Boring city but nice house or exciting city and rent? (cheaper, very expensive)

[indigorose]

Youngstown Oh might be stupid cheap but alao there is nothing there to do. I lived there for almost 7 years and barely did any thing at all on the weekends and still ran out of things to do. Apparently it was a very happening place to live thirty years ago but since the steel plants shut down all the good stuff shut down as well. Youngstown is located almost exactly between Cleveland and Pittsburgh (about a 2 Hour drive to each). The main reason it is cheap to live in Youngstown is because there are no high quality jobs in the area. Almost all of the graduates from Youngstown State University end up moving away because they cannot find work in their area of learning (we did).

I have also moved many times in my life and lived in seven different states. I have lived in mid-sized cities and small towns. I would definitely go for renting and having alot of stuff nearby to do than own and have nothing or very little to do. In fact that is why I have decide to move back east. I will be moving to Salem MA by the fall of 2010 because of how much stuff there is to do both in Salem and the surrounding areas. I have heard that you can find nice homes in that area for under $500,000 and still be near the excitement. Also consider that if you don't know if you are going to stay in an area for more than 5 years is it worth investing in a home that you may lose money on?

[creepsinc]

Pittsburgh. Lots of stuff to do, lots of museums, dirt cheap, near the Midwest and the Northeast. Also ^^^^ Youngstown is halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, which makes it an hour from each.

[recycled]

Doglover29, a lot of people on CD read your thread title and have pondered the same question. I live on the left coast in a comfortable but not rich suburban area in a $1500 per month apartment surrounded by 500K condos and $750K to $1M houses. The only cheap thing here is my utility bill cause I rarely need air conditioning or heat.

My area (orange county, ca) has an overdose of shopping, recreation and entertainment options. However when I retire in a few years from my cubicle bound job, I am also looking at a place that I can settle into where I can get out of apartment living into a simple little house in a decent medium sized city. Lower taxes and lower cost of living combined with most of the amenities of everyday living, without having to drive everywhere (I am a bicycle oriented person, and although I own a car I don't use it much during the typical work week). Exact place, yet to be determined.

[ottomobeale]

>Our house in Wisconsin would probably sell for about $170,000 or a bit more<

Im confuzzled here.

Rule of thumb. You can afford 2.5X your income in house. 170K/2.5 =68K. Your husband was relocated by company, got a promotion, and you do not have 68K total family income?

Cedar Rapids appears to have 3 malls. No shopping?

You are obviously homesick, a perfectly legit reason to leave, but CR does not seem that small.

Look at the bright side. I live in "exciting" New Jersey where you need $120K per year for a typical LOW end 300K house 40 miles from work. I dont make $120K.

I have learned one thing in life. "employed uber alles"

No matter where you live, something stinks about it.

[jillz]

Originally Posted by doglover29

I agree with all of this. We do take advantage of all DC has to offer weekly--so I would definitely miss this if we move to a boring city. My husband and I have often phrased it that way--that we would enjoy a nice house with a yard on a daily basis, and that perhaps is a better trade off than a rental in an exciting city that we enjoy only weekly--that is kind of how we've been looking at it.

I have no idea what our long-term plans are.

Since you don't have long term plans, I would say continue renting until you finally decide what you want. Let's say you buy a house and decide that you hate where you live despite owning your home. The housing market stinks and you may be stuck for a long time. Your phrasing of the question "Boring city but nice house or exciting city and renting" makes me believe that you will not enjoy that nice house even if you own it. Are you in your home 24/7? Prolly not. You HAVE to venture out sometime and if that locale bores the snot out of you what do you REALLY have?

I personally think the days of HAVING to own your home are long gone. People don't stick with their jobs forever like they used to, homes rise and fall in value, and the freedom to look for better opportunites will be limited with home ownership. Once you have kids (if you guys decide on that) maybe that will be a good time to buy. I know I say this in EVERY post of yours I reply to but you are on a constant search for something. Be it new locale, new job, have kids or not. Before you make ANY HUGE life decisions, I think YOU need to figure out what you are after.

I have a good friend right now who made a move to another state for a job. She hates it but she was unhappy with her life here and made a snap decision. She regrets it BIG TIME. Now she cannot afford to move back to CA for a long time.

I moved to a state for lower cost of living and it was boring as hell as well as far away from friends and family. The place was slow and I felt like I was missing out on the world going by. The people that lived there were nice but very different from me and my husband. I know I will not be able to own a home in my chosen state or city but I really don't care. My quality of life is important to me and that extends outside my front door.

[doglover29]

Originally Posted by jillz

Since you don't have long term plans, I would say continue renting until you finally decide what you want. Let's say you buy a house and decide that you hate where you live despite owning your home. The housing market stinks and you may be stuck for a long time. Your phrasing of the question "Boring city but nice house or exciting city and renting" makes me believe that you will not enjoy that nice house even if you own it. Are you in your home 24/7? Prolly not. You HAVE to venture out sometime and if that locale bores the snot out of you what do you REALLY have?

I personally think the days of HAVING to own your home are long gone. People don't stick with their jobs forever like they used to, homes rise and fall in value, and the freedom to look for better opportunites will be limited with home ownership. Once you have kids (if you guys decide on that) maybe that will be a good time to buy. I know I say this in EVERY post of yours I reply to but you are on a constant search for something. Be it new locale, new job, have kids or not. Before you make ANY HUGE life decisions, I think YOU need to figure out what you are after.

I have a good friend right now who made a move to another state for a job. She hates it but she was unhappy with her life here and made a snap decision. She regrets it BIG TIME. Now she cannot afford to move back to CA for a long time.

I moved to a state for lower cost of living and it was boring as hell as well as far away from friends and family. The place was slow and I felt like I was missing out on the world going by. The people that lived there were nice but very different from me and my husband. I know I will not be able to own a home in my chosen state or city but I really don't care. My quality of life is important to me and that extends outside my front door.

My husband and I are in a transitional mode right now, which is probably why I am constantly searching. It just so happens that all the major decisions of life--location, house, jobs, kids, etc.--are in up in the air because we're in this transitional mode. The word "settled" definitely does not describe us right now. It's just natural that when you're in a transitional mode that you start to evaluate every aspect of your life, and what you don't like, you try to change. I think many of my posts reflect that.

Hubby has been out in the working world (after finishing grad school) for only two years now, and is still evaluating what he does and doesn't like about his job. He loves his field but since this is his first real job ever, is not sure he wants to stay in his current job. I am in the process of changing careers entirely, and will hopefully be starting grad school in the fall in an entirely new field. We have moved twice in the last two years; one of those moves was cross-country. We love where we are but are just not sure it's where we want to settle down, due to the high cost of living. Also, because we still rent and have moved so much (I've lived in 5 different states in the last 9 years), that furthers our transitional state of mind. Furthermore, we can move anywhere, which is nice because it gives us lots of options but is also a little overwhelming.

The only thing is that this transitional state of mind has already lasted two years; we have no idea when we'll figure out what our long term plans are. I have a feeling that if we just stay where we are and keep renting that in another three years we'll be having this exact same conversation. We pay well over $2000 in rent monthly, so throwing all that money away monthly instead of putting it towards house payments makes us think we might as well be putting that money toward a mortgage.

On the other hand, I am happy living anywhere. I have lived in 5 different states in the last 9 years and have been happy with each of those locales, and they ranged from tiny town of 15,000 people to mid-size city to major metropolitan area. I have liked some of those places better than others, but could see myself buying a house and living happily in most of them. So if we moved to Indianapolis (a city I lived in for a couple years a few years ago), I'm sure I'd be happy there, but I think I'd be bored. I'd be happier in a place like DC, where we are now, where there is tons to do. On the other hand, we'd be able to have a gorgeous house in Indy that is a close commute to work, and here in DC we'd have an overpriced crapshack that is an hour commute--but we'd have plenty to do on the weekends. It's just a hard decision, and we've been wrestling over it for over a year now.

[jillz]

Originally Posted by doglover29

My husband and I are in a transitional mode right now, which is probably why I am constantly searching. It just so happens that all the major decisions of life--location, house, jobs, kids, etc.--are in up in the air because we're in this transitional mode. The word "settled" definitely does not describe us right now. It's just natural that when you're in a transitional mode that you start to evaluate every aspect of your life, and what you don't like, you try to change. I think many of my posts reflect that.

Hubby has been out in the working world (after finishing grad school) for only two years now, and is still evaluating what he does and doesn't like about his job. He loves his field but since this is his first real job ever, is not sure he wants to stay in his current job. I am in the process of changing careers entirely, and will hopefully be starting grad school in the fall in an entirely new field. We have moved twice in the last two years; one of those moves was cross-country. We love where we are but are just not sure it's where we want to settle down, due to the high cost of living. Also, because we still rent and have moved so much (I've lived in 5 different states in the last 9 years), that furthers our transitional state of mind. Furthermore, we can move anywhere, which is nice because it gives us lots of options but is also a little overwhelming.

The only thing is that this transitional state of mind has already lasted two years; we have no idea when we'll figure out what our long term plans are. I have a feeling that if we just stay where we are and keep renting that in another three years we'll be having this exact same conversation. We pay well over $2000 in rent monthly, so throwing all that money away monthly instead of putting it towards house payments makes us think we might as well be putting that money toward a mortgage.

On the other hand, I am happy living anywhere. I have lived in 5 different states in the last 9 years and have been happy with each of those locales, and they ranged from tiny town of 15,000 people to mid-size city to major metropolitan area. I have liked some of those places better than others, but could see myself buying a house and living happily in most of them. So if we moved to Indianapolis (a city I lived in for a couple years a few years ago), I'm sure I'd be happy there, but I think I'd be bored. I'd be happier in a place like DC, where we are now, where there is tons to do. On the other hand, we'd be able to have a gorgeous house in Indy that is a close commute to work, and here in DC we'd have an overpriced crapshack that is an hour commute--but we'd have plenty to do on the weekends. It's just a hard decision, and we've been wrestling over it for over a year now.

It is a REALLY hard decision. How are prices of homes holding up in Ind? I would think that although you would get LESS house in the DC area, it probably wouldn't lose value since that are will always have a lot of people NEEDING to live close. My mother-in-law lives in VA (Charlottesville) since she works out of DC (interpeter for the Gov) and loves being close to DC. If price weren't an issue, she would live IN DC but she is single income.

My husband and I have had these sorts of discussions over the years and although I could probably own a home somewhere else, I LOVE where I live so I don't see the payoff as worth it. Many people may feel differently. If DC or a city LIKE DC are what you ultimately enjoy due to everything outside your home, *I* would stay there and sacrifice on the home. A big home just brings more work anyway. If you didn't have a big yard to mow and a lot of upkeep on your house, you could have more fun/couple time. It just is a matter of what you want more. A large house and yard in a town that might not be your ideal OR a smaller home that may need some work but is close to all the city perks. I do realize though that not everyone has the same goals in life and some may be really happy in the HOUSE of their dream while others need the LOCATION of their dreams and what they live in is irrelevant.

[mazenblue]

Moved from the outskirts of major metro area to a smaller coastal town in Florida. Moved due my husbands job. No friends, or family, not much to do. It's pretty much retirementville. We are bored out of minds.
Due your research on places that you would consider living with the things in life that are important to you, clubs, museums, art, theatre,etc. If you have the opportunity to visit a city that you are considering, all the better.
Having a house will not ensure that you will happy on the weekends. Some good info on this thread regarding the housing market athat you will want to take into consideration. Good Luck!

[UW Badgers]

>Our house in Wisconsin would probably sell for about $170,000 or a bit more<

Im confuzzled here.

Rule of thumb. You can afford 2.5X your income in house. 170K/2.5 =68K. Your husband was relocated by company, got a promotion, and you do not have 68K total family income?

Cedar Rapids appears to have 3 malls. No shopping?

You are obviously homesick, a perfectly legit reason to leave, but CR does not seem that small.

Look at the bright side. I live in "exciting" New Jersey where you need $120K per year for a typical LOW end 300K house 40 miles from work. I dont make $120K.

I have learned one thing in life. "employed uber alles"

No matter where you live, something stinks about it.

Not sure about the part you quoted from my post. I was saying that our house here in Cedar Rapids would probably be worth about 170,000 in Wisconsin.That's the difference in cheaper living here. No, we can't afford a 170,000 house.

My husband makes decent money(not your business what he makes), I make okay money. Pay here is different then in Wisconsin as well(this didn't count his pay). When my husband was interviewing people for jobs at the company, some thought starting at 8 bucks an hour was like making 20 an hour. Starting pay is even more now and when the company raises that, then they allow all employees already with the company a boost in pay to keep it even. Can't have someone start making 2 or so dollars less then someone that's been here 5 years. Some are up to 13-14 bucks an hour now. They can't even believe. Most worked at jobs for about 5 bucks an hour and never got raises.

The area we want to move back to where the main hub is for husband's company has affordable housing and is an awesome town. We can get a house for what we paid for ours here, but it won't be as big, but that's okay with us. We know how much mortgage we can afford and would never go above that.

Yes, there are 2 malls here in Cedar Rapids. The one closest to us is a 2 story mall and is very empty. More and more stores are leaving. I think since Christmas 4 or 5 have left(there are probably 20 or more open spaces). If Penneys and Younkers weren't there, it would be closed. They don't know how to bring it back. The city was stupid and put a moratorium on it(which has been lifted) and wouldn't allow any new business, which wiped out 2 restaurants that wanted to build in the vacant land next door. The mall on the other side of town is one story, but not very big. It used to be an outdoor mall from what I was told. I was also told that the big box stores on that same side of town were just built in the mid-late 90's. So there wasn't much before then. The mall that has all the business isn't in Cedar Rapids, but 20 miles from here.

Yes Cedar Rapids can be labled "big" as far as a city goes, but there isn't much inbetween. Mostly farm towns. You have to travel to get to the next biggest cities.

We are passed the homesick stage, that was the first year we were here. After the flood in May, this city is lost. No one has a clue to what to do and there are neighborhoods upon neighborhoods that have been left to rot. The future is what we are looking out for and right now, here in CR, it's pretty bleak.

[doglover29]

So we started looking here in DC with a realtor--we're looking further out than we originally wanted to go, in the hopes that we'll find a better deal further out--we looked at some gorgeous houses, that had everything we're looking for--unfortunately they were all in the $900,000-1 million range. Basically, we could get these same houses in Indianapolis for about $300K. Is it worth it, to have our dream home, but in a place like Indy? It's not that we even need a big house--just a nice house. We're only looking at 3 or 4 bedrooms. But most of the houses in a reasonable price range are just not what we're looking for.

The main problem we see with leaving the East Coast is that we love to take weekend trips to interesting places that are close by. DC has so many of those--Philly, NYC, Charlottesville, the Atlantic beaches, etc. The midwest doesn't have that much to drive to generally--I mean in Indy Chicago is just 2.5 hours by car, but besides that there isn't much.

We're also strongly considering Minneapolis, a city I absolutely love and lived in for a year.

It's just so depressing that we'd have to settle for a house that we don't love that will be very expensive and a long commute, but we'd have lots of fun things to do. Or, we can move to a midwestern city and get the dream house but perhaps be bored. We just cannot seem to figure out the answer to this question. DH and I go back and forth every day. Just yesterday we were thinking, "let's stay in DC" and today after seeing houses with the realtor last night, we're thinking, "let's definitely move."