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Instead of inland in places like Kansas. You can get a house for almost no cost in certain areas of Kansas and other non coastal states. Try finding that deal in a coastal state. Will not happen, you will likely be spending well north of $1 million dollars to own a home in the coastal states. Especially in highly desireable areas. So my
question is even if one have a good cash flow why would someone willingly choose to live in a place like Boston when they could own a house for almost no cost and save more money in the Midwest states?
I guess because they like it there better.
It's expensive to live in Seattle, but we moved here because we liked it. For what I paid for a house here, I could have bought twice the house where I grew up in Michigan. But I don't want to live in Michigan.
Instead of inland in places like Kansas. You can get a house for almost no cost in certain areas of Kansas and other non coastal states. Try finding that deal in a coastal state. Will not happen, you will likely be spending well north of $1 million dollars to own a home in the coastal states. Especially in highly desireable areas. So my
question is even if one have a good cash flow why would someone willingly choose to live in a place like Boston when they could own a house for almost no cost and save more money in the Midwest states?
Well Im the one who owns a house and 40 acres in Kansas, while my brother owns a half-a-house (condo) in Boston with a tiny yard and paid 10 times more...though its not even remotely $1million (your estimate is WAY off)
The simplest answer is jobs.
Boston has a lot of excellent, well-paying jobs for educated people.
Kansas, even in the cities, does not.
And then there are politics, educational opportunities for your kids, the general "feel" of an area, etc.
much as my husband and I like where we live in rural America, we can easily see the appeal for my brother and SIL.
Expensive areas are expensive because they have higher-than-average annualized returns. If you buy in Coastal California, or NYC, your investment, in the long term will be much better than if you bought in the Midwest. ...
Thank you for pointing this out! Real cost of living includes not only down-payments and monthly cash flow (mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance,...), but also consequences of the sale when eventually moving out (or dying).
While all local markets are different, and local opportunities may arise even dotting the Midwest, generally houses are cheap because they have been appreciating slowly (or not appreciating at all). And generally this trend will continue, barring some disruption like discovery of local minerals, stark changes in laws, corporate relocations and so forth.
Owner-occupied real estate as an investment vehicle is its own separate topic, and a vast one. Even so, if my cheap house remains today at the same price where it was 20 years ago, well, in the proverbial long run, is this still cheap?
Being landlocked is not fun. I've also heard it's flat there (hence the tornadoes), and those two things, tornadoes and staring off into flat land, isn't to my liking for obvious reasons. There's more diversified flora and I hear the insects in the midwest can get serious. The east coast also has more history as it kind of was where settlers first came. Thus, it's a bit more 'developed' when it comes to that. Also, I kind of like being a few miles outside of one of the greatest cities on earth.
I don't feel landlocked at all. The Great Lakes earned their name. They are huge.
Kansas is one state in the mid-west. Not all of the mid west is plagued with tornadoes. We are also safe from hurricanes, earthquakes or fire seasons. It's nice and safe here.
The terrain varies. From what I've read, Kansas and the western central states, do tend to be flat. Not so of the Upper Mid West.
Kansas is culturally more western. Where as North Eastern Ohio was settled by people from Connecticut, and has a decidedly New England flair.
Jobs. Many homes in my home state of Pennsylvania can be had for less than $100K. In fact, in my hometown, there are a few rowhome-type properties going for $10K. The catch is that there are hardly any good jobs in the area and most people leave after graduating from high school and college.
Being head of the time zone is a big plus. I hate going to the West Coast and every thing is behind and I feel completely off when things are happening before I wake up. The West Coast has a really slow and laid back mentality. I like the East Coast because people mostly have a purpose and they do things because there's a reason to.
Unlike the West Coast where people just have too much free time because the weather is great most of the time there's no rush. In the East Coast you plan your vacations for that 4-5months when it's warm and then the rest of the time you stay put.
Being head of the time zone is a big plus. I hate going to the West Coast and every thing is behind and I feel completely off when things are happening before I wake up. The West Coast has a really slow and laid back mentality. I like the East Coast because people mostly have a purpose and they do things because there's a reason to.
Unlike the West Coast where people just have too much free time because the weather is great most of the time there's no rush. In the East Coast you plan your vacations for that 4-5months when it's warm and then the rest of the time you stay put.
Um, clearly you didn't live in the Bay Area during the tech boom. Sixteen hour days were common. I remember many nights when I dropped off a home-cooked dinner at 9:30 p.m. for my husband and his team, who were planning to work through the night to make sure a release happened on time. It was a pressure cooker environment. When we lived in D.C., it was 8:00-5:00 M-F with no variation. The Rocky Mountains are more along the lines of what you've described. People set their own schedules and often work out of a home office. They get a lot done, but they do it on their terms.
And one other point - retirement income. Far better to have lived in the big metropolitans/east coast areas earning the much larger salaries so that one' s social security income at retirement is also much larger.
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