Is suburban living considered a failure?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What a weird question. If I had more money, I’d live by Bethesda, not Rockville. I wouldn’t live in DC proper. I enjoy not getting shot or carjacked

Because of the fentanyl epidemic, most suburban areas are far more dangerous than urban areas.

Ever seen an open air drug market in the suburbs?

Weird that you think fentanyl is a suburban phenomenon.

I have. Go to your nearest Walmart or Target parking lot, wait about 15 minutes, you WILL see hand-to-hand sales. It's not as bad as rural areas, but it is bad. It's an epidemic that has no geographic boundary, but opiods reversed the traditional drug trends. It's messed up.

+1 there are absolutely suburbs with a lot more criminal activity than my frankly sleepy DC neighborhood. I go to a Target out in the burbs about once a month because there is nothing like that near my neighborhood in DC, and in the last few years it's gone continuously downhill and become quite seedy while my DC neighborhood is mostly high SES with booing retail and restaurants and only gets better.

It's really kind of a case by case situation.

Uh huh. You live in a very very rich area of DC. NW somewhere? Congratulations on the brag.

This is hardly representative and certainly not representative of most people who live in DC.

So, it's not the city is the problem, it's your financial inability to live here.

Oh, yes, I'm one of the poor city folk who can't afford your fancy real estate.

..and your fancy real estate is representative of all of DC including all of Northeast and EOTR, right??????

If you moved to the suburbs because you can't afford the city, it sounds like failure and not *checks notes* everything being totally awesome.

To be clear, we afforded the city and lived here 14 years but intentionally took on a substantially higher mortgage payment with current rates on a SFH outside the city for a better lifestyle.

*rolling eyes* am I supposed to be impressed?

Doubt it, it's pretty clear you earn more, have much more expensive real estate and look down your nose on the poors and peons that can't afford your NW home. It's pretty clear you view anyone happier in the burbs as a sad sap who is beneath you.

So, wait, is real estate in the burbs nicer and more expensive, or is DC nicer and more expensive. I can't keep up with you guys.

Try this: if you're actually happy and not at all concerned that people think you're a total failure for settling for your tickytack tract housing in the burbs, than own it and move along.

Real estate in the burbs is nicer and less expensive per sq foot generally speaking, yes.

Why don't you admit where you live so we can discuss whether it truly represents all of DC and "city living"

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What a weird question. If I had more money, I’d live by Bethesda, not Rockville. I wouldn’t live in DC proper. I enjoy not getting shot or carjacked

Because of the fentanyl epidemic, most suburban areas are far more dangerous than urban areas.

Ever seen an open air drug market in the suburbs?

Weird that you think fentanyl is a suburban phenomenon.

I have. Go to your nearest Walmart or Target parking lot, wait about 15 minutes, you WILL see hand-to-hand sales. It's not as bad as rural areas, but it is bad. It's an epidemic that has no geographic boundary, but opiods reversed the traditional drug trends. It's messed up.

+1 there are absolutely suburbs with a lot more criminal activity than my frankly sleepy DC neighborhood. I go to a Target out in the burbs about once a month because there is nothing like that near my neighborhood in DC, and in the last few years it's gone continuously downhill and become quite seedy while my DC neighborhood is mostly high SES with booing retail and restaurants and only gets better.

It's really kind of a case by case situation.

Uh huh. You live in a very very rich area of DC. NW somewhere? Congratulations on the brag.

This is hardly representative and certainly not representative of most people who live in DC.

So, it's not the city is the problem, it's your financial inability to live here.

Oh, yes, I'm one of the poor city folk who can't afford your fancy real estate.

..and your fancy real estate is representative of all of DC including all of Northeast and EOTR, right??????

If you moved to the suburbs because you can't afford the city, it sounds like failure and not *checks notes* everything being totally awesome.

To be clear, we afforded the city and lived here 14 years but intentionally took on a substantially higher mortgage payment with current rates on a SFH outside the city for a better lifestyle.

*rolling eyes* am I supposed to be impressed?

Doubt it, it's pretty clear you earn more, have much more expensive real estate and look down your nose on the poors and peons that can't afford your NW home. It's pretty clear you view anyone happier in the burbs as a sad sap who is beneath you.

So, wait, is real estate in the burbs nicer and more expensive, or is DC nicer and more expensive. I can't keep up with you guys.

Try this: if you're actually happy and not at all concerned that people think you're a total failure for settling for your tickytack tract housing in the burbs, than own it and move along.

Real estate in the burbs is nicer and less expensive per sq foot generally speaking, yes.

Why don't you admit where you live so we can discuss whether it truly represents all of DC and "city living"

Maybe I live in Arlington. It's much more urban than most of DC.

No, it's really not frankly

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What a weird question. If I had more money, I’d live by Bethesda, not Rockville. I wouldn’t live in DC proper. I enjoy not getting shot or carjacked

Because of the fentanyl epidemic, most suburban areas are far more dangerous than urban areas.

Ever seen an open air drug market in the suburbs?

Weird that you think fentanyl is a suburban phenomenon.

I have. Go to your nearest Walmart or Target parking lot, wait about 15 minutes, you WILL see hand-to-hand sales. It's not as bad as rural areas, but it is bad. It's an epidemic that has no geographic boundary, but opiods reversed the traditional drug trends. It's messed up.

+1 there are absolutely suburbs with a lot more criminal activity than my frankly sleepy DC neighborhood. I go to a Target out in the burbs about once a month because there is nothing like that near my neighborhood in DC, and in the last few years it's gone continuously downhill and become quite seedy while my DC neighborhood is mostly high SES with booing retail and restaurants and only gets better.

It's really kind of a case by case situation.

Uh huh. You live in a very very rich area of DC. NW somewhere? Congratulations on the brag.

This is hardly representative and certainly not representative of most people who live in DC.

So, it's not the city is the problem, it's your financial inability to live here.

Oh, yes, I'm one of the poor city folk who can't afford your fancy real estate.

..and your fancy real estate is representative of all of DC including all of Northeast and EOTR, right??????

If you moved to the suburbs because you can't afford the city, it sounds like failure and not *checks notes* everything being totally awesome.

To be clear, we afforded the city and lived here 14 years but intentionally took on a substantially higher mortgage payment with current rates on a SFH outside the city for a better lifestyle.

*rolling eyes* am I supposed to be impressed?

Doubt it, it's pretty clear you earn more, have much more expensive real estate and look down your nose on the poors and peons that can't afford your NW home. It's pretty clear you view anyone happier in the burbs as a sad sap who is beneath you.

So, wait, is real estate in the burbs nicer and more expensive, or is DC nicer and more expensive. I can't keep up with you guys.

Try this: if you're actually happy and not at all concerned that people think you're a total failure for settling for your tickytack tract housing in the burbs, than own it and move along.

Real estate in the burbs is nicer and less expensive per sq foot generally speaking, yes.

Why don't you admit where you live so we can discuss whether it truly represents all of DC and "city living"

Maybe I live in Arlington. It's much more urban than most of DC.

I'm so sorry to tell you this, but you live in the burbs. But hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! Welcome, suburbanite!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The great majority of Americans live in the suburbs. Rich, poor, middle class.

What are you trying to imply? A lot of DC is quite suburban-like in vibes and in other cities higher density areas exist in the suburbs while lower density areas exist inside the city limits (like NYC).

Only 52 percent live in suburbs. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr-edge-frm-asst-sec-080320.html

So, barely a majority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely.

It's giving up, accepting monotony, rigidity and boredom for perceived security.

I feel a bit bad that someone things that this is what the suburbs are like. IMHO, the suburbs make it possible to live close to a city (and still commute in), but be able to live in a quiet area, with a yard, with nature trails nearby. This is my experience in Bethesda (20816) just 3 blocks from the border of DC at Western Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue (Westmoreland Circle). We have a neighborhood pool that has made it fun to get to know our neighbors. Our 3 kids have walked to school for grades K to 8. We know everyone on our street, and our neighbors are lovely people (many of them are World Bank employees from around the world). So the PP's experience with suburbs do not speak for all people.

In the U.S., we don't have awesome cities like they do in Europe. Because of the way development has occurred in the U.S., the suburbs are the best place to live in the U.S.

[Anonymous]

Suburbs are for people secure in themselves, not desperately hoping to find something better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Suburbs are for people secure in themselves, not desperately hoping to find something better.

…is what you would say if you were trying to sum up all negative stereotypes of what a suburbanite would say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The great majority of Americans live in the suburbs. Rich, poor, middle class.

What are you trying to imply? A lot of DC is quite suburban-like in vibes and in other cities higher density areas exist in the suburbs while lower density areas exist inside the city limits (like NYC).

Only 52 percent live in suburbs. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr-edge-frm-asst-sec-080320.html

So, barely a majority.

You should read the article you linked more carefully. "It’s a fact: Most of America is suburban"

Also consider this source of your cite:
52 percent of U.S. households describe their neighborhood as suburban, 27 percent describe their neighborhood as urban, and 21 percent describe their neighborhood as rural.

We're asking people to describe their neighborhoods absent of a formally defined criteria. There are towns that are suburbs of NYC that are definitely, unquestionably, rather urbanish in vibe and density but they are still considered suburbs of NYC. Meanwhile we have plenty of people claiming they live in the "city" in DC but who live in Chevy Chase or AU Park etc that are decidedly leafy and dominated by SFH on individual lots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The great majority of Americans live in the suburbs. Rich, poor, middle class.

What are you trying to imply? A lot of DC is quite suburban-like in vibes and in other cities higher density areas exist in the suburbs while lower density areas exist inside the city limits (like NYC).

Only 52 percent live in suburbs. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr-edge-frm-asst-sec-080320.html

So, barely a majority.

You should read the article you linked more carefully. "It’s a fact: Most of America is suburban"

Also consider this source of your cite:
52 percent of U.S. households describe their neighborhood as suburban, 27 percent describe their neighborhood as urban, and 21 percent describe their neighborhood as rural.

We're asking people to describe their neighborhoods absent of a formally defined criteria. There are towns that are suburbs of NYC that are definitely, unquestionably, rather urbanish in vibe and density but they are still considered suburbs of NYC. Meanwhile we have plenty of people claiming they live in the "city" in DC but who live in Chevy Chase or AU Park etc that are decidedly leafy and dominated by SFH on individual lots.

?

I think I said a majority of people live in suburbs, didn't I?

I was just correcting the poster who said "the great majority". I don't know what you're talking about AU Park for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The great majority of Americans live in the suburbs. Rich, poor, middle class.

What are you trying to imply? A lot of DC is quite suburban-like in vibes and in other cities higher density areas exist in the suburbs while lower density areas exist inside the city limits (like NYC).

I think this thread is a direct response to the "Is living in a condo considered a failure?" thread from earlier in the week

Of course it is not a failure but people like to get competitive about this stuff and likely the same people who claimed living in a condo is a failure will be quite defensive about the idea that living in the suburbs could be a failure

None of this is "a failure"

Op here. That is exactly what it was. I didn’t expect so many passionate responses so fast. Funny how that worked out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The great majority of Americans live in the suburbs. Rich, poor, middle class.

What are you trying to imply? A lot of DC is quite suburban-like in vibes and in other cities higher density areas exist in the suburbs while lower density areas exist inside the city limits (like NYC).

I think this thread is a direct response to the "Is living in a condo considered a failure?" thread from earlier in the week

Of course it is not a failure but people like to get competitive about this stuff and likely the same people who claimed living in a condo is a failure will be quite defensive about the idea that living in the suburbs could be a failure

None of this is "a failure"

Op here. That is exactly what it was. I didn’t expect so many passionate responses so fast. Funny how that worked out.

Aren't condos primarily a suburban thing?

[Anonymous]

Yeah....I thought this too when we lived in the city and the city was all we'd ever known.

Then we moved to the suburbs, and I realized it's actually a calculated, amazing choice that part of me wishes we would have known was OK sooner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The great majority of Americans live in the suburbs. Rich, poor, middle class.

What are you trying to imply? A lot of DC is quite suburban-like in vibes and in other cities higher density areas exist in the suburbs while lower density areas exist inside the city limits (like NYC).

I think this thread is a direct response to the "Is living in a condo considered a failure?" thread from earlier in the week

Of course it is not a failure but people like to get competitive about this stuff and likely the same people who claimed living in a condo is a failure will be quite defensive about the idea that living in the suburbs could be a failure

None of this is "a failure"

Op here. That is exactly what it was. I didn’t expect so many passionate responses so fast. Funny how that worked out.

You knew what you were doing. Don’t act coy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The great majority of Americans live in the suburbs. Rich, poor, middle class.

What are you trying to imply? A lot of DC is quite suburban-like in vibes and in other cities higher density areas exist in the suburbs while lower density areas exist inside the city limits (like NYC).

I think this thread is a direct response to the "Is living in a condo considered a failure?" thread from earlier in the week

Of course it is not a failure but people like to get competitive about this stuff and likely the same people who claimed living in a condo is a failure will be quite defensive about the idea that living in the suburbs could be a failure

None of this is "a failure"

Op here. That is exactly what it was. I didn’t expect so many passionate responses so fast. Funny how that worked out.

No one is defensive, they are just saying your universal assumption is incorrect. You call living in a suburb is a failure. People are saying it is not because they live in suburbs and have not failed. They may have failed to live up to your socialist collective ideology. That isn't a failure, that is a not living to your preferences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's the dream for most.

No. Definitely not.

The idea of being forced to drive everywhere, traffic jams, rage in the parking lots, rage on the sidelines of playing fields, rage in lines, racism, HOAs, severing social ties, monotony, etc makes me physically ill.

The parts of my life that would improve by moving to the suburbs are the parts of my life that I wish I could cut out (access to shopping malls, shorter commutes for insane kid's sports, car dealerships).

I used to think like this too.

Our situation is actually the opposite but I realize it's not like that everywhere. It seems like you're making assumptions off of watching Modern Family and maybe some adult siblings you watch from afar.