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Americans are rethinking where they want to live

economist.com

481–490 of 645 posts

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#481
post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same people would consume dramatically fewer resources (each, individually) and cause dramatically less environmental destruction if they lived in a smaller personal space with far less bulky/expensive per-person infrastructure and used shared rather than individual services (e.g. transportation).

The problem is solved in my suburbia since the county has resisted any sort of building for the past 50 years. Also, the new suburbia housing I see being built, is much more concentrated. Seems people like houses but don't care as much about big yards.

My suburbia is trending the same way. Almost all new construction is on a lot of 5000 sq ft max. Most is closer to 3000 or multi-family. The trouble is that the old way of zoning still prevails and all of this semi-dense housing sits multiple miles away from the retail and job centers in the town. Everyone still needs one car per working adult, so really nothing of substance has changed.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#482

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 any…

This seems to work well for both sides then.

I wonder if there is a downside to people self-segregating based on belief systems so vehemently because of intolerance?

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#483

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 any…

The science shows driving your kids to upper class resume boosting events is more dangerous to kids than covid

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#484

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…

Florida is pretty terrible. Even if you are totally cool with never doing anything outside, never engaging in culture, and never talking to other people, there is literally no positive side to living in Florida other than the combined lack of winter and access to a beach. Sure, people are more right-wing, but I'd much rather live in Texas than Florida. Even a desert is more interesting than endless strip-malls, and big Texas cities are more cultured, and even more commercially diverse, than any part of Florida. Practically speaking, Florida is also always overpriced, and insurance and hurricanes are annoying (and going to get worse).

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The person who accumulated $1M (above real estate equity) likely did so by having a larger than median income over their working life (and likely has an associated higher expense profile). For me, I think a 4% safe-withdraw-rate feels about right. Some argue for 3.5%. Others for 5 or 6%. Each of those has an impact on the cashflow in retirement, but $1M is probably not going to provide a replacement income for the ty…

You can add a couple grand from Social Security and I guess the assumption is also that your house is paid off. Also, you no longer have a commute or any of the related expenses. Given those three things, you can live pretty comfortably. Not lavishly, but quite comfortably.

If you're trying to retire early Social Security isn't going to kick in for a fair amount of years.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#486

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 any…

If the pandemic has taught me anything it's that the word science doesn't mean the same thing to all people.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#487

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…

+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…

NYC is probably the most walkable city on the planet and yet it still takes about an hour with all stops, waiting, and delays to from north of central park to the financial district.

I went there to get a lot of the experience of what daily life would be like and I seriously don't get it. Paying a car loan and always having a reliable means of transportation beats having ridiculous delays or a train not even showing up so now you gotta hightail it two blocks over to the next station otherwise it's gonna be another 15 minute wait.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#488

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…

What areas don't have political and ideology homogeny anymore? There are two Americas. I would enjoy an area with better tolerance to the other side's ideals, but it seems that's in short supply everywhere. There's a real viciousness for the other side at the national level, but I can't understand it at the individual human being level or the community level. Your neighbor may not share your politics, but it also doe…

I've never had a conservative in my state attempt to dox someone for their job simply because a vegan criticized hunting. Meanwhile the twitter mob that demands peoples jobs, livelihoods, or heads for simply misspeaking.

Ultimately however this isn't a political movement right now. It's a religious movement which many rich people and companies have been enabling. If only we had constitutional rights that superseded what the private sector said...

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#489

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.

> There's no reason (besides inertia) And the fact that re-building cities is really expensive and hard and we're (somewhat) stuck with what we have.

That's inertia.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oversimplified, inflammatory statements like "defund the police" and "ACAB" gain a lot more traction composted to more measured statements like, "We believe in maintaining a secure society for everyone and not just certain preferred communities, which isn't possible with the current policing and social care system. We need massive, decisive, and prompt reform that doesn't involve funneling more and more of the city b…

How exactly is a community going to police itself? Look at the marches(if you can, they're rarely shown on any kind of media) every time a 5 year old is murdered from a stray drive by shooting bullet in chicago...thousands of people in the community come out against it, and...nothing happens.

By your average person being dangerous. Put it this way, would you rather break into a Texas house or a California house?
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