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Just back from Las Vegas and while I enjoy going there once a year for some fun with my friends, I could not imagine living there on a full time basis. I think the extreme temperatures would get to me and I am someone who likes warm weather. Like some others on this thread, can't say that there is anything that would induce me to live in a cold climate, no matter how cheap the housing was.
Also I think at the moment the employment market in LV is quite depressed.
I would never base my decision on where to live purely on how much house I could buy. For me, life is far too short to be living somewhere I don't want to be just so I could have more rooms in my house which require me to buy more stuff and pay bigger monthly bills.
Best way of determining where you would like to live is work out what you like to do with your time. Based on that, come up with 5 places that would fit your desired lifestyle and see which is more affordable.
Personally, I don't live in Honolulu, and I wouldn't want to; I live in the wilderness on the big island. The weather is not some abstract point for me; I moved here for year round organic tropical agriculture, something I couldn't do in a frozen, polluted gray city on the east coast. It isn't that expensive to build a house with a few acres in the area of Hawaii where we live, either. I lived in Pennsylvania at one point, and visited Pittsburgh; I prefer Hawaii.
Miami. Pittsburg isn't that fun and Vegas outside the strip is some of the worst urban sprawl on the planet.
Worst urban sprawl on the planet? Then your travels have been extremely limited.
Thank God Las Vegas is surrounded by Federal land, which explains the postage stamp yards you see, and all the houses squished together.
If Vegas wasn't restricted by bordering Federal land, we'd be one of the worst urban sprawl cities a la Minneapolis-St. Paul, Oklahoma City, Houston, Phoenix (the worst of the worst) and Atlanta.
Every year the Feds auction off little pieces of land for the developers.
I've only been to Vegas for a couple days and have been to either Miami or Pittsburgh. I vote for Pittsburgh because of its high walkability, beautiful architecture, and low cost of living. I think the person talking about the cheapness of Pittsburgh are referring to the burbs of Pittsburgh or fixer uppers. The highly desirable neigborhoods in the central area are quite costly with row decent row houses in the mid $200,000 range. You can find lots of sub $100k homes, but they are either far away from the central area or are derelect fixer uppers.
None of the above. I would only live in the city of San Francisco if I couldn't live in Hawaii because it has wonderful restaurants and is liberal in it's political persuasion.
Other than San Francisco, I'd rather live in a foreign country compared to the choices offered in this survey. Unlike a lot of local people, I have travelled extensively across this country, and I know I wouldn't like to live in any of the options given here.
Perhaps I'm biased, having been local born and raised, but the options offered in my opinion SUCK in comparison to Hawaii.
The thing about many low cost of living areas is that there are many hidden costs that aren't readily apparent. The hidden costs often include the following:
- Horrible local economy with lack of good paying jobs.
- High property taxes.
- High heating/cooling bills
- High crime rates.
- High automobile dependency
Yeah, rents and real estate prices may be cheaper on the other side, but if your heating bill is $300 a month in the winter and the cooling bill is $200 a month in the summer, your property tax is $9000 a year ($750 mth), etc your cheaper rent or mortgage may be more than offset by the other fees.
I respect your theory on weather being the be all and end all of reasons to live some place based on the theory you can "change everything else yourself", but I disagree. Consider the following...
I live in Pittsburgh, as does my best friend. He makes about 65K a year, and his wife makes about 35K a year.
On 100K a year, they live in a gorgeous 2-story log home with an enormous glass trow and deck on 2 acres of property on top of a huge hill overlooking row after row of lush wooded hills. They have a farm pond next to their property that the owner allows their two kids to fish in. They have 2 vehicles, money to set aside for their kids' college futures, live in a low crime rural area called Hickory, Pa...and yet, they are only about a half hour from downtown Pittsburgh where they have 3 professional sports teams, about 5 world class museums, low unemployment, watersports, and they're only about 90 minutes from great resorts offering skiing and all sorts of wintersports. Their kids go to a solid public school with plenty of other highly ranked public schools nearby should they ever move to a different area locally. They live within a 7 or 8 hour drive of about 15 cities large enough to support pro sports teams as well as the ocean. All these features, they indulge in easily, on only 100K as a couple a year. They live in an area with some of the most spectacular fall color in the country, the type of Christmas' that often look like postcards, and comfortable summers in the low 80's. Let's compare that with "perfect weather cities" like San Diego, Honolulu, Key West, etc.
Ok...so you live somewhere that is sunny and comfortable everyday. Only problem is, that 100K will buy you a shoebox there to live in...with little to no yard...oftentimes devoid of much history archetecturally or culturally due to the relatively young life of such cities. In addition, you better not pine for a beautiful fall drive, or a white Christmas, or watching the landscape become alive in the spring, because all these things someone from Pittsburgh takes for granted, someone from the cities I lived in can't associate with...the crisp fall air on a Friday night football game, the excitement of children on a snow day from school as they go sledding down neighborhood hills, being able to throw a lively outdoor party on your property without the neighbors calling the cops, because the neighbors are 3 acres away. Having sports teams that are so beloved that literally 90 percent of the population are of one spirit on Sunday afternoons.
You really think you can "change" all that? No...and 2nd of all, let's say you don't care about the treasure of the 4 seasons. You STILL now have the burden of working your butt off slaving to climb a hellish corporate latter of long hours and increasingly stressful responsibilities just to have the same acre of land or 2 story house or financial "play money" to enjoy their surroundings that a Pittsburgher can do with a middle of the road salary.
What good is paradise if you find yourself having to choose between living in a 1 room apartment eating generic Wal-Mart food, or slaving 65 hours a week and spending 6 or 7 years in school in order have some basic amenities and life indulgences?
The equation of life involves A LOT more than good weather. If it's midwinter in Pittsburgh and you want a warm weather fix, spend 250 bucks and hop a 2 hour flight down to Fort Lauderdale for a long weekend. Do it twice, once after the New Year and once around early March, and you've busted your winter up nicely.
But the idea that you'd sacrifice so many of life's pleasures because putting on a few layers of clothing for 4 or 5 months a year is THAT big of a deal to you, seems absurd to me.
Again, it's all about supply and demand. If Pittsburgh was such a great city to live in, it would be just as expensive as more desirable cities like Chicago, San Fran, Miami, etc. Pitt isn't that bad, but it really isn't that great either. I think if the winters were a little less brutal, then it would be considered a more desirable place to live in.
Definitely Pitt. Miami's heat/humidity make for a miserable combination. Vegas is also quite undesirable in my eyes, but i always liked the cold than the heat so im very biased. If i had to choose it wouldn't be any of those three, but you could definitely do a lot worse.
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