Random Early Lunch Post

[urbpan]

1. I'm pleased to see that after the Atheist Apocalypse there are still pigeons. It wouldn't have killed the cartoonist to change it to an American robin, but hey, I haven't given up the room in my heart for pigeons.

2. On account of the exciting mortgage crisis (Low income people out on the street! Bailouts for Wall Street Usury firms!) our options for where to move have temporarily expanded. Here's a question I asked on thequestionclub with predictably binary results (considering the binary nature of the question): You have two choices about where to buy a house. You have a 300k budget. Do you a) Buy a tiny house with no yard in Oakland California or b) buy a nice house with a gigantic yard 30 miles outside of Austin Texas?

Comments

[hhw]

what, tiny can't be nice? Perhaps you are ready to move to Texas!

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

not when you have dogs and would like a yard to grow your own food.

[mperrotti76.livejournal.com]

Oakland sucks. It's a giant, crime ridden, crack house of a city. Go with Austin.

[anais2.livejournal.com]

I second this, wholeheartedly.

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

I'd choose the Austin area over Oakland, but I'd suggest visiting Bastrop before making that leap. It might be near Austin, but Texas towns tend to have their own "flavor" -- from what I've heard from my Austin friends, Bastrop is "podunk". (Then again, most of my friends in Austin think any place that's not Austin is not-so-great.)

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

Bastrop is little more than one of the most notorious speed-traps in the state on top of some of the most boneheaded highway junctions in the state.

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

The only good things that ever came from Bastrop were the film The Whole Wide World (which used Bastrop's downtown to fill in for Cross Plains) and a very good friend. Other than that, it's a pit.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I chose Bastrop as an example more or less at random. Any location within 30 miles of Austin where we can get a house on an acre or more within our price range is fair game.

[bunrab.livejournal.com]

The only places within 30 miles of Austin that are even faintly cool are Pflugerville and Buda, and they are still podunk-y, just with some cool features. And geez, we have been back there several times already this year, as you know, and
(a) the traffic is even worse than we remembered,
(b) fewer eateries are open later at night than there used to be,
and (c) the prices of everything at said eateries have gone up, so that a sandwich at most places now costs as much as it does here in B'more.

My brother J and his wife and 2 kids live in Oakland. They live in a very nice area. However, their house DOES meet the "no yard to speak of" description; they have cats rather than dogs, so it doesn't bother them, but I couldn't see living there with any dog larger than a Pomeranian.

friends/friends list

[photoholic62.livejournal.com]

I don't usually go about randomly commenting on posts in my friends/friends list, but this time I simply must.

First off, the question about where to live intrigued me, since it just so happens that I do live about 30 miles outside Austin on 10 acres of property. Then, upon clicking the link, the house you show just off 1441 is only a mile or so from my house, as the crow flies.

Are you moving there? Are there questions about the area I can answer? I've lived here for ... lessee ... well, over 30 years.

Re: friends/friends list

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Are you moving there? Are there questions about the area I can answer?
Maybe.
Millions, but I'll have to think about it.

Re: friends/friends list

[photoholic62.livejournal.com]

Ok, I'll be here when/if you're ready.

[grace-batmonkey.livejournal.com]

B, as that's basically our goal.

Now we just work out butts off for 5yrs to make the $ part happen ;]

[drocera.livejournal.com]

As much as I dislike Texas, I'd have to go with that option.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

Don't they say "location, location, location"? I'd say move to an area you like being out and about in, since that's what you DO. And perhaps you can then trade up or more land as time goes on. There's no point in being in a gilded cage if you don't want to leave the house and get restless with the natives.

(Which means I have no idea between the two geographical areas: you have to decide.)

And if Oakland is where you wanted to be, is that tiny house THE ONLY CHOICE you have? There might be something with a yard for the dogs somewhere.

Oh, yeh, what about work? What are you doing for work? What area has something waitng for you?

Last thought; we'll miss you! (Not that we/I ever see ou in person, so I supposed you'll still be as close as LJ. But I'll miss the photos that surprise me about the place I live and never get to see.)

[the-tutor-is-in.livejournal.com]

nice house, giant yard. i understand austin is the best part of texas. in my experience, oakland is the scariest part of the bay. anyway...giant yard! javelinas! nice house!

i don't care for texas, but it sounds more promising than the alternative. and it rains a LOT in oakland. and the ocean is too cold there, whereas the gulf is just right.

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

I used to sell real estate for 7 years, and if you were my prospective client, I would ask you why you are buying a place. Do you want to live here forever in retirement, do you need a place to get to your job/hobbies quickly and conveniently, do you need space, or are you looking to maximize the resale value?

There are a lot more differences between Austin and San Francisco (where, btw, that house has a lot more of a yard than mine has... if you put a fence around that grass, it's a yard, right?) than what kind of house you can get for your money nearby. However, if all things are equal to you, then based on your apparent age I will guess that you are not planning to live there until death, and will suggest that you look into whether business and commuter transportation is moving into either area, because that is what will most determine how much a region will appreciate in value as compared to other regions.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I would ask you why you are buying a place.

We want a place where we can run our dogs (and chickens and maybe goats and other stuff) safely. That's the biggest part. We already own now (with no mortgage) so we aren't interested in renting anywhere.

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

And there you get the other advantage to life in Texas: a lot of the available property in North and Central Texas is already zoned for agricultural use. As much as I might recommend the Bay area (and I love the Bay area), just try to raise goats in Berkeley or Santa Cruz without blowing a few million on the land and the zoning changes. (That's why I'm staying out here: you really can't get too much cheaper when starting a nursery than in Texas.)

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

If you're serious about space for animals, then the smaller property couldn't be for you. No?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

No, and it's not that binary a choice in reality. San Francisco was our first choice, and if there was a way we could make it work we'd do it. But we realistically need at least a quarter acre, and my feeling is if we move to Texas, we may as well get much more than that.

[morgi.livejournal.com]

Just off the top of my head, I'd be more inclined to go with the nice house and big yard.

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

Santa Cruz! Santa Cruz!

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

If you're buying, he's flying.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Word.

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

Just to warn you, houses outside of Austin tend to fluctuate in value whenever the Texas economy goes sour all out of proportion to the rest of the state. If you need room and you need culture, go to Fort Worth, if only because the property is even cheaper. (Having lived all over Texas, I'll be the first to state that Austin is one of the most overrated cities I've ever visited, and I'd sooner live in Houston these days than have to drive through Austin. I'd even move back to Portland before I'd move to Austin, and lower than that I cannot get. Austin combines the worst of Portland's entitlement brats and dopy vegetarians with Phoenix's weather.)

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

You do like to swim upstream, doncha?

I like places where I don't feel like I'm going to get beat up for being dressed funny. I don't intentionally dress funny anymore, but it's the principle of the thing.

But I like your perspective as someone who has lived all around. You remain the only person I've heard say that they don't like Portland.

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

Strangely enough, that worry about being beaten up is one of the reasons why I recommend Fort Worth. Fort Worth's artist community is one of the area's best-kept secrets, the downtown Sundance Square area is one of the most vibrant downtown areas I've ever seen this side of Seattle, and there's a lot going on out there. Admittedly, a lot of this is financed by the current natural gas boom in the area, but Fort Worth has a lot of people whose attitude is "we've got another oil boom, so let's not piss it all away this time."

As far as general attitudes, while Dallas resembles a midnight screening of Dawn of the Dead, Fort Worth is incredibly mellow about the odd: Robert E. Howard looked at it as the gateway to civilization when he lived in Cross Plains in the Thirties, and it's only gotten more interesting. A lot of this is because that a lot of the movers and shakers in the city started from very humble roots: an old co-worker of mine used to work for Neiman Marcus, and she related that NM would send its snottiest and most pretentious sales reps to Fort Worth for a few weekends to learn humility. When literal billionaires come out to the store wearing boots with holes in the bottom and well-worn blue jeans, you learn not to trust surface impressions.

As for Portland, I think you'll find a lot of people who can't stand the place: they just aren't vocal about it. Most just got tired of the pretentiousness and arrogance and moved somewhere else so they didn't have to listen to their neighbors attempting to boycott bike path expansion projects solely because the road crew wasn't being offered vegan lunches. (True story.) If the city's arts community boosters lost their trust funds, Portland's rep for the arts would fall apart faster than Bush Administration testimony, and I know quite a few serious bicycling-as-commuting advocates who want to go to Portland and slap the shit out of just about every biking advocate in the city. However, I'd best stop while I'm ahead: any time I bring up the incredible rudeness of Portlanders, where they freak out if someone holds open a door for them, I'll get at least one local doing a perfect Creed impersonation by whining "I've lived here ALL MY LIFE, and I've NEVER heard about all of the problems you're describing!"

[lindyhoppr.livejournal.com]

I am actually going to be spending my 300K on a small, probably condo in San Francisco. The City Okland suburbs.
So, there.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I knew someone had to be in that camp! Yay, Bay area!

[lindyhoppr.livejournal.com]

I'll back you up on the bay!

[pangolin.livejournal.com]

Sticking with the choices provided, I'd pick B. More space, no earthquakes.

[bunrab.livejournal.com]

OTOH, more tornadoes.

[pangolin.livejournal.com]

Some, although I don't think they have too much in the Hill country. But even at that point you're pitting Tornadoes vs. Earthquakes, and Tiny Little Living space vs. Great Big Living Space.

[buboniclou.livejournal.com]

I think it would be awfully fortuitous for Alexis to live on a street called Paintbrush. Besides, Austin is awesome.

[rinalia.livejournal.com]

Unless that little tiny house is up in the big-ass Oakland hills, you'd be crazy to move to Oakland over Austin. Although, according to several crime maps, you're biggest concern in the area of 79th street is aggravated assault, narcotic busts and vehicle thefts. Bastrop doesn't even have a crime map, tragically.

[by-steph.livejournal.com]

Bah. California.

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

And just to muddy the waters, Kaja Foglio is up in the Pacific Northwest complaining tha6t there isn't enough rain anymore.

[bellelvsbeast.livejournal.com]

Well I would so go for the Oakland house, but mainly on account that I need to live in the Bay Area for my job and Dan's job...also I would NEVER live in Texas. My mom lived there when she was younger and she said people are SO closed minded and rude and just not fun. Plus there isn't a lot to do and I guess the weather is so nuts...so yea I will stick to the Bay Area, and if I can never afford a house, I honestly don't care...I am happy to rent forever really...but with Dan getting his new job soon (eee!!!) We an actually afford a house...;)
Well first we will get married, but then a house! :)

Cool quote

[(Anonymous)]

The star of riches is shining upon you.


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