Link to a pseudo-scientific article that deduces what we country folk knew all along: Country living is good for you!
Link to a pseudo-scientific article that deduces what we country folk knew all along: Country living is good for you!
I grew up on a farm, but I also love the city.
My dream property is a 125-acre farm in downtown Los Angeles. That should be my new "FB marketplace find thread." Needs: at least 100 acres, downtown LA, 6000 sf shop, under $85k. Think we can find it?
Cities are full of people. People suck. Don't live in cities so you can avoid people. Seems simple enough to me.
When I'm a gazillionaire, I'd like to have a home base apartment in Chicago, and a rural compound on the water somewhere about 3-4 hours drive away.
Right now I live in the suburbs, and while I do love it, it isn't "home" for me. City or country, but suburbs are just... gah, they're the best and worst of both worlds.
I grew up in a small town on the edge of a cow pasture, have spent most my adult life in a big city, and may end up moving back to that small town. That said, I don't like studies that pit small town life versus big city life - there's already enough divisiveness in the world. Some people prefer one, some prefer the other, and there's nothing wrong with that.
In reply to mtn :
I'm with you there. Can't wait to have a mountain home to go with my city condo. Suburbs.....eeeeehhhhh. Been there hated that.
In two years, my youngest will graduate from HS. Soon after I'm moving to 400 acres on the water an hour out of town. I can't wait.
mtn said:When I'm a gazillionaire, I'd like to have a home base apartment in Chicago, and a rural compound on the water somewhere about 3-4 hours drive away.
I like the SW corner of Michigan. So do another million people.
I like some suburbs....Hinsdale.....just can't afford housing.
I kinda like a suburb. Heavily in the city center is crap, but having to drive an hour for groceries is also crap. A comfortable suburb that's convenient but gives you enough elbow room to enjoy an acre or two of your own while being convenient to everything is pretty nice.
3.5 acres in the city are treating me just fine! The kids get tons of creeking and tromping through the woods but we're only 15 minutes from downtown and work.
I'm about 4 miles from downtown Harrisburg on a sprawling 0.18 acre plot in suburbia. I would say it suits me fine, but only having a 1-car garage sucks hardcore. Had to sacrifice wrench space for affordable housing.
I grew up rural. Lived in town for college. Moved back to rural. Lived in town for 2 years while we built our rural house. I will never live in a city again. We are no more than 15 minutes from anything we need.
mtn said:suburbs are just... gah, they're the best and worst of both worlds.
It really depends on the suburb, of course. Some lean more toward the former, some are completely the latter.
I grew up relatively far out in the sticks - like a 15 minute drive to my post office, which was about the size of a double wide. Nearest real grocery store was 30 minutes away. Went to college in a small city, and graduate school in a big city (moved in with future DW at that time). After graduate school we moved back to the same rural location, both with about a 45-50 minute commute, though we could carpool together.
We loved that until we had DD#1, and then it was just too remote. We bought into the suburbs in a small-city college town. We loved it for 20 years, we didn't mind it for 5 more, and the last couple we've hated it.
We're definitely looking more rural for retirement. About an hour's drive outside a moderately major city is ideal.
Damn, three times I've written a reply to this thread then deleted it. This is the paired down final attempt.
Long story short, I find there's a massive difference in the type of people who live in rural areas here compared to the UK where I grew up. People who live in rural areas here tend to want to get away from other people. People in rural areas in the UK tend to embrace other people. Having grown up in a rural area I loved it as a kid. Effectively unrestricted access to the country side. Over here wandering like that is just as likely to bring out a pissed off land owner with a shot gun over their arm shooing you away. I also find that rural living over here tends (not always) to appeal to people with, shall we say, political views very different from my own. Sorry.
Once retired we want to move up North (NE Lower peninsular of Michigan) to a more rural area, but it will need to be one that basically backs up to State and National parks/forest to get that same feeling of freedom I had as a kid. I want to be able to enjoy the nature and wander alone across fields being immersed in it, not limited to my own property or having to walk down public roads with cars whistling past me at 60+ mph or having to drive everywhere.
In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :
This is rooted in English land access law. Just remember to close the gate!
I like my peace, quiet and to be left the hell alone by the local gov't. I am uncomfortable in crowded cities. Hong Kong was cool but I'd probably jump out a window if I had to live there. I'm sad that our slice of quiet has been encroached on by warehouses (mostly empty) by the local municipality that wants tax revenue.
After living in the city my entire life and finally owning a house in the suburbs, I'm done with city life. The traffic, the schools, the taxes, the people, the constant rushing to get nowhere; I'm done.
Even now, I'm growing tired of suburb life and yearn for more land, but it's ensuring my daughter gets a good education compared to what I had, so I'll deal with it. I wouldn't mind a few more minutes South from here with a couple acres or so and still plenty close to the suburbs for any sort of shopping I may need.
The thing is I like people. While I live in the suburbs now due to work, kids, schools, my wife's business etc. we need to live here. I would rather live in a city OR in country though. It may sound strange, but I'm happy in the country as long as I have easy easy access (30 mins) to somewhere with decent restaurants, coffee shops, cultural events like plays etc. Where we're eyeing is West of Traverse City, that has all the things I just mentioned, but out in the country. Maybe I'm just greedy as I want the best of both worlds.
I take exception to the notion that people who choose to live in a rural setting don't like people. Quite the contrary, I find rural folk to be far friendlier than city folk. What we don't like is people jammed up on us like a herd of cattle, congested traffic, difficult parking, noise, and crime, to name a few.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got yard work to do. 
1988RedT2 said:I take exception to the notion that people who choose to live in a rural setting don't like people. Quite the contrary, I find rural folk to be far friendlier than city folk. What we don't like is people jammed up on us like a herd of cattle, congested traffic, difficult parking, noise, and crime, to name a few.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got yard work to do.
I like persons. I dont like people.
Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:The thing is I like people. While I live in the suburbs now due to work, kids, schools, my wife's business etc. we need to live here. I would rather live in a city OR in country though. It may sound strange, but I'm happy in the country as long as I have easy easy access (30 mins) to somewhere with decent restaurants, coffee shops, cultural events like plays etc. Where we're eyeing is West of Traverse City, that has all the things I just mentioned, but out in the country. Maybe I'm just greedy as I want the best of both worlds.
Thats the thing for us. We've never been more than 15 minutes from anything we needed. Downtown Indy is 25 minutes away. We were just far enough out to have some peace and quiet and nice friendly neighbors way over there but close enough to anything we could want. My folks lived 40 minutes from DT indy in a more rural setting than I have now. I grew up with 100 acres of woods around me. It. Was. Awesome. But even they are dealing with urban sprawl.
What the wife an I found hilarious is it takes just as long to get to places now as what we did when we lived in the city. 15 minutes to the store was 3 miles. Now it's 10 miles but the same time.
I like living on the edge of the 'burbs where it turns more rural. Everything is convenient without the crowding, hi prices etc of the inner city. Bad part is the "edge" is a moving taget. The area keeps getting more and more built up and loses its rural feel. The roads can't handle the traffic as farm fields get turned into rows of McMansions. Now the corporate folks smell opportunity, bribe the township planning board and a park gets turned into a strip mall because these people can't bear to be more than 600 yards from a 7-11...
I couldn't live in massive cities like New York or LA or something but having grown up in a tiny rural town no berkeleying way I could go back to that either.
For me, I am a big fan of medium size cities something around 200-500k. For me, where I live now is pretty much prefect. Bike riding distance to downtown, mountain bike trails a mile and half away in a nature preserve/ state park, not right on top of neighbors, decent sized house that I was able to buy at a reasonable price.
The only thing I'd want different is another .5 acre of wooded land, better biking infrastructure (but that is being worked on by the city) and being able to bike to work.
I will say that the traffic noise drives me a bit crazy. I'm tired of hearing freeway from my house. Ironically most rural areas have just as loud traffic just not as frequent. My brother lives way outside of town and you can hear every single car that goes by because they're all going 60mph on the tiny two lane road that goes right by his house. If I bought or built a house in the country it would be like my cousins house, at the end of a half mile gravel road tucked between hills. Man you can't hear a thing out there but the lowing of his cattle.
I looked at a house built on an old quarry site nestled immediately off of a main road in the city. It was awesome because you dropped down about 30' of elevation before you got to the house and you couldn't hear anything from the main road. Then past the house was wildlife management area then the river so no development possible there. Sadly it had an hoa so there was no chance of my project filled life fitting in with the neighborhood.
I love livin' in the city.
Mostly because it's impossible to get good internet in the rural areas I'm interested in living in.
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