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How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

theatlanticcities.com

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Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#31

Post by kiba »

cageface wrote: post #19
rayiner wrote: post #16

Surveys like these always highlight how Chicago is underrated: New York: $275 Los Angles: $236 Chicago: $112 San Francisco: $459 Washington, DC: $164 Housing here is comparable to places like Richmond or Raleigh, except it's got the public infrastructure of a world-class city with 10 million people. Even if you live in the suburbs, you can take the extensive commuter rail system straight to downtown.

The weather is a deal-breaker for a lot of people, I suspect.

People estimates weather as a major concern in their daily life when considering moving to another city, but that's not really true.

It's like buying a brand new car. Sure it's nice and cool looking, but eventually it becomes just a transportation option to get you from point a to point b. Or it could be like that you're going to buy a house with a pool. However, you'll rarely actually use the swimming pool.

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#33

Post by wallywax »

kiba wrote: post #31
cageface wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The weather is a deal-breaker for a lot of people, I suspect.

People estimates weather as a major concern in their daily life when considering moving to another city, but that's not really true. It's like buying a brand new car. Sure it's nice and cool looking, but eventually it becomes just a transportation option to get you from point a to point b. Or it could be like that you're going to buy a house with a pool. However, you'll rarely actually use the swimming pool.

Speak for yourself. My happiness went up massively when I finally left Seattle for California. And my feeling about that hasn't changed over time.

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#34

Post by Mwyborn »

greghinch wrote: post #30

I really don't understand the obsession with owning a home. So many people I know expend their entire savings on buying a town home or a condo or some other place where you might as well rent an apartment. But the dream of "being a homeowner" is somehow worth it. It's always struck me as something of a con. Any tax benefits you might see are offset by the much higher monthly mortgage payment. * note my experience is…

My reasoning behind wanting to own my own home is that i am tired of renting and having to do exit cleans and paranoid about any damage that may occur. Its also a sense of security for me, to know that i own this piece of earth and this is my base. Although i don't own a home yet but would love to. Another reason is that i could pass on the property as an asset to future generations. But i suppose everyone wants different things in life :)

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#35

Post by richardjordan »

wallywax wrote: post #33
kiba wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People estimates weather as a major concern in their daily life when considering moving to another city, but that's not really true. It's like buying a brand new car. Sure it's nice and cool looking, but eventually it becomes just a transportation option to get you from point a to point b. Or it could be like that you're going to buy a house with a pool. However, you'll rarely actually use the swimming pool.

Speak for yourself. My happiness went up massively when I finally left Seattle for California. And my feeling about that hasn't changed over time.

Yeah, I'm gonna second that. Once I moved from the UK to Silicon Valley - no matter how much I love "back home" and the fact that London truly is one of the great world cities in which to live - there's no way I'm moving back to that weather. It is very hard to leave.

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#36

Post by richardjordan »

mycodebreaks wrote: post #21
wherewhenwhy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or rides BART. Of course, you then have to live near BART (or drive to BART) and then contend with the ZOMG GERMS!!1Eleven!

Or you can ride Caltrain. The downside is the accidents on Caltrain tracks. It will literally take 2 hours to get to Mountain View from SF when there is an accident.

...or when (like the weekend of the first AngelHack event) you are delayed because your train hits a pedestrian (a horrendous sound by the way - you know exactly what's just happened immediately) then the replacement train is delayed because the next train in front hit a second pedestrian. They need to sort out the grade separation, it's just ridiculous, not to mention tragic.

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#37

Post by cageface »

kiba wrote: post #31
cageface wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The weather is a deal-breaker for a lot of people, I suspect.

People estimates weather as a major concern in their daily life when considering moving to another city, but that's not really true. It's like buying a brand new car. Sure it's nice and cool looking, but eventually it becomes just a transportation option to get you from point a to point b. Or it could be like that you're going to buy a house with a pool. However, you'll rarely actually use the swimming pool.

After a decade of scraping ice off my windshield in the dark in the morning California looked like nirvana. It would take a lot to get me to move back to a city with a real winter again.

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#38

Post by rayiner »

heretohelp wrote: post #20
rayiner wrote: post #16

Surveys like these always highlight how Chicago is underrated: New York: $275 Los Angles: $236 Chicago: $112 San Francisco: $459 Washington, DC: $164 Housing here is comparable to places like Richmond or Raleigh, except it's got the public infrastructure of a world-class city with 10 million people. Even if you live in the suburbs, you can take the extensive commuter rail system straight to downtown.

I ride a motorcycle year-round...not happening.

I wear a suit to work year-around... DC is miserable for about half the year. :)

Re: How Long Will You Need to Save to Buy a Home In Your City?

#40

Post by [deleted] »

rayiner wrote: post #16

Surveys like these always highlight how Chicago is underrated: New York: $275 Los Angles: $236 Chicago: $112 San Francisco: $459 Washington, DC: $164 Housing here is comparable to places like Richmond or Raleigh, except it's got the public infrastructure of a world-class city with 10 million people. Even if you live in the suburbs, you can take the extensive commuter rail system straight to downtown.

[deleted]
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