Well...
Lucky me I am but 5 mins away from my noname town fire department.
And one of my neighbour survived 2X heart attacks without problems of the ambulances reaching him either.
Since my DH works at the town in the closest suburbia... commute & saving gas is no problem either (he can easily bike if he like & do on some days for training / exercise routine).
Best of both worlds.
BTW... North East while may not have as many subd's developments as other places...
I still see new ones being built every time traveling outside of my rural areas even in a bad housing market...
Makes me wonder why these builders continue to build mass homes to drive down pre-existing subd's home prices that is on similar 1/3 acre or less lots (make sense to pay premium for brand new homes while older subd's homes devalue like 2nd hand car)... homes that are also alike in the communities that can be easily compared to like "apples to apples"; unlike an "apple to orange" scenario of the subd's house vs that rural home with acres to boot.
Makes sense, supply & demand theory...
While land are not "reproduced" so cannot drive up supply via that "making" of land & as population grows bigger, land ratio to population shrinks...
BUT.... homes can easily be built upon smaller & smaller lot of land (like even building upwards) hence subdivided.
So the more homes on subplots are still being built... when supply surpass demand (qualified buyers)... home value will only be driven down on similar lots & homes = how stable the housing industry really is. Hello Shiller.
Nevertheless... learning more info will only better arm the knowledge seeker...
So some interesting read:
If you thought HOAs were bad now, just wait - Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 | 2 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun