Here’s an interesting discussion between Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds and Joel Kotkin of New Geography.
Open Questions: Do you currently live in an urban setting, suburb or rural area? If you won $50 Million tomorrow would you move to one of the other two types of areas?
Live rural now and would live in a warmer rural place if I won 50 million.
I live in an urban area because the work that currently gets me my living requires this. If I had an income or a different line of work that allowed it, I would move to a rural home.
Rural. Seasonally, various places, mostly rural, including this one.
I live in a rural area.
You’d have to drag me by the heels outa here to live anywhere else.
All these cities that want to build rail transit…think high density housing will,pop up all along the route…there is not that many people that want to live in 50 storey ant hills…light rail crates a lot of noise…maintenance is very high…in the long run not cheaper…//
I live where I want to live now. Why the he## would I move? I spent all my life to get where life is good. I’ll stay here thanks. That is rural sask. Love it.
If I won 50 million, I’d live on a 100 foot yacht in Tampa Bay and points south.
a@c says it well.
Although I guess that at some point when we can no longer look after the place and it starts to go downhill will be the time to relocate to Saskatoon.
It seems like only the other day when in 1973 we drove up the long beautifully treed driveway and when halfway up my wife said “This is the place”. It was. Have a good life here and the twilight is peaceful.
I live in an urban area, but my neighbourhood was a suburb 100 years ago. Assuming I still had to work for a living I would live in the same neighbourhood except in a bigger house. There are some beautiful Edwardian era mansions in my neighbourhood, but they are out of my price range. I would however buy a cottage or hobby farm if I had the money. If I didn’t have to work I would buy a 40 foot yacht and head for the seas.
Small town, right on the transCanada highway. Close enough to the big metropolis of Regina. Lots of people who live here commute every day, but I don’t.
Wanna really great place to live … Nanaimo BC … pop 88K, clean, growing, peaceful, mainly white English speaking … really good roads, and services … close to Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle. Great ocean and mountain views, affordable housing, mild weather all year.
Beat that!
I live in a village in rural Alberta. We are currently just getting by and hoping one day to be able to afford buying a piece of property from our friends quarter. Roughly 10 minutes away.
If I won $50 million, I would make them an offer on the whole quarter the next day. This property is really a piece of heaven on earth.
Since there would be a few million still left in the bank, we could afford to tour where ever else we’d like, but the quarter section would always be our home.
Right now I live in a small city which is essentially all suburbia. Would never go back to living in a large city again.
If I had an extra $50 million kicking around, I’d buy a rural place in Southern Australia and spend from November to February there. Winters are something I’ve gotten used to but it’s the short days that I am having an increasingly harder time dealing with.
What I find quite surprising is that none of the “planners” has taken telecommuting into consideration when coming up with their mass transit system ideas. I no longer go to libraries as I can get just about everything I need over the internet. The Interior Health region now has specialist consults done over a video link with a nurse in the room with the patient to point camera to various bodily areas or check vital signs, etc. Patients are quite happy with this system as they don’t have to travel hundreds of miles for a 15 minute appointment.
IMHO, a much healthier society would result from people spread out over a wider area of the country in small towns and cities. There may be some who like living in a high density city environment but the hassles far outweigh any advantages. When I found myself doing 90% of my non-food shopping over the internet (or couriered stuff from local Vancouver stores) because it was simply impossible to get anywhere in the city I left.
Manhattan is pretty nice. If you don’t have to commute. Plenty of obnoxious top 1 percent of the top one percenters though. Lots of great stuff do do as well.
But one of course would need a place in the Adirondacks and a float plane. Hey, you said 50 million dollars.
I live in a town of 10,000, with no other town of any size within ten miles. I moved here from Silicon Valley. If I were offered a lot of money to work in a city, I suppose I’d go, but if I won $50 million tomorrow, I’d stay here. I’d still live in the far-from-lavish house that I live in now. I’d still drive my 1998 Corolla.
If I had 50 million I’d buy a banana company and use only ethical oil. I hear that market is expanding.
Nanaimo isn’t my thing. Too much rain. Not enough heat. And you’re dependent on intermittent boat service when you want to go anywhere.
I’ll tell you, if I didn’t have to live in the city, I wouldn’t.
Rural life sounds nice to me.
With $50 mil I’d be sailing somewhere. Having lived the military life all over the place the wife and I are quasi-nomads at heart. Been to so many places but there is still more to see. When I can’t travel anymore, I want a piece of property and a yard with a porch and a lawn to chase kids off of.
All in all, I’d go ‘burbs or rural rather than urban. I have the misfortune to work in Halifax’s peninsula and even now the urban planners are working hard to make the place even more crowded by promoting programs for higher density residential. The funny thing is they don’t want to tear down heritage buildings, or build higher than x stories to block harbour views.
The crazy part is that these urbanites are also waging a war to get silly hall to allow them to raise chickens and livestock in their postage sized yards or any green space.
“a@c says it well.”
I agree. I now live in small city suburbia, but will change eventually when immigration and crime catches up as it did in Calgary for me 20 years ago.
White flight, but it was definitely worth it in hindsight! It turns my stomach to see the changes when I visit now.
50 million, I’d live right where I do now, with the addition of a rural escape + a Hawaiian condo + an urban Canadian city center small studio condo/ rental + a south central BC condo somewhere like (Okanogan, Penticton, Kamloops, Cranbrook, Fernie etcetera).
Not a huge footprint, condo’s can rent out when you don’t need em.
anyone who wants a piece of property or a hobby farm, shes for sale, 36 acres right on the escarpment
if I won 50 mil, I’d travell again
Rural here but only 20min from the city and work from home. Live within the city? never again..
Urban for me. Within six blocks I can walk to 15 different bars/pubs/restaurants. I guess it’s all a matter of priorities…
If i won 50 million i would definatley do the middle of nowhere thing but i would also have a home is a small town with mosto fthe convieniences of day to day life and living so i could raise my kids so on and so forth but ultimatley i want to be with my wife and myslef (after the kids are gone ) in the middle of nowhere and i want to die in my home and be alone away fro mthe craziness of the cities …look at what happenes in them all the time … i am tired of them i don’t want to be apart of them anymore!!
LOKI IS RIGHT!!!
or even a rural acrage about 20mins -40mins from the small city of airdrie …i live in airdrie and i liek it but it is growing way to big way to fast ..for the most part the cops do a good job of keeping the scum off the street’s as well people here are not afraid to tell someone that someone was sniffing around there yard or to call the cops !!! i like that !!
I was really, really tired of living in a pig sty.
I had a few siblings who ventured out with dreams of a better life. One of them figured a straw house was an improvement over the sty, another thought sticks would make a better domicile. Wrong!! Lobo ate ’em!!
Porky, the bightest of the family, and our real chance of attaining something more than simply Grade ‘AA’ Back Bacon thought bricks was the way to go. Alas, when it came time to pay for the materials, the supplier asked for an arm and a leg, and that, well, pretty much finished him!
So I guess I just want to stay here, cavort in the mud, and be happy as a pig in shit.
GYM >
“shes for sale, 36 acres right on the escarpment”
Is that in Canada GYM, or out east in pseudo Europe, or far west in little Asia?
Urban! With $50million I’d finally be able to afford a decent house here.
And a summer home/cottage somewhere very different…
If I won 50 million, I’d buy a farm in the whitetail plentiful Robson Valley,and donate the rest to the Suzuki foundation.
Just kidding about that last part,Dave,sorry.
With $50 mil I’d move to Attawapiskat.
Rural, but only 15 minutes from the city, and it is getting crowded.
With a few more bucks I’d buy 200 acres with a log cabin on off the grid.
I live in St. John’s, in the first suburban area (“Great Northern Valley” it was once known) which is pretty much downtown now.
If I had 50 million? I’d probably rent a pied a` terre right downtown, and also see if I could rent some kind of place in Chartres, in France.
I would like to spend part of each year in the shadow of the great Cathedral.
Rural. A car door slamming causes the dogs to get real alert and me too. Would have a hard time of it to live where I couldn’t take a pee in the back yard….plus, I’ve got way too much stuff for a city lot.
Rural, wouldn’t live anywhere else. I’d use the 50M here.
I live in a home in an urban area.
With 50 million, I would buy out some of my neighbours and rebuild, plus add condos in Vancouver, San Francisco and Las Vegas.
Knight 99 at 8:19 PM
Knight, I’m 1 hour from DT Toronto, 20 minutes from three other small towns, and 1/2 to Brampton
when I sell, it’ll be the first time in 42 years I ain’t owned land:-)))
$50 million? A home in Gif-Sur-Evette in the suburbs of Paris. An apartment in Ney York and a small house in Carmel CA. Short term rentals in the South of France and Tuscany. Most likely Lucca.But you know what? It doesn’t really make any difference. My wife is the best cook on the planet. And you can find good wine almost everywhere worth going today.
Live in an older area of Toronto with nice tree lined streets, quiet, within walking distance of restaurants, shops and pubs. Not having to commute anymore makes its a great place to live.
Saw my first niqab today in my local Loblaws so unpleasant changes happening.
Living on 500 acres of wilderness, wouldn’t change it for anything. If you want to be a real libertarian, that’s the only way to go.
50 million? I have no need for it. I’d give it to my kids. Maybe they’d visit more 🙂
50 acre mountaintop survival retreat, deep in the southern Appalachian mountains. Hardwood forests, pure spring water, clean air, majestic vistas, low crime, low taxes, low cost, rarely snows, no diversities.
Do I miss Ontari-ario?
GYM >
“I’m 1 hour from DT Toronto…”
I’ll bet it’s a nice place GYM. Unfortunately for me that’s too far into continental socialist Europe for me to buy and live. Even the Soviet Union had some beautiful properties, if not for the communists that would get in the way.
I’ll stick to my guns in western Canada, literally forever.
Dystopian Optimist >
I thought about a good bug out SHTF purchase several years ago when I saw what Katrina was going to eventually bring us.
After allot of shopping around and as an avid outdoorsman, I realized that we have so much available crown land, friends and family with land etcetera here in Alberta, it would be kind of a waste.
On the other hand, if you check out some of the underground “end of the world” survival bunkers you see selling all over the internet these days, you have to say “too cool, I’ve gotta have one of those”.
Then you need some private land. $50 mill buys one hell of a security crib to ward off the “disenfranchised youth” that will undoubtedly one day be car-b-quing our nice neighbourhoods.
Always lived downtown except 3 years in isolated boarding school that was on a side of forested hill with hills and forests all around, and 2 years soldiering outside of the most famous beer place in the whole wide world Plzen of if you prefer Pilsen.
After walking to work in downtown Calgary for 30 years, moved to a small town in Crowsnest Pass and then to Osoyoos. Not my kind of life.
After 12 years, now, in a small place outside of Calgary, still does not feel right.
With 50m, could by two houses in downtown Calgary, make them history and build one new one with a good size workshop.
Then would get a house on a Greek island.
I can dream, can’t I?
I’d move far from any reserves. They’re hell-holes.
Allot of this dreaming is moot,
Nearly anyone here can live in allot of places like the millionaires they dream to be with what they have right now.
India comes to mind; $100,000.00 goes along way, maids, gardeners, and drivers all day every day. Been there done that, it’s just tough to take when you come home to Canada and they want you to wipe their feet because they have a 6 month doctorate degree from Mumbai U but unfortunately find themselves driving a taxi cab.
It’s the Liberal left that really freaks me out, they could be slum-dog millionaires in dozens of totalitarian sh*tholes around the world but choose to be useless little losers in our world, picking and biting at our freedoms instead.
I am a city planner. I live in a city. I would prefer to live in a much smaller city. Would ultimately like to live in a small traditional New England style township near farms.
I think I might blast a hole it a mountain and build a well appointed, armed, technologically advanced Dr. Evil sort of lair to ride out the coming apocalypse. So rural I guess.
I live in the suburbs outside of a major metro in the US. Honestly I love it. Acre plus lots with lots of trees and trails.
I live in a small hamlet in Eastern Ontario, roughly half way between Ottawa and Montreal. I would move an hour and half the other side of Ottawa to some acreage in the country. The house would have to be a Victorian with a wrap around porch.
Main reason is that where I live now is a no rifle hunting zone and also is in the emissions testing area of Ontario. No way would I be taking my Ferraris, Jaguars and Aston Martins in for the geniuses at Canadian Tire to test every two years.