7 ms·

I live in the Midwest, and I am likely to inherit my first home. Housing is cheap relative to the coasts, but pay is lower, and student loans aren't based on my

by jonlucc 10y ago

I live in the Midwest, and I am likely to inherit my first home. Housing is cheap relative to the coasts, but pay is lower, and student loans aren't based on my wages.

c0nducktr 10y ago
I'll second this. Homes might be cheaper, but the rest of our bills aren't, and salaries are much lower on average.
- dionidium 10y ago
  Homes might be cheaper, but the rest of our bills aren't The difference in housing is so huge that it sometimes feels like it swallows everything else. But, make no mistake, everything is cheaper here. Use a tool like this for some comparisons: http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-l...
  - Grishnakh 10y ago
    No, it isn't. Walmart or any other nationwide retailer isn't going to give you lower prices on TVs or clothes or groceries because you're in a low cost-of-living area. It all costs the same, nationwide. Same goes for anything online. ISP/telecom costs are not any lower in the midwest. Gasoline is not significantly cheaper. Cars cost the same no matter where you buy them. What else is left? I suppose you can get away with paying someone less to mow your lawn there, but that's about it.
    - flubert 10y ago
      I wonder who can find heat maps for the price of things like milk, bread, electricity, similar to this map for gasoline: http://www.gasbuddy.com/GasPriceMap?z=4 http://www.gasbuddy.com/GasPriceMap?z=4
    - dionidium 10y ago
      Is your contention that Bankrate made all of that up? How about the gas buddy link below (showing a difference of 30%)? You're right about online, obviously, but the evidence for the other stuff is abundant. Edit to add: Of course big retailers set their prices based on the local economy. https://www.quora.com/Does-Wal-Mart-charge-different-prices-for-the-same-item-in-different-stores https://www.quora.com/Does-Wal-Mart-charge-different-prices-...
    - imtringued 10y ago
      The retail employees in the bay area get paid more because they have to pay for the insane rent just like you have to. This obviously results in higher prices for goods purchased in brick and mortar stores.
xirdstl 10y ago
I grew up in the Midwest, and among my peers I grew up with (born in 1980), home ownership is the norm. This is particularly true for those with children.
- dionidium 10y ago
  I was born in the same year and this is true for me, too. I'm considered crazy because I still choose to rent. Again: I am considered a weirdo for not owning in my thirties. That is a normal sentiment among the working and middle classes in the Midwest. I don't think people on the coasts really understand this. My girlfriend moved here from Boston by way of NYC. She still can't believe the apartment we rent Downtown. In her mind this is an apartment for people much wealthier than we are.
dionidium 10y ago
Yes, salaries are lower. But they aren't 8-10 times lower. A 1000 ft^2 bungalow that costs a million dollars in Palo Alto can be had for around a hundred grand here. And, no, it won't be in a place that's as nice as Palo Alto, but it will be in a perfectly reasonable working-class neighborhood. It's up to you to decide if that tradeoff is worth it. One way to clarify your own thoughts on this is to imagine the reverse. If you were from St. Louis and somebody gave you a million dollars, would you spend every penny of it to buy a house in Palo Alto?
- Grishnakh 10y ago
  That's a bad comparison, because Palo Alto is not representative of housing prices in American metro areas, it's an exception. A better comparison would be someplace like northern New Jersey, or any such suburb, where you can be an hour away from a big city and you can get a house for ~$350k or so. Then you can enjoy having decent access to the big city, and also having lots of nice amenities very close by, enjoying a much prettier environment (there's a reason it's called "the garden state"), and there's better-paying jobs than anything you'll find in the midwest. If I were stuck in STL for some odd reason and someone gave me $1M, I would not stay in STL, I'd move to someplace where houses cost $300-500k most likely.
  - dionidium 10y ago
    I'm not impressed by snark about being "stuck in STL for some odd reason." You shouldn't be either. It's not particularly clever. But, to further the point, the same would obviously apply to houses in higher price ranges. $500k can buy a house in the Midwest that could fairly be described as luxurious.
    - Grishnakh 10y ago
      >I'm not impressed by snark about being "stuck in STL for some odd reason." You shouldn't be either. It's not particularly clever. It wasn't meant to be "clever". Maybe you think it's a great place, but if you're offended that not everyone thinks STL is some great place to live, that's your problem. STL does not have a reputation as a nice place to live. Proof: Ferguson. And Midwest weather is generally very bad (temperature extremes, tornados, etc.). And the crime rate there is known to be very high. If I was forced to live in some Midwest city, STL is probably the last place I'd choose. There's plenty of other Midwest cities that have boring but safe reputations. Yes, $500k can buy a luxurious house in the Midwest, but the salaries there are much lower so you're not going to be able to afford that house there anyway.

by jonlucc 10y ago

I live in the Midwest, and I am likely to inherit my first home. Housing is cheap relative to the coasts, but pay is lower, and student loans aren't based on my wages.

c0nducktr 10y ago

I'll second this. Homes might be cheaper, but the rest of our bills aren't, and salaries are much lower on average.

dionidium 10y ago
Homes might be cheaper, but the rest of our bills aren't The difference in housing is so huge that it sometimes feels like it swallows everything else. But, make no mistake, everything is cheaper here. Use a tool like this for some comparisons: http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-l...
- Grishnakh 10y ago
  No, it isn't. Walmart or any other nationwide retailer isn't going to give you lower prices on TVs or clothes or groceries because you're in a low cost-of-living area. It all costs the same, nationwide. Same goes for anything online. ISP/telecom costs are not any lower in the midwest. Gasoline is not significantly cheaper. Cars cost the same no matter where you buy them. What else is left? I suppose you can get away with paying someone less to mow your lawn there, but that's about it.
  - flubert 10y ago
    I wonder who can find heat maps for the price of things like milk, bread, electricity, similar to this map for gasoline: http://www.gasbuddy.com/GasPriceMap?z=4 http://www.gasbuddy.com/GasPriceMap?z=4
  - dionidium 10y ago
    Is your contention that Bankrate made all of that up? How about the gas buddy link below (showing a difference of 30%)? You're right about online, obviously, but the evidence for the other stuff is abundant. Edit to add: Of course big retailers set their prices based on the local economy. https://www.quora.com/Does-Wal-Mart-charge-different-prices-for-the-same-item-in-different-stores https://www.quora.com/Does-Wal-Mart-charge-different-prices-...
  - imtringued 10y ago
    The retail employees in the bay area get paid more because they have to pay for the insane rent just like you have to. This obviously results in higher prices for goods purchased in brick and mortar stores.

xirdstl 10y ago

I grew up in the Midwest, and among my peers I grew up with (born in 1980), home ownership is the norm. This is particularly true for those with children.

dionidium 10y ago
I was born in the same year and this is true for me, too. I'm considered crazy because I still choose to rent. Again: I am considered a weirdo for not owning in my thirties. That is a normal sentiment among the working and middle classes in the Midwest. I don't think people on the coasts really understand this. My girlfriend moved here from Boston by way of NYC. She still can't believe the apartment we rent Downtown. In her mind this is an apartment for people much wealthier than we are.

dionidium 10y ago

Yes, salaries are lower. But they aren't 8-10 times lower. A 1000 ft^2 bungalow that costs a million dollars in Palo Alto can be had for around a hundred grand here. And, no, it won't be in a place that's as nice as Palo Alto, but it will be in a perfectly reasonable working-class neighborhood. It's up to you to decide if that tradeoff is worth it. One way to clarify your own thoughts on this is to imagine the reverse. If you were from St. Louis and somebody gave you a million dollars, would you spend every penny of it to buy a house in Palo Alto?

Grishnakh 10y ago
That's a bad comparison, because Palo Alto is not representative of housing prices in American metro areas, it's an exception. A better comparison would be someplace like northern New Jersey, or any such suburb, where you can be an hour away from a big city and you can get a house for ~$350k or so. Then you can enjoy having decent access to the big city, and also having lots of nice amenities very close by, enjoying a much prettier environment (there's a reason it's called "the garden state"), and there's better-paying jobs than anything you'll find in the midwest. If I were stuck in STL for some odd reason and someone gave me $1M, I would not stay in STL, I'd move to someplace where houses cost $300-500k most likely.
- dionidium 10y ago
  I'm not impressed by snark about being "stuck in STL for some odd reason." You shouldn't be either. It's not particularly clever. But, to further the point, the same would obviously apply to houses in higher price ranges. $500k can buy a house in the Midwest that could fairly be described as luxurious.
  - Grishnakh 10y ago
    >I'm not impressed by snark about being "stuck in STL for some odd reason." You shouldn't be either. It's not particularly clever. It wasn't meant to be "clever". Maybe you think it's a great place, but if you're offended that not everyone thinks STL is some great place to live, that's your problem. STL does not have a reputation as a nice place to live. Proof: Ferguson. And Midwest weather is generally very bad (temperature extremes, tornados, etc.). And the crime rate there is known to be very high. If I was forced to live in some Midwest city, STL is probably the last place I'd choose. There's plenty of other Midwest cities that have boring but safe reputations. Yes, $500k can buy a luxurious house in the Midwest, but the salaries there are much lower so you're not going to be able to afford that house there anyway.