Reply to American Focus on Suburbs Leading to Large Houses

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[quote=Anonymous]OP, I agree with you. But Americans have massively underinvested in public transportation (the vast majority of people living in close-in suburbs in DC drive to work, and DC has better and more convenient public transportation than most American cities save a very small handful), and education (massive discrepancies in school quality push a lot of people into less dense, walkable neighborhoods even if they actually prefer density and walkability). As a result, the type of suburb you describe barely exists. You mention a few places around the DMV that offer this lifestyle -- they are all expensive and not all have good schools. They are also not all convenient to all commutes.

Another factor you see in the DMV and in other cities is that a lot of companies have also fled the city in favor of suburbs. So many people work in places like Tysons. While technically Tyson's has metro now, it doesn't matter because it's so aggressively anti-pedestrian in its infrastructure that you'd be nuts to try and commute via metro unless your office just happened to be right on top of the metro stop (it takes 10 minutes just to cross one street in that area).

Anyway, right now my family is in a condo in the city, though feeling pretty tight and definitely want a bit more space (condo is 1000 sq ft). There is some older housing stock that is the right size (we're looking for something in the 1500-2000 range, or even 1200 with a great layout and some bonus space including functional outdoor space) but it goes so fast. There are too many people who want/need homes this size and price, and the ones close to public transportation go really fast. And often, depressingly, get snapped up for cash by investors who will tear those homes down and either build one 4000 sq ft home, or if zoning allows, four 1000 square foot homes. There appears to be little interest in building houses in the 1500-2000 range, I think because they are less profitable (take up more space than small condos but can never be sold for as much as huge McMansions).

I wish we could find a way to incentivize more of those homes being built, especially in higher density levels near public transit. It's exactly what we want. We find it increasingly hard to find and I think we're going to wind up compromising, buying bigger and further out because that's what we can afford and it will get us into better schools. I'm not thrilled about it, but it will probably be better than sticking it out in our little condo, much as I love the convenience factor here.[/quote]

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