Reply to Leaving DC for a lower COL area

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Problem with lower COL areas is that the job market is not as robust. Yes, "everybody" know someone who moved to Cleveland/Detroit/Milwaukee and found a good position and cheap housing but there is nowhere near the opportunities found in growing areas. Also, lower COL places tend to be insular. You are competing with people who went to local schools, married someone from there, and will never leave there. They pick their own when an opening occurs.[/quote]

That's ...wrong on just about every level. Dallas and Houston are the same size as DC, with an even better economy, record low unemployment rate and much better COL. I've lived in both and wouldn't describe either as "insular." People are pouring in from other states. And the idea a company like Toyota or AT&T is picking executives based on the neighborhood they grew up in, that's just ludicrous. [/quote]

SInce when are Dallas and Houston = Cleveland/Detroit/Milwaukee?

Dallas and Houston have incredible economies but are very hot and 100% sprawl.  No charm, history, or walkability.  [/quote]

Yeah right. Dallas has Deep Ellum, Bishop Arts, Lower Greenville, Uptown ...areas with as much walkability as anything you'll find in the District. And several have a funkier vibe than the 
manufactured cool of many gentrifying DC neighborhoods. And yeah ...it's hot. But you can also sit outside on the patio in February and don't have to dig out from a blizzard every other year.  [/quote]

You've named areas in Dallas that are much like Atlanta's Five Points/Virginia Highlands -- highly industrialized with a glut of retail/restaurants in one place but they aren't walkable [i]communities[/i] with mixed-use density that including housing and amenities artfully imposed together. Basically those are the places you take an Uber to to bar hop for happy hour but you don't live on that street or next to that restaurant nor can you walk to those grocery stores (not unless you want to cross a parking lot which can fit a couple 100 cars easily first). In other words, the Whole Foods is in a shopping plaza.

Huge difference. Basically living there is nothing like D.C.[/quote]

+1000000.   PP obviously has never lived in a real city.  Five points in Atlanta is a perfect example.  You may be able to walk to bars and restaurants from your house.  But on a daily basis walk to work, walk your kids to school and run 90% of your errands on foot?  No way.  Especially given the hot weather.  Dallas is a city built around the automobile.  Even in the areas in Dallas claiming to be walkable, the parking lots are HUGE which in itself demonstrates it’s not really a walkable area.

Whereas I live in DC and almost always walk to the grocery store, combo walk and bus to work, and only use my car on the weekend for an errand or going somewhere outside of DC.   I can’t imagine many families in Dallas are only using their cars on the weekend.

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I'm shocked at how blind posters like you are. How many people in DC actually live like this? Not that many 5-10% of the metro population, maybe? The vast majority of people live a suburban car oriented lifestyle or even if they take the subway to work it's long commutes still.

You talk about what works for you in your very specific urban context while totally ignoring that most people in DC can't live the way you do. And you pay a price for your lifestyle that is not affordable to many if not most people. Your ignorance is amazing, because your knowledge of DC stops at the borders of your neighborhood and you're using your very narrow context as a basis for comparison with other cities while ignoring the rest of the DC metro area where most people actually live.

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