The frustrating paradox (apartment, condo, low crime)

[bmurphy]

This isn't really a rant, but it's something I don't understand.

Okay--people in places like California and Florida or wherever are unhappy. So they move -- to Idaho, Arizona, Nevada (for Californians) and NC, SC, TN, KY, GA (for Floridians).

No offense to them, I can see why they may be unhappy. However, isn't it just going to "spread" the problem? The other states will crowd, and the same thing will occur again--people will leave. Sooner or later we'll run out of states that are still "preserved" (there's few already).

It just makes me mad that this is happening without anything being done to curb the growth (maybe fix some of the issues in FL/CA/whatever and people won't leave!, and give the other states infrastructures to handle the growth more easily!), and people are still flocking.

It's weird. I wonder why people keep flocking? Don't they hear about increasing crowds? It seems like once people start crowding an area, you'd read about it and avoid it. Apparently it's not the case since people flock to an area until it bursts. Does anybody do research? I just don't get it.

FYI: If this sounded rude, snotty or immature I'm sorry. It's just my feelings.

[TakeAhike]

I think a lot of people just keep moving---maybe live 5 years in one place then move on.

I notice a great deal of difference in the areas of metro Atlanta--the New People are living in the boom towns to the North, South and West. Fast paced lifestyle or so it seems from reading the posts.

Those of us more towards the center and/or east seem to put down deeper roots---a bit more mellow?

Almost everyone in Atlanta hates the traffic--but most of the newcomers seem to like it here pretty well. Good jobs--a moderate climate--almost everyone has lived somewhere else.

FL, CA, NJ and some of the SW states--and areas of Ohio, Missouri and others that I forget---they have some difficult problems--and I have no advice for them. Atllanta was headed toward some severe problems and the massive campaign for economic growth was chosen--that is what everyone wanted--a stable economy. I don't care for some of the changes--but better that than having the area completely deteriorate.

I guess we could have 5,000,000 people living in high rises somewhere North of the city.

[MidniteBreeze]

We lived in Colorado Springs for a while--definitely a popular place to "flock" to--and they're experiencing many of the problems associated with rapid growth. It's still a very livable place, but we decided to get out before it got too crowded/expensive.

I guess the key is to go somewhere that not everyone wants to live. We are now back in northern MN. Great quality of life here, but the cold keeps pepole away...which is fine by me. I guess the bottom line is there's got to be a tradeoff somewhere.

[merlin70]

I think what you are missing is people aren't generally moving due to crowds. Most (not all) are moving due to economics. If you can sell a home in CA for $900k and buy the same one or bigger in Vegas, Pheonix or Atlanta for say $400k that becomes a very tempting idea.

In my case, I didn't move from San Diego to Atlanta to avoid crowds. In fact, Atlanta is substantially bigger than SD metro- about 5 million in Atlanta metro compared to 3 million in SD metro. I moved primarily due to cost of living, and most of the people I spoke to who had done similar had moved due to cost, not crowds.

If people were moving just to avoid crowds, eveyone would be going to Iowa or the Dakodas, which they are not.

By the way, if you want to see crowds go to Tokyo sometime. About 35 million people live in an area geographically as big or maybe smaller than most small metros in the US. Now that's a crowd! It makes even NYC look positively rural!

[Need_affordable_home]

I agree, its cost of living thats the main factor. Although people have many reasons. Perhaps the crime has gone up or maybe the economy is declining? Maybe theres a new mayor that everyone hates? Maybe they are sick of the weather? Many reasons.

[BlueWillowPlate]

We're in the Information Age and word travels much faster than before--so trends come and go much faster. When places become popular, property values rise--along with the cost of living.
MidniteBreeze, I know what you mean about Colorado. We left Denver partly because we were simply ready for a change, but also because it was becoming much more crowded, expensive and yuppified.
Where we are right now is quiet, low crime, low traffic. But not a heck of a lot going on.

[RedWingsFan]

I don't think your post sounds rude at all. I understand your concern. But you aren't understanding the concerns of others. People move for a variety of reasons, be it family, jobs, weather, etc. Everyone is looking for something better. Often times the places they are going to to find something better are places others are leaving because they are unhappy. Sometimes people reach their destination and find out it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. So they end up finding somewhere else to go.

The fact is that we leave in a wonderful country with fifty states and we have the freedom to move about those states as we wish. It's great, we can try every state in the union by the time we die if that's what we wish.

[SandyCo]

Something else people don't understand is what living in California (especially So-Cal) and Florida is really like these days. I'm sure that Colorado is crowded compared to the way it was five or ten years ago, but it's still nothing like what Los Angeles is like. L.A. County has eleven million people!

I agree that the insane cost of housing here is driving people away, people with families in particular. Why would you want to raise your child in an apartment or very small condo here when you could move to Texas and have a house? Yes, you put up with lots of weather anywhere else you move, but life is all about trade-offs. I would certainly trade good weather here for a better lifestyle elsewhere.

[christina0001]

It's the American way. Unless you are of American Indian descent, it's what our forefathers did (and even the American Indians did not start out here I think; if I remember 7th grade history, they migrated over here where Alaska and Russia were attached). They were dissatisfied with where they were at, so they came here. They started on the east coast and slowly spread out. America is huge and I think it will take a very, very long time before we are "full." I wonder if "full" will be determined by running out of land, or resources (water, food, etc.) becoming limited.

You raise a valid point. We are moving from NJ for many reasons, and one of them is that it is more built up here than we like. We considered the Raleigh area of NC for awhile, but Raleigh is experiencing a huge influx of population, so we decided against it. We suspect it will be just like NJ is, in 10 - 20 years at most. We eventually decided on an area that is experiencing very slow, steady growth (as well as other factors we were looking for). I can't imagine it will be overcrowded there for several generations.

I don't think growth can be curbed easily. People keep having babies ... foreigners keep immigrating to our cities ... major corporations in large cities prosper and hire more workers, who need to live somewhat near their jobs. Some towns are strict with regulating growth, but more often than not it seems towns want to encourage growth, which then increases the amount of taxes that can be collected, increases tourism and commerce, and gets attention. My grandmother lives in an old-fashioned town that is really strict with growth - it is almost impossible to start a business there, and new houses must be on I think a minimum of at least 2 acres. It keeps the town really nice.

[bmurphy]

Let's say people want to move to Charlotte, NC. I believe it's getting crowded there. Wouldn't they read about increasing crowds and cost of living and avoid it, thus it wouldn't become HORRIBLE? It seems like its well on its way to become packed and nobody seems to be noticing, and still flocks there.