Housing price comparison

[Ben]

Lived in both types of places.  Bfe has much to recommend it. As a young man I thought I should hustle get ahead and then bail out for the better life. After some decades I had the epiphany.  Why not spend those decades in the better life. Did I really need that many motorcycles/cars/flat screens? As my awareness that my time is finite grew I decided not to waste anymore. The higher cost of living in greater opportunity largely offset the larger salary.  With kids the choice became more imperative.  Haven't regretted it. If I had a do over I would bail out earlier

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I like the sound of that. :)

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I guess it all depends on how you define the good life.  Earning $200k is great, but not if it means you have to spend your life trying to pay off $800k in mortgage debt.

Besides, cities are hotbeds of hipster douchebaggery and overbearing government.  That alone should be enough to drive sane people into the country.  

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I like the sound of that. :)

In my case I was very unsure about leaving a field I had 29 years in. But on the train ride home after I gave them notice I felt at peace.  I don't think I realized how stressful the job and commute were.  I was used to it.  It was my normal. I never knew any other way. I can't say I'd never go back but I can say I have turned down some very financially attractive offers.  In my case being deeply involved in raising my kids has been great. And so has some other volunteer stuff I have time for now.

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[cassandra and sara's daddy]

If I was in your shoes I'd travel till I found a place that "felt right" then settle in

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[Balog]

Wow, the amount of smug asshattery in this thread is amazing. "If you choose to live in a city with a population larger than the one I do, you're a shallow materialistic narcissist who is insane."

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

The feeling is mutual.  You won't make much headway with country folks by telling them they're poor bumpkins with no career prospects. 

Cheers!   

[Ben]

If I was in your shoes I'd travel till I found a place that "felt right" then settle in

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This is basically my plan. One of the things I like about getting older is that I've learned patience. I've spent a couple of years looking,  and if I find something tomorrow, or if it takes a couple years more, I'm not worried about it. As much as it puts a little stress on me, the elder care issues also allow me a bit of time to bounce around. Luckily I have a sister, so we can take turns with the folks, which can allow me to disappear for a month at a time if I want, for fishing and hunting (both game and property).

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Balog
Yet again it appears your experience differs from mine. I tried both life paths, actually more than just 2, and the place I am today was bought and paid for with blood , tears and that most precious currency time. I wasn't seeing this thread as attacking anyone who choses differently but as a celebration if Bens stepping on in his life and other folks at or past that stage of their lives congratulating him and sharing their experiences with him. The best thing age brought me was the shocking realization that someone else eith a different opinion was not attacking or endangering mine. And even more I learned that if I started feeling that way perhaps I needed to look at me and my choices as opposed to getting sensitive about feeling threatened.

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[cassandra and sara's daddy]

This is basically my plan. One of the things I like about getting older is that I've learned patience. I've spent a couple of years looking,  and if I find something tomorrow, or if it takes a couple years more, I'm not worried about it. As much as it puts a little stress on me, the elder care issues also allow me a bit of time to bounce around. Luckily I have a sister, so we can take turns with the folks, which can allow me to disappear for a month at a time if I want, for fishing and hunting (both game and property).

Isn't it peculiar that in our later years as time becomes shorter we learn patience? And as younger folks we seem driven, everything is right now. It should be the other way around.

If you're ever in this neck of the woods we don't lock the door. Heck we even let Jocassee in.

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[Balog]

The feeling is mutual.  You won't make much headway with country folks by telling them they're poor bumpkins with no career prospects. 

Cheers!   

No one said that except in your imagination sweety. I pointed out the economic fact that areas with significantly lower cost of living tend to have fewer jobs available, which pay less money. Or extremely long commutes to get to the hated city, either way. Do you disagree with that? Of course not, it's factually correct. So instead you imagine motives and feelings that I do not possess, and ascribe them to me in an attempt to delegitimize my choice. It's the rural equivalent of "anyone who dislikes Obama is racist."

My point was not that rural living is untenable or a bad choice, merely that it is not the anodyne ya'll are making it out to be. It is a choice, with benefits and tradeoffs like any other. But folks keep making arrogant, dismissive BS posts like the following:

Kind of depends on what you want out of life.
If climbing the corporate ladder, keeping up with the Jonse's, having a huge mortgage and living with in spitting distant of a million or more people, a staggering number of which are dumber than dirt, is your cup of tea then have at it.

I guess it all depends on how you define the good life.  Earning $200k is great, but not if it means you have to spend your life trying to pay off $800k in mortgage debt.

Besides, cities are hotbeds of hipster douchebaggery and overbearing government.  That alone should be enough to drive sane people into the country.

There are many factors that play into where someone chooses to live, urban/suburban/rural. Making a different choice than you does not mean that someone is a greedy, covetous, materialist on an insane bid to keep up with the Jones'.

Balog
Yet again it appears your experience differs from mine. I tried both life paths, actually more than just 2, and the place I am today was bought and paid for with blood , tears and that most precious currency time. I wasn't seeing this thread as attacking anyone who choses differently but as a celebration if Bens stepping on in his life and other folks at or past that stage of their lives congratulating him and sharing their experiences with him. The best thing age brought me was the shocking realization that someone else eith a different opinion was not attacking or endangering mine. And even more I learned that if I started feeling that way perhaps I needed to look at me and my choices as opposed to getting sensitive about feeling threatened.

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Yes, pointing out when others are making ignorant, insulting stereotypes about how I live my life is getting sensitive about feeling threatened. You've got me.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Hey, I'm not looking for a pissing contest.  Just bemused that you're whining about the responses you got.  After all, you did set the tone early in the thread with a snarky dig at midwestern folk having poor job prospects.

As for cost-of-living vs salaries, in my experience that ratio tips towards small midwestern or southern towns.  Salaries are lower than in the big magalopolis, but cost of living is even lower still.  Housing is the big killer in the major cities.  Housing prices climb much faster than salaries, or so it seems to me.  YMMV.  

Live where you want.  I care not, so long as you aren't down on the rest of us for choosing different.

[charby]

In Pig's Knuckle, Iowa an Agronomist should start out at $50k right out of college (BS degree).

[Sawdust]

I yearn for BFE.

I've made it clear to Mrs. Sawdust that when the kids ship off to college, the search begins.

The goal is to find some acreage in a sparsely-populated area, but within a few hours of civilization.

Like what Charby describes.

Sawdust

[charby]

I yearn for BFE.

I've made it clear to Mrs. Sawdust that when the kids ship off to college, the search begins.

The goal is to find some acreage in a sparsely-populated area, but within a few hours of civilization.

Like what Charby describes.

Sawdust

I don't live in a sparsely-populated area.

[Balog]

Hey, I'm not looking for a pissing contest.  Just bemused that you're whining about the responses you got.  After all, you did set the tone early in the thread with a snarky dig about country folk having poor job prospects.

As for cost-of-living vs salaries, in my experience that ratio tips towards small midwestern or southern towns.  Salaries are lower than in the big magalopolis, but cost of living is even lower still.  Housing is the big killer in the major cities.  Housing prices climb much faster than salaries.  YMMV.  

Live where you want.  I care not, so long as you aren't down on the rest of us for choosing different.

The bold part above is where your imagination is coming into play. Let's review the footage:

Balog: here's a housing price comparison, Seattle is high.
Kingcreek: you should come to my small midwest town where houses sell for $35k.
Balog: what kind of local economy does a place with $35k houses have? Most likely not a good one.

That's not a snarky dig implying that anyone living in a small town has no career prospects. It's just an observation on the factual relationship between extremely low local CoL and extremely low local job prospects and salary.

FTR, I don't live in a large city. I live in an unincorporated area hard up on a city of 33-35k or so. It's a nice balance for me. Plenty of places to get high quality groceries/produce/seafood/beer around without long drives for my wife, excellent medical care for the kids (again without a long drive), and I make enough money to afford a nice albeit smallish house with a yard. Beyond that however is opportunity in a bad situation. There are enough companies that need people in my field that if I lost my job today, I could probably be starting at a new place with the same or better pay on Monday. There are a lot of places with one primary employer in a given career field, and losing your job there means significant life change either via relocating for work, switching career paths, or having an extremely long commute.

I don't care where anyone lives, and I don't think one choice is superior to another. It does annoy me when people disparage tens of millions of good honest hard working people because they live in a place with different population density.

[Sawdust]

I don't live in a sparsely-populated area.

My point of comparison with your situation is city access within a few hours.

Sawdust

[Ben]

I don't live in a sparsely-populated area.

Heh heh, you do compared to where Sawdust and me live. 

[charby]

My point of comparison with your situation is city access within a few hours.

Sawdust

Gotcha. Interestingly I can be in a sparsely populate area (<2 people sq mile> in less than 15 minutes.

[Balog]

Heh heh, you do compared to where Sawdust and me live. 

But it's the big city compared to Tallpine.  

[charby]

Heh heh, you do compared to where Sawdust and me live. 

Very true.

[French G.]

Real Estate is high in my corner of BFE because ZOMG scenery! I accidentally discovered a truth of local real estate while house shopping though and the RE agents weren't really clued in on it. Properties in the two small towns here stay on market longer and get beat on the price harder. Everyone not from here is trying to get away from it all ^tm so the eschew town living and buy a breezy ridgeline somewhere. 200 miles down the road near one of my dad's places I can buy lots of decent condition 2BR brick homes for 25K a pop, no market after the furniture industry packed up and hopped the slow boat to China.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I don't live in a sparsely-populated area.

me either  i live in a sparseley populated neighborhood with some easements and natural features that keep it that way. have a good hospital 20 mins away  3 mins by chopper. 2 others within 1/2 hour and can be in sodom on the potomac in a lil over an hour if the traffic gods smile on me

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

The bold part above is where your imagination is coming into play. Let's review the footage:

Balog: here's a housing price comparison, Seattle is high.
Kingcreek: you should come to my small midwest town where houses sell for $35k.
Balog: what kind of local economy does a place with $35k houses have? Most likely not a good one.

If that's what you really meant,then it's all good.  What you actually wrote comes off as flippant and dismissive, and I reacted accordingly.  Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I still say that hipsters and big government are reason enough to flee the big cities.  

You could probably gauge the quality of life in an area by the ration of Priuses to pickup trucks.

[mtnbkr]

Real Estate is high in my corner of BFE because ZOMG scenery! I accidentally discovered a truth of local real estate while house shopping though and the RE agents weren't really clued in on it. Properties in the two small towns here stay on market longer and get beat on the price harder. Everyone not from here is trying to get away from it all ^tm so the eschew town living and buy a breezy ridgeline somewhere. 200 miles down the road near one of my dad's places I can buy lots of decent condition 2BR brick homes for 25K a pop, no market after the furniture industry packed up and hopped the slow boat to China.

Martinsville or Danville?

Chris