391–400 of 582 posts
You should consider Puerto Rico. The entire island has a small town feel, but the west coast is mostly what you describe. There's also great weather and tax benefits.
They lost 100% of their power network to Maria. Hurricanes are becoming more common and higher intensity. Humanity's days in the Caribbean are numbered.
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"friendly people" but also "hateful racist trumpers"? Well which is it?
> "friendly people" but also "hateful racist trumpers"? Well which is it? Another native Carolinian chiming in here (from NC, but similar). These people are friendly if you "pass" as one of them. Be white, wear a trucker cap, don't dress up too fancy, use a southern accent (or at least, don't talk too pretty), don't be gay, don't say a damn thing about politics or religion. Don't drive a Prius or something. You're go…
We recently did the same, though in our case opportunity drove our decision and not careful consideration. We got quite lucky under the circumstances. My observation, fwiw, is that the American small town, self-sufficient and independent from a neighboring city, is a dying breed. Not all small towns will die the same way or on the same schedule. But here are some things to think about. - Is there a tourist draw? Do s…
> My observation, fwiw, is that the American small town, self-sufficient and independent from a neighboring city, is a dying breed. Some are, some aren't. I'm more than willing to share my story but I did my research before I left Austin for the Hill Country and couldn't be happier.
Honestly -- I think you will be disappointed. The market wrecked everyone who was trying to buy. I live in a town of 70k and I got priced out of my own neighborhood -- and I make good money. Just because it is a small town, doesn't mean you are going to get bottom of the barrel prices. For example, a 3000sqft home in my area goes for $515k and you have to bring extra money to closing to be even competitive. The areas…
Where are you from that 70k is a small town?
I don't know about the culture for this in the US but I live far from any actual shop in the swiss Alps and there are many fridges around that sell all the necessaries for everyday life (milk, cheese, ..). Everything else I order from a farmer shop/supermarket online. There are restaurants and bars sure, I would ask myself if you actually need 'shopping' Personally I highly prefer to buy only HQ products which I can…
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>I ended up buying about 75 more properties here You have the kind of money to casually buy up all this real estate, but you still went bargain-hunting for a warehouse? This reads like some kind of LARP or joke.
I bought the warehouse before I really had the money to do it. I was scraping by on ramen for a while. Buying the others was honestly WAY, WAY, WAY cheaper than you'd expect. I almost didn't feel like I had a choice it was so cheap. Spent about $130k at a tax auction to get them all. It almost feels like land is the only thing they can't steal around here.
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Values - status is built on the east coast by affiliation—to family, to schools and universities, to political groups, to elite employers. Status is built on the west coast in an anti-establishment way, mostly prizing creativity and individualism. (Though, the lefties of them would consider that a dirty word. If you call them "indie" it's a compliment, though.) That applies to lots of art and music, but I suspect the…
I totally disagree on your assessment of East coast culture, unless you are only spending time in basically wealthy, old money, blue blood type places. Which considering you mention polo and rowing, that is probably the case. The working class parts and middle class people in the East Coast don't name drop, and believe in more of having made it themselves.
I also don't mean to say there's some rank list of better and worse cultures. I've definitely been places I wouldn't want to go back to (howdy, west Texas) but that's subjective, to a point at least.
Totally fair about the selection for east coast blue bloods, though. Here's my subjectivity: I left my home in Idaho at age 15 and went to one of New England's oldest boarding schools. (and I've been hopscotching these regional lines ever since.) I've spent other time on the east coast, too, but that definitely formed my early notions of it.
I spent a month driving around the country last year. Be warned that entire counties have been decimated by meth and fentanyl. Low income doesn't always translate to violent crime and theft, but meth absolutely does. When looking at crime maps, always filter by overdose response and not posession arrests. https://money.cnn.com/interactive/news/meth-lab-map/ Absolutely stay away from Tulsa, OK. Greenville, SC is very…
The entire town felt propped up by the existence of a single military base.