Are you trapped in a small town because you can't sell your house without a loss? (real estate, quiet)
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Yes, small-town living can have perks but not for people who want to be upwardly mobile in their careers.
As a smart nerd, who wants a thinking man's job, I am trapped at an employer because it is the only place within 80 miles of my town with good white-collar jobs. Lots of people at my employer are abused because they know we have zero options to move on without selling our home and moving far from family and friends. It is like a prison. The real estate market in our town is terrible and we could not sell our home unless we took a huge loss.
Can you relate? Maybe you love your small town but are trapped by a terrible job market and homes that have lost value.
Sorry to hear this, most places including small towns are booming now. I’ve been waiting to move from this area, almost since we bought it. My spouse is having surgery this summer, after he recovers, it’s move time. Awful to feel trapped in a place you dislike.
If you’re a nerd, why don’t you get a job online? My spouse is an electrical engineer, over the years, he’s done some amazing things like designing microchips, interesting, but as nerdy as it gets. He hasn’t been working in an office in over ten years, it’s all computer based. Why not look into a tech company whose employees work from home?
Hang in there, your time will come to pick up and move.
Yes, small-town living can have perks but not for people who want to be upwardly mobile in their careers.
As a smart nerd, who wants a thinking man's job, I am trapped at an employer because it is the only place within 80 miles of my town with good white-collar jobs. Lots of people at my employer are abused because they know we have zero options to move on without selling our home and moving far from family and friends. It is like a prison. The real estate market in our town is terrible and we could not sell our home unless we took a huge loss.
Can you relate? Maybe you love your small town but are trapped by a terrible job market and homes that have lost value.
And then you post: Please don't tell me to look for another job. I just want to survive this. I live in a small town without many jobs and had hoped to stay here for the rest of my career. It pays well, one of few places with office jobs in the country and is known as the best employer in the city.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Angry-Koala
Where in these United States? All I can find is home values up everywhere from where the were five years ago, especially in rural places.
Here too, the small towns and rural area prices are going up faster than those in major employment centers, with so many employers now offering work from home.
Yes, small-town living can have perks but not for people who want to be upwardly mobile in their careers.
As a smart nerd, who wants a thinking man's job, I am trapped at an employer because it is the only place within 80 miles of my town with good white-collar jobs. Lots of people at my employer are abused because they know we have zero options to move on without selling our home and moving far from family and friends. It is like a prison. The real estate market in our town is terrible and we could not sell our home unless we took a huge loss.
Can you relate? Maybe you love your small town but are trapped by a terrible job market and homes that have lost value.
Nope.
Homes are going like crazy in my rural area. I get solicitations wanting to buy my property 2 or 3 times a year. Home prices have become ridiculous.
Being rural and in a town with very little employment opportunity I have known those who have driven 150 miles to work in Nashville. Being rural, commutes are nothing. I have a thinking persons job and I commute 30 miles one way.
I think there are many people who would like to find any places, rural or not, where house prices are falling below what they were even a few years ago.
If you look for remote work, make sure you're place has the right internet. Some can get away with cell hotspot devices, satellite etc. but my hubby's remote job requires hard wired cable to do his job, so we live in a suburb. We like our area well enough, but we're looking forward to seeing what Starlink can do once they get the bugs out. Years ago we had the experience of living in a small mountain town and loved it, despite the long commute. Wouldn't mind finding a small town, or... we might just hit the road and work from there!
The making up of one's mind, is no trivial task, when there are competing objectives, equally plausible and compelling alternatives, and especially when one lacks the experience or self-knowledge to really know what one wants. Dogs are cute, but also high maintenance. Do I really want a dog? Sports cars are fun to drive, but expensive and ostentatious. Do I really want a sports car? Rural living is serene and quiet, but the commute is lengthy and the internet is slow. Do I want to stay rural?
If there were an obvious resolution, then assuredly one would pursue it, even if the method were laborious and the path fraught. If however we don't genuinely know what we want, and we mistrust our judgment, and we worry about a frying-pan-into-the-fire blunder, then where do we begin? It's only too easy to stay put, from paralysis and inertia. But that engenders guilt. We come to berate ourselves for inactivity, cowardice, lack of resolve.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Angry-Koala
Where in these United States? All I can find is home values up everywhere from where the were five years ago, especially in rural places.
House prices are indeed up from where they were 5 years ago, but that just means rising from a very low nadir. In my former town, prices only lethargically crawled up, during the 2003-2007 “boom”. They crashed in 2008-2011 to around the mid-1990s level, then climbed slowly, and have picked up only in the past 2-3 years. In inflation-adjusted terms, prices still lag where they were in 1995. It’s been over a quarter century. Cumulative inflation since then, has meant roughly a doubling in the price of hamburgers, roofing shingles or dog-grooming. It hasn’t meant a doubling of prices of a modest Midwestern 3-2 ranch-on-a-basement. And this is all assuming good and assiduous maintenance over the decades. Fall short of maintenance, and your house-sale will be at a loss, despite decades of ownership. Ask me how I know…
Yes, small-town living can have perks but not for people who want to be upwardly mobile in their careers.
As a smart nerd, who wants a thinking man's job, I am trapped at an employer because it is the only place within 80 miles of my town with good white-collar jobs. Lots of people at my employer are abused because they know we have zero options to move on without selling our home and moving far from family and friends. It is like a prison. The real estate market in our town is terrible and we could not sell our home unless we took a huge loss.
Can you relate? Maybe you love your small town but are trapped by a terrible job market and homes that have lost value.
I am so sorry. There is nothing worse than living in a place you hate and having to work for an abusive employer. I hope you can figure something out.
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