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

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#471

Post by fennecfoxen » Tue, Dec 14, 2021, 2:34 AM UTC

more_corn wrote: post #317

ohples wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its too bad we can't build new places like this, and make this a more affordable option for people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWsGBRdK2N0

It’s funny. Every human could tell you the things that make a place pleasant. (Walkability, cute shops and cafes, green space) And yet we have people who’s whole job is “planning” and we get spaces that are aggressively unpleasant. No sidewalks let alone dedicated waking paths. Strip malls everywhere. It baffles me.

> And yet we have people who’s whole job is “planning” and we get spaces that are aggressively unpleasant.

These things are related. The person who's job is "planning," the one who demands that your store be surrounded by a sprawling parking lot, is neither the person who would build the store, nor shop there.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#472

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Dec 14, 2021, 2:45 AM UTC

mwattsun wrote: post #197

foofoo4u wrote: post #91

I sure am. I live in San Jose (which resides in the Bay Area). Here’s why I am leaving. - $2,700 per month for a 500 sq/ft apartment. - Homeless people everywhere the moment I step foot out of my apartment. - Smells like urine on many sidewalks. - Literally half of the buildings are vacant or abandoned (in downtown). - Human feces on sidewalks and entrance to buildings. - Political and ideological homogeny. Keep your…

It's weird how subjective experience can be so different. I live in East San Jose a mile from downtown. I'm very happy with it. I love riding my electric bike around town and my only complaint is that for a supposedly high tech city the traffics lights are not even close to being syncrhonized. I can't related to most of your other complaints. Your other complaints are complaints you often hear from conservatives abou…

[deleted]

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

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Post by brewdad » Tue, Dec 14, 2021, 2:47 AM UTC

dionidium wrote: post #287

sanderjd wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My wife and I currently live in Providence, RI (by way of NYC). We highly value walkability, but feel like we've aged out of tolerating some other big-city "annoyances." When Americans think of "suburbs" they think of culs-de-sac and arterials, but it doesn't have to be that way. New England is dotted with "small towns" that are basically just suburbs of Providence and/or Boston that are laid out on a grid -- with a…

I'm willing to bet most, if not all, of those wonderful suburbs were built before WW2 and really before the car itself. Aside from a literal handful of experiments, we haven't built places like that in a long time here in the US.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

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Post by 55555 » Tue, Dec 14, 2021, 2:48 AM UTC

after_care wrote: post #159

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…

Thanks, you’re the man!

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#475

Post by 55555 » Tue, Dec 14, 2021, 2:48 AM UTC

rubylark wrote: post #355

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?

A lot of US cities publish their urban development plans. Pick a state and look up their major cities' 2040 plans and see if they are planning extensive developments in the area your interested in buying. Sometimes the plans are overoptimistic or pessimistic but usually they generally give you an idea if the city itself thinks it will grow quickly or slowly.

Much appreciated.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#476

Post by dsizzle » Tue, Dec 14, 2021, 2:49 AM UTC

kerbs wrote: post #25

larrymyers wrote: post #10

My family and I decided to stay on the north side of Chicago, a very high cost of living location, despite no longer needing to head downtown every day for work. Why not move outside of Chicago where our cost living would be substantially lower? * We wanted to keep our kids in the same school, which is walking distance. * We like being walking distance to the grocery store, doctor's offices, etc. * Our kids can walk…

Being on the north side of Chicago, you're probably already in one of the "move-to" and not the "move-away" from areas. It's expensive, but let's be serious it's nothing compared to the coast – with a good quality of life (as the reasons you stated).

By "move-to", not sure if you mean Chicago overall, or the north side in particular, but if the former Chicago is growing slower than the national average. 2% last decade (vs 8% nationally) https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/8/12/22622062/chicago-cens...

I had the impression Chicago was actually losing people, but that info was old, from the previous decade where it lost 7%.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

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Post by hedora » Tue, Dec 14, 2021, 2:56 AM UTC

hagbard_c wrote: post #230

ethbr0 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Also don't vote for the policies which made you pick up your bags and leave the place you came from or your new place of residence will eventually start to look like the one you left.

The most destructive California laws I’ve seen (prop 13, disbanding mental health care for homeless, etc) were pushed through by conservatives long ago. (For example, Ronald Regan made it essentially impossible for mentally ill homeless to get health care, regardless of public funding or even their own personal wealth.)

Silicon Valley types haven’t been in the state long enough to have voted for those polices, and are (in my experience) strongly against them.

There is some really dumb stuff happening now in the name of progressives (like a state mandate that all cities reduce the number of commuter miles the road infrastructure supports), but they’re thinly-veiled NIMBY regulations that prop up property values for our landed gentry.

Silicon Valley types leaving the state typically don’t hold their dynastic wealth by hoarding California housing.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#478

Post by dboreham » Tue, Dec 14, 2021, 2:57 AM UTC

mypalmike wrote: post #188

politelemon wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The driving aspect is the main thing that kills any daydreaming I do about moving to the Scottish Highlands. It doesn't stop the daydreaming, however.

Inverness might be a reasonable middle ground between the remoteness of the Highlands and the walkability of a city.

Also Perth

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

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Post by yalogin » Tue, Dec 14, 2021, 3:04 AM UTC

I was giving it some due until I saw this --

> It’s the fact that they can live their daily life and send kids to school with minimal restrictions.

I completely disagree with this. This is the number one reason why I will not move away from a science believing/respecting area. I don't want the headache of people with lack of basic common sense on top of everything life throws at you. If the pandemic has taught us anything trusting science is amazing and that many people are willing to blatantly abuse it.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#480

Post by ozzythecat » Tue, Dec 14, 2021, 3:05 AM UTC

superfamicom wrote: post #459

I have a home in Nashville, Tennessee but chose to move to Seattle, Washington for work (software engineering), but stay here for the access to everyday life improvements- restaurant variety, activities, etc. Nashville has grown a lot, but you are still car dependent and the Conservative values run deep there, though those folks are being displaced as the housing market continues to boom which makes them more hostile…

Huh, interesting. I’m visiting Nashville from Seattle. There’s definitely not as much Asian/Fusion food or Indian food in Nashville, but overall there are tons more restaurants - just not Pho or chicken tikka masala everywhere.

I’ve spent some time in Nashville and visited Brentwood, Franklin, Nolensville, and further east towards Murfreesboro and Smyrna. In a week, I felt like there’s a restaurant metric you’d measure in some metric like restaurants per square mile. There’s just food everywhere, and even on a Monday night, restaurants are packed.

No disagreement at all obviously on the politics. IMO, Seattle is too liberal for me (you committed a crime? It’s okay. You’re actually the victim) while in TN they’re maybe an extreme on the other end. I will say though that politics aside, people in and around the Nashville are are waaayyyy more friendly. It’s not even a comparison.

I do see tons and tons of new construction in Nashville and surrounding areas. On the other hand, the liberal, equal rights and affordable housing/healthcare/childcare crowd is drowning in NIMBYism.