01/2026If we ever meet again in person and there's a reasonable amount of time, I'd be fine with that. But this is obviously not the forum or medium for a conversation like that And you can hang out in the construction trailer. You'll meet lots of people with WILD range of beliefs 100
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 15/01/2026And I’m already working with plenty of people, including quite prominent ones, on the other side from me, who are also pragmatic and just want to build good things and make cities better If thats not your personal position … then okay. Not everyone needs to. 100
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 15/01/2026Who people choose to personally support politically is ~irrelevant to me when it comes to building housing for families I’ll talk to, hire or partner with basically anyone … if we align on the vision for the City of more kids and families 100
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 14/01/2026In sports when it’s more individual, the motivations by a good coach are often more tailored Some people (like me) respond to a good kick in the pants, others need more reassurance Individual sales folks have different styles too, but at the CORP level its v aggressive Like Glengarry Glenn Ross 010
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 14/01/2026No, it’s just that not all people are cut out for commission based sales It’s a strange part of the business and you need folks who respond to that kind of motivation for broad sales teams. 110
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 14/01/2026And that's what we are doing even in cities & with politicians who do not agree with me politically and yet are ~aware of them But it frankly doesn't ever come up bc in my professional experience ... people who want to get stuff built view "housing for families" as a non-partisan issue 110
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 14/01/2026Leaving my personal religion aside ... I'm happy to work with people who did not vote for this president. In fact many of my investors and several of my employees do not My focus is on building great product for families in the City so they can have kids and stay. 100
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 07/01/2026This is Kendall Square, so it needs to be a 2BR or else a VERY expensive 1BR 100
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 06/01/2026I really like this 2BR/1BA floorplan in Kendall Square, Boston 720 square feet ... and deals with a narrow acute corner angle really well Developers don't really building 2BR/1BAs anymore 1111
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 16/12/2025The City that I want to see is like this one described in a bible verse: "Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets (of Jerusalem), each with staff in hand because of great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets." 250
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 16/12/2025A City built for families is one when you *could* stay. And even a 24 year who has no interest in marriage or kids can appreciate they don't want to HAVE to move out if they ever did want to make those entirely natural decisions. And also, a City with kids is just a more beautiful place. 160
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 16/12/2025For me, that’s a place where any young person can move to the city start their career and CAN have a first child … and after that, it who knows. The should ought to be multi-generational. It's better that way. Even for people who never end up having children, whether by choice or circumstances. 120
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 16/12/2025It is ironic that many of the people who issue polemics about cities, either got their education or their career starts in a major city. Either way, I think that it is incumbent on those who love Cities to paint a vision for what they want the city to be. 120
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 16/12/2025Recently, much has been made by people, to write off cities. Either just to say that country or suburbs are just "better" or the cities are too far gone. I reject both of those ideas Cities are the centers, not just of economic growth in this country, but also of social and cultural influence 220
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 16/12/2025Really enjoyed this podcast conversation with Aaron Renn. Any critiques I have of The City, are only because I want them to be great. I think in order to be truly great, they have to designed FOR families. So that young people can have kids and stay. open.spotify.com/episode/7fUP... 230
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 13/12/2025I feel the same. Beauty matters … and it’s not unreasonable for somebody to care that the building that goes next to them is pretty or ugly 020
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 13/12/2025I think granular/individual school enrollment data would be a cool way to track "Do Studios lead to an increase in kids in immediate neighborhood?" I have apartment building data (year, floorplans, address, rent) and could overlay that - but thats a lot of work and I have a lot house chores today! 100
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 13/12/2025I think 60+ was interesting because it stayed constant (as a %) I had thought there might be a bunch of wealthier boomers moving in, since I knew a bunch, anecdotally, who did ... but seems it didn't work out that way. Or else it replaced displacement of other older folks 100
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 13/12/2025But here's the link to the raw data so you can query yourself if you want seer.cancer.gov/popdata/down...seer.cancer.govDownload U.S. Population Data - SEER Population DataU.S. county-level population data files for all states combined or by state, for 19 age groups or single-year age groups, by race. 100
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 13/12/2025So I pulled the SEER/NCI population numbers for DC every year back to 1990 (like your chart). I broke them into age cohorts and looked at changes in % over time. These were the ones I found most interesting/relevant: <5 5-12, 13-17 28-42 60+ 100
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 12/12/2025Key to affordable "family friendly" design is reducing ratio of bathrooms to bedrooms. Therefore, you want a bathroom serve mulitple ppl at same time For my projects (3-story rowhomes) where 2 bedrooms share a bathroom on a floor ... one kid can use the sink or shower while other uses the toilet 131
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 12/12/2025Wow. Here's an awesome (and efficient) bathroom layout with the separate toilet closet condition ... which I really like (don't need to have the window in the toilet room) 2130
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 12/12/2025Also, if people think new Studios downtown "free up" units for families because it lowers metro rents ... it would similarly support the hypothesis that building SFH in greenfield would open up and lower prices of downtown Studios & 1BRs Which we have certainly seen to be true in the Austin METRO 000
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 12/12/2025I'm fully open to being convinced that Studio apartments "free up" units in their immediate proximity. But that just hasn't been shown ... yet. And to me (though this is entirely my own opinion/speculation) increase in fertility is increased through immediate proximity to children. Not metro. 100
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 12/12/2025The only evidence I've seen shows that in the METRO units are "freed up" ... and that also makes anecdotal sense. Young people who otherwise would have lived in VA or MD move downtown 100
Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 12/12/2025New construction studios, and especially 1BRs, have significantly higher rents than a rowhouse split multiple ways in capitol hill Obviously the overall market rents are marginally lower than they otherwise would have been if they had never been built ... but it's not quite the SAME market 100
