Where do you live, the Bay area? At what point do you say that enough is enough, and you move to a location that even though you'll earn less, the COL adjustment will more than make up for it?
I can't foresee ever leaving because of cost-of-living expenses. I'm not an import; I've lived in New England my entire life and the Greater Boston area--let's define it as "the Red and Orange Lines, and I guess the Green Line if I was desperate"--is effectively the only place I can be short of blowing off my family and my support network of friends and colleagues. The area is congruent with my politics--I mean that not just in the "who you vote for" sense of the word, but in the "how a society should operate" sense of it. And while I own one for errands I really profoundly don't like commuting and don't like driving a car much even outside of that, which rules out much of the surrounding area like New Hampshire or Maine, where I'm originally from. My parents live in northern Vermont. It's nice to visit, when I'm not white-knuckling across ice-floe roads in February. I couldn't live there.
We're thankful that we bought what will eventually, after a big up-front whack, be a really nice house. And we did it somewhere where it's still kinda doable, rather than when it's not doable at all.
I mean, that's fine and all, but you should probably just admit that you value the luxury of living in an extremely expensive area with lots of urban amenities. There's nothing wrong with it, but phrasing it like you simply can't live anywhere except these two particular metro lines comes off as really out of touch.
Urban liberals' lifestyle is a luxury consumption choice the same way that a Rolex or a Masarti is.
I mean, sure, I like those luxuries. I also get panic attacks when driving in stressful situations and more than moderate traffic. Not wanting to cause a crack-up rules out a commute into an urban area from an only marginally cheaper suburban area. (I've tried it before.) And fully-remote work is uncomfortable, socially isolating, and completely impossible for my girlfriend due to the urban-localized nature of her career, which makes living further out impractical.
I've tried living elsewhere; this wasn't my first choice and I'm very lucky to be able to afford it. Perhaps all this makes this urban liberal some kind of snowflake, but that's all right with me.
Somerville is already one of the most densely-populated places in the United States (16th most densely populated city in the nation as per the 2010 census--6th most that isn't part of the NYC metro area) and I'm enthusiastically in favor of that increasing with additional building. Keeping in mind that new construction necessarily overwhelmingly favors high-end construction I'm also in favor of increased proportions of affordable housing, as well as rent control ordinances to help keep people in their homes. And I say that as a soon-to-be rental property manager and owner, too; these are things that would be skin off my nose in the near future.
So that's a pretty weak strawman--and, tbh, I've seen your posts before, I thought about ignoring you because I get a troll whiff out of them. But I will also push on the real question behind it, because there is the germ of something useful there. I believe that a society should openly welcome people who are not members of the majority, should emphasize that its public administration be mindful that it operates for its constituents, and where, when citizens need help, they can get help. The place where I live is not perfect, but there is a drive to adhere to such principles.
It is not impossible to find that elsewhere. It is unlikely to be found elsewhere that also doesn't involve disconnecting from my personal social networks and also doesn't require a car to commute.
I'm not trying to argue, just trying to understand what you said.
> I believe that a society should openly welcome people who are not members of the majority, should emphasize that its public administration be mindful that it operates for its constituents, and where, when citizens need help, they can get help.
You honestly believe that other parts of the country do not believe that? I feel some travel would get rid of such notions, but oh well.
> --and, tbh, I've seen your posts before, I thought about ignoring you because I get a troll whiff out of them
Probably a good idea not to engage if you're uninterested in engagement.
> I'm not trying to argue, just trying to understand what you said.
Cool (and I say that without snark). For future reference, I might suggest "can you explain what you mean by this?". It sets a better tone than what you wrote, which reads as points-scoring caricature.
> You honestly believe that other parts of the country do not believe that? I feel some travel would get rid of such notions, but oh well.
Of course there are, and I travel extensively--travel and consulting used to be my job. There are not, however, ones that fit my idea of how people should live (which rules out otherwise lovely places like Richmond, VA), don't decouple me from my personal social connections (i.e., are in New England; as an example I really like Columbus, OH) and have sufficient mass transit to not park my rear end in a car every day (i.e., not the Amherst area of western Massachusetts or somewhere like Unity or Orono, Maine--both places that I love, but the car dependence sucks).
So if I had just asked 'can you explain what you mean' you would have given me an explanation about how you appreciate the way of life in Boston, etc. I was more interested in the fact that -- across the country -- places similar to Boston (i.e., large, rich cities) seem to all be having the very problem you are calling out (high home prices). I was interested in an explanation of how you thus justify liking the politics (which in my mind are intrinsically linked to the high home prices) while simultaneously decrying its effects. Without asking my direct question, I don't see how I could have mandated this level of introspection.
Your response now seems to indicate that the main reason you want to stay in Boston is your family, which I get wholeheartedly. But your claim was that you appreciated the politics, which doesn't make any sense to me still, because in my mind, the way of life you idealize (and I'll admit I like it too) sounds like it leads to expensive home prices.
I'll mention since I am in the same boat in a sense. The cost of a house even 40-70 miles out from Boston on effective commute routes is still hovering in 350k to 500k. A house without a likely 100k in repairs is 450k It feels like for the Boston area they are just toeing the FHA limit or blowing completely past it instead of some other pricing dynamic. I haven't checked the Bay Area's FHA limits but since the max is 750k for 2019 and I keep reading about million plus properties I think they are just in a different category of appreciated values.
