Will Millennials Be the New Atlanta Suburbanites? (Smyrna, Vinings: crime, house)

[ja1myn]

I am a millennial and there is no way in hell I will ever buy a home. I have no desire to be rooted into one place and have to maintain a huge place.

I love renting and I love living in skyscrapers.

[red92s]

Originally Posted by ja1myn

I am a millennial and there is no way in hell I will ever buy a home. I have no desire to be rooted into one place and have to maintain a huge place.

I love renting and I love living in skyscrapers.

No kids, eh?

[ja1myn]

Originally Posted by red92s

No kids, eh?

In the future I would like to have kids of course. I'll just need a bigger loft. I grew up in an apartment with my grandmother, father, mother, and sister. I have no problem with it. I prefer it over owning a huge structure on a piece of land that just ties you down to one area. Not my style and I'm sure my kids won't mind it because they won't really know anything else.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by ja1myn

In the future I would like to have kids of course. I'll just need a bigger loft. I grew up in an apartment with my grandmother, father, mother, and sister. I have no problem with it. I prefer it over owning a huge structure on a piece of land that just ties you down to one area. Not my style and I'm sure my kids won't mind it because they won't really know anything else.

That's what they make urban parks for!

[red92s]

Originally Posted by ja1myn

I grew up in an apartment with my grandmother, father, mother, and sister. I have no problem with it. I prefer it over owning a huge structure on a piece of land that just ties you down to one area. Not my style and I'm sure my kids won't mind it because they won't really know anything else.

So, you are essentially comfortable living in an environment similar to the one you were raised in, and expect that trend will continue with your own kids. Thanks for proving my point. People return to what they know, unless they really, really hated it.

[ja1myn]

Originally Posted by red92s

So, you are essentially comfortable living in an environment similar to the one you were raised in, and expect that trend will continue with your own kids. Thanks for proving my point. People return to what they know, unless they really, really hated it.

I don't expect that it will continue with my kids. They can move wherever the hell they want. I would just prefer to raise a family in a simple setting like I was. I'm an urbanite to the core and so is my entire family.

But yeah I guess you'd be right even though I haven't read any of the previous discussion.

[noah]

I've done both and right now live in a intown condo (and we have a child). I generally prefer condos but its not for everyone and will likely end up in a SFH at some point and return to condos later in life. I am in the group that location and driving less is more important then the size of my house. Clearly there is a movement of those moving ITP, but there is still plenty of people who live intown and decide to eventually settle in the suburbs. Nothing wrong with either. I agree with Red that for many they probably go back to their comfort zone, some are more adventurous and want something different but many, especially with kids, go back to what they knew. I put myself in the adventurous category for what its worth - I am a long ways from the rural island I grew up on.

[testa50]

Originally Posted by noah

I've done both and right now live in a intown condo (and we have a child). I generally prefer condos but its not for everyone and will likely end up in a SFH at some point and return to condos later in life. I am in the group that location and driving less is more important then the size of my house. Clearly there is a movement of those moving ITP, but there is still plenty of people who live intown and decide to eventually settle in the suburbs. Nothing wrong with either. I agree with Red that for many they probably go back to their comfort zone, some are more adventurous and want something different but many, especially with kids, go back to what they knew. I put myself in the adventurous category for what its worth - I am a long ways from the rural island I grew up on.

This is true. The critical thing is the percentage of people who choose to live intown for their twenties now vs circa 1990. And the age those people tend to move on to the suburbs now vs circa 1990.

I think it's pretty clear that it's more common now to want to live right in the middle of the city as a young single/DINK than it was a while ago. And it's also more common to delay the child-rearing years than it was a while ago. Combined, these trends are a big deal.

The changes will be on the margin, no doubt. The people who raise children in high rise condos will always be outliers--these won't be the folks who drive urban living trends in the next couple decades. Far more important are the recent trends that single people increasingly want to live in the city, and people tend to be childless longer than they used to be.

This will add hundreds of thousands of people who tend to desire urban living over the next decade (the issue of whether they can afford it aside).

There's also the post-child rearing demographic. I have a lot less familiarity with this, but I have known some people who get sick of the big house and decide to downsize to a condo in the city. Whether this becomes a big-time trend or not remains to be seen. There are pros and cons to urban living for empty nesters/retirees, for sure.

Also, a lot of people in my building appear to be older singles--a demographic I also imagine to be growing disproportionately fast.

[joey86]

As more people move into the city and increase tax dollars for schools there will be less reason to return to the suburbs. Also crime keeps going down in the city. I don't know the statistics but people with kids are a lot more likely to stick around than they were a few years back. The positive changes happening in Atlanta show no signs of slowing and that will have an enormous effect on where people decide to live.

[noah]

I see both of these groups in my building.

Originally Posted by testa50

There's also the post-child rearing demographic. I have a lot less familiarity with this, but I have known some people who get sick of the big house and decide to downsize to a condo in the city. Whether this becomes a big-time trend or not remains to be seen. There are pros and cons to urban living for empty nesters/retirees, for sure.

Also, a lot of people in my building appear to be older singles--a demographic I also imagine to be growing disproportionately fast.