Opting out of coast madness to live a low overhead life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's right. I live it and live it well.

Her article is better than the other one that was full of whine. She gets it.

+1

Smaller city living is the way to go. Or inner ring suburbs of a smaller city.

Better cost of living than top-tier cities and more amenities and education than small towns.

True! There are plenty of nice lower cost in housing cities to provide a better balance of life.
Minneapolis
Madison, WI
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Boulder
Portland, Maine
Burlington, VT
Austin, TX

I think Austin & Boulder are somewhat cheaper but not by much. I would imagine generally liveable family homes in the more desirable neighborhoods with good schools you are definitely looking at $1m+ for Austin & Boulder. If you want a 4ksqft home in those neighborhoods you are probably looking at $2mish or more.

Austin is definitely getting more expensive & there are certainly neighborhoods where a family home will cost you $1m + but it still has some nice neighborhoods with good schools that are relatively close to downtown where you can get a 3 or 4 bedroom, 2k+ square foot house with a decent yard for $400-500k.

Yes but you could say you can get a 3/4 bd / 2ksqft house in the top suburbs of Fairfax for 500k. I just checked and you can get that in Great Falls, McLean might be $700k. Might be a fixer just like in Austin. Again, Austin is cheaper but not by as much as people would think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are any of the posters considering such moves not white? It sounds really idyllic, but hard to imagine for someone who's not white to just up and move in Small Town USA.

Are any of the previous posters talking about small towns? I got the sense that they are talking about small cities which still have millions of people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will do this asap after my big law gig is over. I look at friends in IT, engineering or HR and just don't understand why they stay. The marginally higher income doesn't cover the higher costs.

Jobs. Perhaps not engineering, but other white collar jobs aren't easy to come by in flyover states. Speaking only for myself, I don't stay for the marginally higher income (especially given my income probably isn't even considered marginally higher), but it's very hard to find white collar jobs elsewhere that would pay enough even for the COL in those areas.

While housing costs are lower in other parts of the country, health care, food, cars, those things cost the same. If you own your house outright here, then perhaps you could make it work by selling for a profit and buying a house cheaper in another part of the country. But we have a mortgage here, so if we sold, we aren't at the point (especially with transaction costs and taxes) where we would make enough off the sale to make that work.

Sure, our salary here would qualify for a decent place somewhere else, but we'd be moving. So we'd have to find work somewhere else.

The reason people come to the DC area is that there are a lot of white collar jobs here (due to govt. and the organizations related to govt.) that are difficult to find elsewhere.

I think that a lot of people underestimate how difficult it is to find suitable work in another state or city. I've looked at jobs that utilize my skill set in other regions of the country. They not only are few and far between, but the pay is much lower. And the cheaper COL isn't enough to make that work.

I would love to move down south or out to the southwest, but I'm not sure how to make it happen. I could never live in the midwest because it just gets too cold. I have nothing against the people there or anything, but I can't take hard winters.

LOL. You have no idea. We moved to Minneapolis, and the economy is absolutely booming. TONS of Fortune 500 companies and so many colleges and universities. Way more diverse an economy than DC where it's government, government, government.

Love it here!

Such a good point. I spent my high school years in the MSP area, and still have fond memories. Lots of great companies in MSP -- Pillsbury, General Mills, 3M, Cargill, United Healthcare. Great schools and colleges/universities. Great cultural opportunities. Great airport that is a Delta hub. My DH and I seriously considered moving there a few years ago! I confess I just couldn't take the winters quite that far north, and also we like being within driving distance of mountains. I love the lakes there though (if not the mosquitos)! I am OK with winters in Chicago (which is milder in my experience).

I'm glad that the PP enjoys it so much!

[Anonymous]

The parking in DC is really out of control

I remember when you could actually find a free spot on a Saturday lol even Sunday is insane now at least everywhere is free

Lots of better cities than DC

Many have been mentioned

Minneapolis
Indianapolis
Columbus
Madison
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Richmond
Research Triangle NC, Charlotte
Pittsburgh
Nashville

etc etc etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The parking in DC is really out of control

I remember when you could actually find a free spot on a Saturday lol even Sunday is insane now at least everywhere is free

Lots of better cities than DC

Many have been mentioned

Minneapolis
Indianapolis
Columbus
Madison
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Richmond
Research Triangle NC, Charlotte
Pittsburgh
Nashville

etc etc etc

Only someone who actually cares about parking would recommend living in Columbus, Ohio.

[Anonymous]

NP here...have you ever been to Columbus? It's a great city. Lots to do, zoo, museums, huge market, parks and trails, affordable and beautiful neighborhoods, OSU, professional hockey...what's not to like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here...have you ever been to Columbus? It's a great city. Lots to do, zoo, museums, huge market, parks and trails, affordable and beautiful neighborhoods, OSU, professional hockey...what's not to like?

Maybe that it's in Ohio??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here...have you ever been to Columbus? It's a great city. Lots to do, zoo, museums, huge market, parks and trails, affordable and beautiful neighborhoods, OSU, professional hockey...what's not to like?

Maybe that it's in Ohio??

Lol this sounds crazy. What's wrong with Ohio?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parking in DC is really out of control

I remember when you could actually find a free spot on a Saturday lol even Sunday is insane now at least everywhere is free

Lots of better cities than DC

Many have been mentioned

Minneapolis
Indianapolis
Columbus
Madison
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Richmond
Research Triangle NC, Charlotte
Pittsburgh
Nashville

etc etc etc

Only someone who actually cares about parking would recommend living in Columbus, Ohio.

What a snob!

[Anonymous]

We did this. We moved from CA to Frederick, MD. No regrets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right, but some of us are from DC! our families and aging parents are here. It makes it very hard to move, even if theoretically we could save a lot of money.

I'm a DC native and love it here. Lots of family, plenty of friends, great job, excellent schools, plenty to do, walkable, and my housing is affordable. I prefer urban living in a liberal city. ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did this. We moved from CA to Frederick, MD. No regrets.

Me too! It's all relative. Some move to CA from NYC. Some move from CA to DC. Those in DC may think about moving to Minneapolis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here...have you ever been to Columbus? It's a great city. Lots to do, zoo, museums, huge market, parks and trails, affordable and beautiful neighborhoods, OSU, professional hockey...what's not to like?

Columbus is a sewer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boulder is not cheap. Denver area is on fire in terms of COL going up.
Austin has gotten more expensive and it's not easy to find jobs there...there are jobs but everyone wants to move there, so it's super competitive to land said jobs.
Houston also isn't as cheap as you'd think if you want to live in a nice neighborhood in Houston proper. The suburbs will give you a lot of house for your money -- some more than others -- but then you're dealing with the traffic. Bad traffic. DC bad, I'm not sure, but it's no picnic.
I tried to sell DH on Raleigh. He wasn't buying. He can get a job pretty much anywhere, but finding a job for me would be tough as I work in an industry that is dying pretty much everywhere, but has a lot of niche opportunities in the DC area.

I guess because I'm a DC native I don't get the fixation on how horrible the traffic is, and the cost is because of the unique, wonderful opportunities this area provides. My 80 year old dad, who lived here for 45 years, remarks on the traffic every time he visits from his third tier town. Sure, I can see the traffic bothering an elderly man, but for young or middle aged people, what is this such a fixation? You just plan for it.

Because it fucking sucks to spend your precious time on earth that way and it increases stress and decreases health.

Heh - thank you for that response. I kept trying to think of an appropriate answer. How can you even question what the downside is to so much traffic and so much hassle getting from one place to another?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's right. I live it and live it well.

Her article is better than the other one that was full of whine. She gets it.

+1

Smaller city living is the way to go. Or inner ring suburbs of a smaller city.

Better cost of living than top-tier cities and more amenities and education than small towns.

True! There are plenty of nice lower cost in housing cities to provide a better balance of life.
Minneapolis
Madison, WI
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Boulder
Portland, Maine
Burlington, VT
Austin, TX

I think Austin & Boulder are somewhat cheaper but not by much. I would imagine generally liveable family homes in the more desirable neighborhoods with good schools you are definitely looking at $1m+ for Austin & Boulder. If you want a 4ksqft home in those neighborhoods you are probably looking at $2mish or more.

Austin is definitely getting more expensive & there are certainly neighborhoods where a family home will cost you $1m + but it still has some nice neighborhoods with good schools that are relatively close to downtown where you can get a 3 or 4 bedroom, 2k+ square foot house with a decent yard for $400-500k.

Yes but you could say you can get a 3/4 bd / 2ksqft house in the top suburbs of Fairfax for 500k. I just checked and you can get that in Great Falls, McLean might be $700k. Might be a fixer just like in Austin. Again, Austin is cheaper but not by as much as people would think.

Having looked pretty seriously in DC, Austin, and now some other cities: Austin is definitely cheaper than DC. It's not cheap, but it is cheaper.