Americans are rethinking where they want to live • Hacker News Board

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#151

Post by zeku » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:32 PM UTC

ethbr0 wrote: post #108

Jerrrry wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many like you are buying up lake-front properties in rural places. I recommend it, playing farmer-cowboy-houseboateer in Kentucky/Tennessee is a magnitude cheaper than out west, even if you fail, you are out less money than simply living elsewhere.

Just learn the accent before you move there, and don't tell your neighbors where you're from.

Honestly I'm from rural Tennessee. They aren't worried about you being an "outsider" they're most likely wondering if you're rich so they can overcharge you for work on your property.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#152

Post by lotsofpulp » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:32 PM UTC

selectodude wrote: post #106

Clubber wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With remote work becoming the norm, it is significantly less terrible. I remote 100% and the only time I drive is to visit family and friends. I put around 1500 miles a year on the car.

I don't care how big my house is. The idea of being locked inside like that sounds absolutely awful to me.

I am confused how one could interpret Clubber’s comment as “locked inside”.

Having 24/7 access to their own vehicle sounds like the opposite of being locked inside.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#153

Post by dqpb » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:32 PM UTC

ravitation wrote: post #71

dmode wrote: post #32

This article and similar ones have been written at least a 1000 times for the last decade with a clear political tinge. The poster child is always around how people want to move to Florida and Texas. But somehow it forgets to include Washington and Seattle which has probably seen the biggest tech migration and grown into the second biggest tech hub in the country, far greater than Austin or Miami (hyped up constantly…

> My working hypothesis is that people in general want to live in California like places, if they can afford it. This is my general thinking as well, and it happens to fit with my current life experience. I'm unconvinced that there has been, generally speaking, a fundamental change in the preferred environment people wish to live in; instead it seems more likely that traditionally popular American urban areas are jus…

There is a litany of social and governmental problems plaguing California, but I always stayed because it's the climate that feels the most natural to me. What finally drove me out was the seasonal firestorms and rain of ashes.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#154

Post by systemvoltage » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:33 PM UTC

ketzo wrote: post #128

systemvoltage wrote: post #3

COL/SOL in California is appalling. SOL continues to degrade here to the point where certain parts of Bay Are (Oakland, Hayward) look more like Syria than first world nation. Trash is everywhere, even in nicer neighborhoods. Not a single park here in East Bay without encountering a homeless person. And, then I meet people here that continue to defend 1) Food is amazing 2) SF sucks! Oakland is the best place ever 3) W…

Okay, but you have to understand, when you say things like "Oakland == Syria" it's incredibly hard to take you (and the people who make complaints like this) seriously. I can walk four blocks and buy, like, 19 different lattes. I can walk two blocks and get on a train that takes me to downtown SF in 18 minutes. In a 10-minute drive I can get to literally any cuisine the world has to offer, and it's fucking delicious…

I thought it goes without saying to not take it literally. We don't have bombs falling here. Aesthetically, vast areas do look like Syria. May be not rubble, but very very far away from first-world (Switzerland, Japan).

Food is amazing in a lot of big cities. There is no objective measure. New Yorkers say the same and so do people in Portland.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#155

Post by ethbr0 » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:33 PM UTC

sanderjd wrote: post #75

goostavos wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1. Walkability is the main thing that keeps me in the city. A very large part of me wants to go back to the suburbs, rent a house, have a yard, garage -- space in general. However, every time I actually visit someone in the suburbs, the long drive there, watching things get more and more spread apart until it's just strip malls, grocery stores, and subdivisions, really saps the excitement out of having more space fo…

There's no reason (besides inertia) that we can't have both. This is how thriving smaller downtowns are, single family homes within walking distance to amenities. It's just that all those areas get really expensive because there are so few of them. But there don't have to be so few places like that.

Afaict, the primary driver of non-walkable suburbs is neighborhood layout, which is driven by maximizing house:land ratio.

I live in a suburban master planned development now that oriented itself around the residential-commercial interface.

Having previously lived in an urban core, it's not too much of a downgrade. Sure, you inevitably trade local for chain (boo!), because that's who the anchor tenants originally were. But over the decades the smaller spaces have filled out with organic stuff.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#156

Post by willis936 » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:33 PM UTC

Visit Texas or Florida first. I've lived in Texas and visited Florida many times. I've also visited San Jose. TX and FL are hell compared to CA. I don't care for CA either, but that's because of cultural (coastal) differences. The NorthEast is heaven on Earth.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#157

Post by michaelcampbell » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:33 PM UTC

TurkishPoptart wrote: post #121

And part of it is what public schools are doing to our kids. My 6 year old is required to sit outdoors to eat her lunch in 40ish degree (F) weather, and is not allowed to socialized. My 5 year old has to wear a mask 7 hours a day against an illness that doesn't kill kids. I'm at my wit's end with these school administrators. Hoping to be in Wyoming in 6 months' time.

> that doesn't kill kids

While the numbers are low, it is not 0. This is, sadly, categorically untrue.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#158

Post by long_time_gone » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:34 PM UTC

unexpected wrote: post #84

jacobolus wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suburbs are very unfriendly for the elderly compared to cities. The ideal suburbanite is an upper-middle-class person in their 30s–50s in good health who really likes driving their large car and has hobbies they can do individually from inside their own home (e.g. woodworking, gardening), and doesn’t mind that life is miserable* there for their kids. Everyone else is more or less a second-class citizen. * Edit: subur…

Why do you automatically assume that kids are miserable in the suburbs? My kids rather like running around in our backyard, use our pool everyday in the summer, and having tons of friends on the block. At the same time, I can't imagine that they would enjoy living in 2 bedroom apartment, having no yard to play in, etc. This disdain for suburbs is quite tacky and out of touch. It's okay to think differently. I'm glad…

==This disdain for suburbs is quite tacky and out of touch.==

It's also out of touch to assume every family in "the city" lives in a 2 bedroom apartment with no yard. Lots of families in my city (Chicago) live in 3 story walk-ups, duplex-downs or even single family homes which all have yards.

Perhaps we could all be a little more open-minded about how other people live.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#159

Post by after_care » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:34 PM UTC

55555 wrote: post #79

I’m looking to buy an investment property in the US. Any ideas on how to pick an up-and-coming location where people are going to want to move to?

Future expectations are largely considered in current prices. Some of this will depend on your time horizon. Let’s consider 5+ decades.

1. Look for areas that have a long history of growth. You don’t want to invest in a fad.

2. Look for areas that aren’t too rural. Many of the most rural areas are actually losing population as people leave services like grocery stories and doctors leave and thus drive out more people. Look at rural Kansas as an example of this, places 100 miles away from a city had a population peak with the baby boomers.

3. Look for a diverse local economy. Oil/Factory/Company towns exist and they tend to disappear when fortunes change for the host. You need more than remote workers to run a local economy.

4. Consider climate change. Almost everywhere in the US will be effected for the worst, but Miami is probably more risky than Nashville.

5. Do your homework and invest in what you know. I’ve picked the locations of my property very carefully. I usually can find deals when the market undervalues one particular property short term for various things reasons. Maybe I’m the first solid offer to a motivated seller (this may become more common again soon). Maybe it’s a home that needs some renovations. Maybe it’s in a neighborhood whose gentrification isn’t widely recognized yet.

My niche is residential realestate in a single mid-sized metropolitan area. About 50% of my investment portfolio is real estate. I actively manage these properties, while working full time as an engineer.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#160

Post by UnpossibleJim » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:34 PM UTC

jacobolus wrote: post #67

criddell wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. Different people value different things. You prioritize your kids school and proximity to important destinations and so that neighborhood makes a lot of sense. When your kids move away after college, does that change the calculation much for you? Both of my kids are away at college and so I'm looking at where I live and what kind of life I want and am leaning more and more to…

Suburbs are very unfriendly for the elderly compared to cities. The ideal suburbanite is an upper-middle-class person in their 30s–50s in good health who really likes driving their large car and has hobbies they can do individually from inside their own home (e.g. woodworking, gardening), and doesn’t mind that life is miserable* there for their kids. Everyone else is more or less a second-class citizen. * Edit: subur…

Evidently it's somewhat odd, but the suburb we bought in has an elementary school and middle school built right in the middle of it. It's very walkable for a large portion of the neighborhood (though, it's the outer Seattle area - so the rain does keep many from walking for a large portion of the year, anyway).

I certainly don't think we put our child's mental health second. I'm not sure how to quantify that for a stranger on the internet, nor do I feel the need to... I am in the 30-50 range, though.

The thought of living in Seattle, personally, is abysmal. It smells of piss, all of the time. The homeless have taken over and there are no decent programs to help them out, nor do there seem to be any effective programs on the horizon. City corruption seems to take care of that. Business is taking a nose dive. There are no grocery stores. Food deserts are a very real thing. Rent is unimaginable. You can buy in the suburbs for a fraction of the cost of renting in downtown, easily. People in the area are not the most outgoing in the first place (the colloquialism is the Seattle Freeze), but add into that the normal distance of city dwelling and you are almost robotic to each other. While public transport is lacking (to say the least), it is there and available from these horrible suburbs you have warned us about.

The dream of city living seems, honestly, to be for the VERY rich or the young and naive, to be honest =/

EDIT: spelling