LF vs. Evanston "Wealthy Millennial Home Buyers Are Trading Sleepy Suburbs for Smaller Houses and Shorter Commutes"—WSJ (Chicago: middle-class, apartments)

[NOLA101]

On the positive side, if you want somewhere like Lake Forest, which is still a very nice community, the prices are attainable for non-wealthy. Upper middle class couples can now comfortably afford non-mansions in prime Lake Forest. And there are lots of high paying jobs that don't require a commute downtown.

[reppin_the_847]

While this trend has been picking up steam for years upon years in the Chicagoland area, I wonder if the tide may turn & the further out burbs might regain some appeal after America gets past the coronavirus pandemic.

NYC has always been considered the epitome of prestigious urban living in this country, and look how they've gotten utterly decimated by the pandemic. Some of the super rich folk out there have virtually fled to areas such as the Hamptons, Hudson Valley, Nantucket (MA), Jersey Shore (NJ). These areas are nowhere near the "city" so to speak & now the locals are afraid that their local hospital systems will be overwhelmed. The rich Manhattan folk are sometimes even forking over $100K per month or more for those Hamptons mansions. LOL. Such absurd market conditions would be unheard of in Chicago fortunately.

[NOLA101]

I'm not getting why you think that wealthy people fleeing to their weekend homes in a pandemic means that sprawl will regain its appeal.

Their second homes aren't in sprawl, they're in the country. And it isn't like they're giving up their primary homes because there's a 2-month crisis.

It would be like saying that Barrington will be more appealing than Evanston in the future due to Covid-19, and the reasoning is that people in the Gold Coast are hanging out in their Michigan weekend homes. Huh?

[reppin_the_847]

Originally Posted by NOLA101

I'm not getting why you think that wealthy people fleeing to their weekend homes in a pandemic means that sprawl will regain its appeal.

Their second homes aren't in sprawl, they're in the country. And it isn't like they're giving up their primary homes because there's a 2-month crisis.

It would be like saying that Barrington will be more appealing than Evanston in the future due to Covid-19, and the reasoning is that people in the Gold Coast are hanging out in their Michigan weekend homes. Huh?

Look, I see your point here. End of the day I think that the trend in general may get blurred. People will live where they enjoy the lifestyle more.

Whether in the city, a inner-ring or outer-ring suburb, I think remote working (or a good mix of it) will be more acceptable for white collar workers than ever in the past after the current pandemic situation is under control.

And the best part about working remotely is that you're way less limited in terms of where you live. Commute times are less of a factor when you only need to report into a physical office 1 to 2x per week. If you're real lucky, maybe even less often than that. Main prerequisite of course is a decent wi-fi connection & cell phone signal.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

While this trend has been picking up steam for years upon years in the Chicagoland area, I wonder if the tide may turn & the further out burbs might regain some appeal after America gets past the coronavirus pandemic.
.

No. I absolutely don't think so.

[dtcbnd03]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

While this trend has been picking up steam for years upon years in the Chicagoland area, I wonder if the tide may turn & the further out burbs might regain some appeal after America gets past the coronavirus pandemic.

A big reason urban living has exploded from the employee's perspective is less commute times and walkability (i.e. the idea of biking/walking to work along with other amenities). From the employer's perspective its a bigger talent pool in a concentrated area. Covid will have a dramatic impact on the remote working landscape as more industries shift to online and work from home. White collar employers will not rush employees back to work at the risk of a covid outbreak...and people will soon realize 90% of office work can be done from home.

So I could see as jobs shift online some people seek the more surburban / rural lifestyle...but on the flipside all the other lifestyle amenities like restaurants, bars, grocery, gyms, etc. being within walking distance will still be a HUGE pull to urban centers. At the end of this I think we'll simply see more urban people working from home and office buildings will suffer. I would not want to be an office building owner right now.

[reppin_the_847]

Originally Posted by dtcbnd03

A big reason urban living has exploded from the employee's perspective is less commute times and walkability (i.e. the idea of biking/walking to work along with other amenities). From the employer's perspective its a bigger talent pool in a concentrated area. Covid will have a dramatic impact on the remote working landscape as more industries shift to online and work from home. White collar employers will not rush employees back to work at the risk of a covid outbreak...and people will soon realize 90% of office work can be done from home.

So I could see as jobs shift online some people seek the more surburban / rural lifestyle...but on the flipside all the other lifestyle amenities like restaurants, bars, grocery, gyms, etc. being within walking distance will still be a HUGE pull to urban centers. At the end of this I think we'll simply see more urban people working from home and office buildings will suffer. I would not want to be an office building owner right now.

There you go, I think I can agree with you on this point for sure.

[jcp123]

Hey, go on! I’m technically a millennial, but I’m too much of a car guy to really be happy with an urban setting. Make my houses cheaper please!

[Diws]

Joel Kotkin has been contending for some time that the future is dispersion, with select remaining 'luxury cities' where the rich globalist elite live and play, alongside those who serve them. And there will be less and less reason to be even close to a major city, so it's not so much sprawl and exurbs expanding as loose clustering around existing desirable rural areas. https://www.newgeography.com/content...pulated-cities

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by Diws

Joel Kotkin has been contending for some time that the future is dispersion, with select remaining 'luxury cities' where the rich globalist elite live and play, alongside those who serve them. And there will be less and less reason to be even close to a major city, so it's not so much sprawl and exurbs expanding as loose clustering around existing desirable rural areas. https://www.newgeography.com/content...pulated-cities

Nearly everything Kotkin wrote in that piece is baseless crap. The coronavirus is not going to rescue the housing market in Lake Forest, Greenwich Backcountry, and the like.

This is a more rational take on the question of density and health in light of the pandemic: NYT: Density Is Normally Good for Us. That Will Be True After Coronavirus, Too.