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A millennial couple who make $250,000 say they can't find a home in their budget: 'We refuse to become house-poor'
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2024
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These stories are always bullshit. They can't afford a 3000sqft single family home on an acre inside the beltway of a HCOL city. Anyone making $250k can easily afford a condo or townhome anywhere in the US. If you really need useless interior volume or wasteful yard space then you can move farther out and afford that.
Wasteful yard space? Do you enjoy playing Frisbee buddy? How about just running around with your kids.
What is a public park?
In a lot of neighborhoods in the US, you have to cross major, high-traffic streets to get to a fairly small public park.
Then that is less of a city and more dystopian urban sprawl pretending to be a city.
That pretty accurately describes pretty much every U.S. city that isn't directly on the East Coast, yeah. And even a few that are.
Do you suppose a yard is an option in those same areas?
Yes. I live in one such area, in a city of many of them.
So it's in a major city that also has heavy traffic, but also enough space for houses with spacious yards?
That's why it has traffic, because it was built for low density.
So the suburbs. Not a major city at all.
I live about two miles from the city center of one of the 20 biggest cities in the United States by population. The nearest suburb to me is over ten miles away, in the opposite direction. The density of my neighborhood, according to the most recent census data, is over 3,000 (the definition of "city" is over 1,500). We're governed by city government and have no HOA. We get city trash pickup and our roads are maintained by the city DOT. We have city bus service and bike lanes maintained by the city. Our address includes the city name and zip code.
By pretty much any definition, I live in a major city and not in a suburb.
Ah, so quite literally the definition of wasteful city planning.
Like I said,
My original response is in the context of the dude I originally responded to and the dude he responded to. In that same context, what's your point? Parks are tough to get to when you live in an incredibly expensive area?
No. My point is that many cities in the United States are built to require both personal vehicles and private yards, meaning that if you want to both live in the city and also do anything outside, your options are limited.
What do you mean? Almost every major city has suburbs (at least in my country). I live in one of the top ten most populous cities in the US and I live in the suburbs.
Do you think the municipalities that surround major cities exist as part of the city? Is Brookfield 'Chicago'? Is Ferndale 'Detroit'? Is Long Island 'New York City'? Is Somerville 'Boston'?
~~Yes. Long Island is New York City. I lived there and my address said New York, New York.~~
I brain farted. I lived in Staten Island, but the point stands. Staten Island is a suburb of New York and is in New York. My current living situation is identical with respect to my current major city. I live in a suburb, but my address says the name of the major city.
Your point does not stand. Staten Island is not a suburb of New york. It is IN the boundary of New York City the same way Brooklyn is in the bounds of New York. That's why your address says New York.
That's not how suburbs work. Suburbs aren't about municipalities - they're about zoning and proximity to an urban area. You clearly don't know what you're talking about and want to disagree with people who have first hand experience, so I'm not going to argue with you about this. Have a good one
Ok, whatever you say.
A place full of junkies?
But seriously, as an introvert:
I hate public parks
I have a 65 acre park a block away.
Lucky you. Wish we all was as fortunate.
The entire point is that urbanization permits the kind of development patterns which expands access to larger public green spaces, rather than wasting space on individual yards. Then everyone has access to recreational areas which are not only more sustainable and efficient, but which also act as gathering points for the local community, helping to prevent exact the kind of harmful isolation which makes the suburbs notoriously depressing.
God I love frisbee. I miss when I was young and had friends who enjoyed it. I have two frisbees in the trunk of my car just begging to be flung across a wide-open space. I'm gonna bug my partner and make her indulge me a bit this weekend.
Out of curiosity I checked how much a 3000 sq ft home on 1 acre lot is in my area. The only thing under $4m was a $2.4m fixer-upper.
Rough math after maxing 2 401ks, taxes and paying 1000 a month for insurance they should be making around 12k take home a month. Even with only 5% down they should be able to get into a 7-800k house and still have 4k-5k a month for other expenses. I found 25 results under 700k in the greater Portland area some as low as 479k (actually in Portland) for 2.5k sf min 4+ bedrooms 2 bath min 1/4 acre lot.
I'm in Canada. The outskirts of Miami are exactly the same price as Swift Current, Saskatchewan. 300 grand American or 400 Canadian. Exact same, except the canadian housing market is so fucked that a place in the literal center of buttfuck nowhere everyone is depressed suicide rate 27x national average....is Miami priced.
Tbf Miami is in Florida
You forgot a likely $1000 a month in after tax student loan payments.
I beg you to show me what you can find in the Portland OR area for 250K. Even if you look outside about an hours drive there isn't much. The best I could find was a 2 Bed 2 Bath with about 1000 sq/f. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7545-N-Olin-Ave-201-Portland-OR-97203/350854324_zpid/
Please don't disparage others situations or minimize a situation because you have the benefit of living in a place you can afford with a job that lets you live there.
Well that's always going to depend on what commute length you feel is acceptable. What's your range? An hour each way? Two?