Posted on 04/26/2012 6:44:30 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
If there’s one asset the world has little use for, it’s an American single family home priced above 250K, reachable only by car.
The great, post-war buildout of America’s suburbs relied upon the continuance of a favorable arbitrage between rising wages, and low transportation costs. Now that this profitable scheme has come to an end, it should be no surprise that Robert Shiller remarked this week that housing “may not recover in our lifetime.”
While some stabilization has been seen since the start of the US housing bust, Case-Shiller data showed this week that many cities hit new price lows. Interestingly, Robert Shiller is now himself noting the energy and transport cost pressure on US housing, and used the phrase “walkable cities.”
To illustrate how I see the future price path of homes in non-walkable cities, I made up the following graphic:
Walkable cities are very nice indeed, and I’ve been fortunate to live in several of them: Boston, New York, San Francisco and now my present city, Portland.
But the majority of American homes, in order to capture any future increase in value, will need to benefit again from rising wages and flat to falling energy costs. At the current juncture, those are two trends unlikely to appear any time soon.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
"There is living space for 13 families in this one house."
In the Exurbs, the American Dream Is Up for Rent
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123845433832571407.html
Recall, in America’s past, that civil defense was utilized by citizens in the event of disasters or invasion.
Independent people can form associations when necessary for the preservation of life and liberty.
Typical commie lib.
Mass transit for all.
Cubicle apartments for all.
except them.
The only truth in this article is that home prices will not soon recover to pre-2008 levels.
Walkable cities are very nice indeed, and I’ve been fortunate to live in several of them: Boston, New York, San Francisco and now my present city, Portland
####
Most Americans have a strong aversion to living in your, “walkable”, overrated “hip”, liberal sh!tholes. We feel “fortunate” to not go anywhere near them.
Oh, and lose the poseur cigarette holder. It might be difficult, as it is likely scoring you major fairy points, as the the latest cool accessorization for smarmy, condescending EuroQueers.
I have a use for MINE. And the world does have a use for what I produce (blood analyzer software); a nice house is a fair use of the profits.
Average Price In New York City
$ 977/sq.feet!
I can drive a lot of miles for ONE sq/ft!
Would my allocated housing unit include 0.5 acre* of land, 1/3rd forest, a private pond and play area, garden space, 2000 sq ft living space, 3 bedrooms, and fireplace? These are my non-negotiable minimums, and the cheapest implementation thereof is "reachable only by car" and costs around $250k.
My target configuration is >20 acres (my family's FAIR share of world land mass), half forest, large pond & play field, 1+ acre garden & 1+ acre livestock (so we can be SELF SUFFICIENT on food), 4000 sq ft living space (just 0.5% of our FAIR share of land), 1 bedroom per family member (arrangement leaving 1 for guests), 2 wood stoves, well, cistern, and solar/wind electricity augmentation.
"Walkable" sacrifices any semblance of self-sufficiency, to wit SUSTAINABILITY. My target is SUSTAINABLE, a self-sufficient unit not negatively impacting anyone.
Re. #25:
Boston forbids ownership of firearms. Residents have no way to protect themselves there from the large, violent, heavily armed (!) permanent underclass.
I lived in subdivisions with “next door neighbors” all my life.
After I sold my business and commenced to think seriously of retiring, I began to realize that living in a subdivision really sucks. Little real privacy*, peer pressure to “conform,” etc. That’s when I started searching for some land.
Today I live on 15+ acres in beautiful Aiken County, SC. Oh, I still have neighbors. The nearest one lives almost 1/4 mile away. And we socialize... when we want to.
* My definition of privacy: Would you feel comfortable going outside and walking around your house stark naked? Yes? Then you’ve got privacy!
“People live where they do for a reason. If you make the cost of gas prohibitive, they will find alternatives, but they won’t move...”
I like my job and also my home. I happen to drive 30 miles each way to work. (Both would be hard to replace).
If they engineer the price of gas to $9/gallon, I’ll telecommute, work at the closer local offices or spend a couple of nights a week at a local hotel near my work.
But I am not going to move to a “Walkable” city. I grew up in a place like that and have worked very hard to get away from there.
People in places like that have a tendency to make their problems, your problems.Where I live everyone is friendly and doesn’t bother you.
Walkable city, NO THANKS.
Walking is the absolute last resort for mobility!
I put my bicycle, including it’s Whizzer engine, in the trash on my 16th birthday.
For the price difference between the article’s lamented $250k car-required home and the same-floorspace NYC price, you could drive an SUV 9 million miles. (That’s not rhetoric, that’s how the math works out.)
The telephone will end loneliness as people will get to know one another.
The automobile will end loneliness as people will get to know one another.
The internet will end loneliness and eliminate war as people will get to know one another.
Obama will end loneliness and eliminate war as people will get to know one another.
The end of suburban housing will end loneliness and eliminate war as people will get to know one another.
Walkable. Those cities? Walk them after dark and come back and tell me how "walkable" they are.
Leftism is little more than size envy. It starts in childhood with “No fair! His cake is bigger than mine!” and matures into “No fair! His house/car/SUV/boat/TV/family/pet/cigar is bigger than mine!”
Oh, I miss my previous private country home.
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