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I wonder what type of cities you've lived in. I've lived in various parts of Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville and we've previously had rock band and currently

I wonder what type of cities you've lived in. I've lived in various parts of Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville and we've previously had rock band and currently have room scale VR (it is, in fact, in use as I write this). Neither had dedicated rooms but the setup and tear down is manageable. Neighbors never complains about the noise, but we also don't set the bass to room-shaking levels. Perhaps the most significant difference between my home style in my last ten years and the decade previous (when I was a child/teen in suburbia) is that I share much more space. By pooling four incomes (two six figure tech salaries and two low five figure academia/architecture) we can afford places with enough living space to be comfortable. It makes sense. When I was a child we at least had four people in our suburban house, but even then, it wasn't anywhere near capacity. With four adults in a four bedroom apartment we get much closer to capacity usage. We also make use of parks, coffee shops, and public libraries (CPL's main branch is beautiful) for more flexible space when necessary.

Symbiote 10y ago
> By pooling four incomes (two six figure tech salaries and two low five figure academia/architecture) we can afford places with enough living space to be comfortable. I'm surprised people with six-figure salaries are sharing. Is that common?
- throwaway54665 10y ago
  > I'm surprised people with six-figure salaries are sharing. Is that common? Six-figure tech salaries. Did you expect them to move with their non-existent girlfriends?
- tomkinstinch 10y ago
  In Boston/Cambridge/Somerville it is depressingly common. I wish it were within my means to live alone, but even on six figures it doesn't make sense (I refuse to spend 40-50% of my net income on housing). Having roommates (who aren't romantic partners or family) is the worst. I need sanctuary away from people, and for example, it's frustrating when you want to cook and your cooking equipment is left dirty, when the kitchen is already in use, or when roommates have parties while you're trying to sleep. It's not an issue of having bad roommates, but of having people going about their lives independently in far too close proximity. I used to sleep without earplugs, but since moving to Boston I need to use them every night or I wouldn't ever get a full night of sleep. Having roommates in one's thirties extends childhood much too far. For me, density is the enemy, and being near nature is the goal. Unfortunately, jobs are in the city and not in the woods.
  - eropple 10y ago
    The solution should be obvious: get out of Cambridge/Somerville! I recently moved to Malden and was able to comfortably afford a two-bedroom condo on a senior-level tech salary (I pay under 25% of my take-home in housing). It's super quiet and just on the edge of suburbia, but with a supermarket, the gym, the T, and about a dozen restaurants within easy walking distance. I'm a little over ten minutes from an Orange Line T stop (Malden Center) that gets downtown in 28 minutes and the same T stop has a thirty-minute bus to Central. I live super near three different parks, and the one I go to most often is lightly used enough that I can often sit somewhere, surrounded by trees, and not see another person for an hour or so. I could Uber to Cambridge, round-trip, twice weekly to go out with friends and still be racking up significantly less expenses than I did when I lived in Davis.
- vostok 10y ago
  Yes. Six-figures is worth much less now than when the term came into popular usage.
- danking00 10y ago
  A little background: we're a pair of couples, each couple having one of the two higher salaries. Others have noted the high rent/mortgage prices in the Cambridge/Somerville area. However, each couple could afford the rent on a one or two bedroom. We're privileged to be able to do so; however we choose not to. Two of the four of us have experienced solitary (i.e. One bedroom, no roommates) living. We all prefer coming home to an occupied house with a pseudo-family. For my partner and I, children are about a decade away due to the constraints of grad school, early career, and general desire to spend time together before adding a third or fourth person to the mix! Similar feelings lie with the other couple. As such, a traditional family is quite some time away for any of us. Neither do any of us want to live with our parents for obvious reasons. And living with just our partner feels, in both cases, a bit too isolated at this point in our life. I suppose it comes down to the desire for family, togetherness, community. We each have three people on whom we can rely and with whom we live. It's comforting and enjoyable. Of course we can also save significant money because we split one Internet bill, one rent, and one utility bill. Closer quarters living seems to be a bit more cost-efficient on the heating front. This compounds with the money saved by not owning a car and the economic benefits of easy access to the city's job market. EDIT: I realize I didn't answer your question! I'm sorry. It's common among my group of 24-28 year olds who are a mix of grad students and professionals. Most people have at least one non-partner roommate. I cannot think of one person who lives alone in the city. I do have friends and relatives with apartments in the suburbs who live alone. They tend to have similar feelings to sibling posts here about "being an adult", a very strong desire to own property, and/or cannot stand the cleanliness issues that arise with roommates.
- Camillo 10y ago
  Six-figure is really not that many figures in the Bay Area, for instance. I have a friend who makes six figures in SF and just rents a room.
- wcummings 10y ago
  In Somerville, yeah.
p4wnc6 10y ago
When living in Boston/Cambridge between 2008 and 2015, every apartment I lived in had serious noise issues, and it wasn't just being able to hear too much from neighboring apartments ... it was also hearing people blast music out of their open windows from other buildings or in shared parking areas. Reporting these noise violations never did anything. The police showed up, asked people to stop, they stopped for 30 minutes then just started up again. After months and months of this at two totally different apartments, I finally just stopped reporting the egregious noise violations, because what's the use? Probably some disruptively loud neighbor started thinking what you thought -- that if no one is actively complaining then it must be OK, when really it was just worse: the mechanism of complaining doesn't actually help solve the problem so it's of no use. It's especially bad in older buildings that have been converted into apartments -- which represents a lot of the inventory in Cambridge and Somerville. Edit: Forgot to add -- city construction noise is also a huge problem, and most cities have specific laws about how much noise construction crews can make and at what times. Inside the permitted limits (even if the limits are actually unreasonable from a human health and well-being point of view) you have no recourse of any kind. For instance, I usually go on very long runs on Friday nights -- it's one of my weekly exercise and meditation habits. So I tend to sleep in on Saturdays to let my body recover. Being woken up by jackhammers at 9 am on every Saturday for an entire summer was a very miserable experience for me.

Symbiote 10y ago

> By pooling four incomes (two six figure tech salaries and two low five figure academia/architecture) we can afford places with enough living space to be comfortable. I'm surprised people with six-figure salaries are sharing. Is that common?

throwaway54665 10y ago
> I'm surprised people with six-figure salaries are sharing. Is that common? Six-figure tech salaries. Did you expect them to move with their non-existent girlfriends?
tomkinstinch 10y ago
In Boston/Cambridge/Somerville it is depressingly common. I wish it were within my means to live alone, but even on six figures it doesn't make sense (I refuse to spend 40-50% of my net income on housing). Having roommates (who aren't romantic partners or family) is the worst. I need sanctuary away from people, and for example, it's frustrating when you want to cook and your cooking equipment is left dirty, when the kitchen is already in use, or when roommates have parties while you're trying to sleep. It's not an issue of having bad roommates, but of having people going about their lives independently in far too close proximity. I used to sleep without earplugs, but since moving to Boston I need to use them every night or I wouldn't ever get a full night of sleep. Having roommates in one's thirties extends childhood much too far. For me, density is the enemy, and being near nature is the goal. Unfortunately, jobs are in the city and not in the woods.
- eropple 10y ago
  The solution should be obvious: get out of Cambridge/Somerville! I recently moved to Malden and was able to comfortably afford a two-bedroom condo on a senior-level tech salary (I pay under 25% of my take-home in housing). It's super quiet and just on the edge of suburbia, but with a supermarket, the gym, the T, and about a dozen restaurants within easy walking distance. I'm a little over ten minutes from an Orange Line T stop (Malden Center) that gets downtown in 28 minutes and the same T stop has a thirty-minute bus to Central. I live super near three different parks, and the one I go to most often is lightly used enough that I can often sit somewhere, surrounded by trees, and not see another person for an hour or so. I could Uber to Cambridge, round-trip, twice weekly to go out with friends and still be racking up significantly less expenses than I did when I lived in Davis.
vostok 10y ago
Yes. Six-figures is worth much less now than when the term came into popular usage.
danking00 10y ago
A little background: we're a pair of couples, each couple having one of the two higher salaries. Others have noted the high rent/mortgage prices in the Cambridge/Somerville area. However, each couple could afford the rent on a one or two bedroom. We're privileged to be able to do so; however we choose not to. Two of the four of us have experienced solitary (i.e. One bedroom, no roommates) living. We all prefer coming home to an occupied house with a pseudo-family. For my partner and I, children are about a decade away due to the constraints of grad school, early career, and general desire to spend time together before adding a third or fourth person to the mix! Similar feelings lie with the other couple. As such, a traditional family is quite some time away for any of us. Neither do any of us want to live with our parents for obvious reasons. And living with just our partner feels, in both cases, a bit too isolated at this point in our life. I suppose it comes down to the desire for family, togetherness, community. We each have three people on whom we can rely and with whom we live. It's comforting and enjoyable. Of course we can also save significant money because we split one Internet bill, one rent, and one utility bill. Closer quarters living seems to be a bit more cost-efficient on the heating front. This compounds with the money saved by not owning a car and the economic benefits of easy access to the city's job market. EDIT: I realize I didn't answer your question! I'm sorry. It's common among my group of 24-28 year olds who are a mix of grad students and professionals. Most people have at least one non-partner roommate. I cannot think of one person who lives alone in the city. I do have friends and relatives with apartments in the suburbs who live alone. They tend to have similar feelings to sibling posts here about "being an adult", a very strong desire to own property, and/or cannot stand the cleanliness issues that arise with roommates.
Camillo 10y ago
Six-figure is really not that many figures in the Bay Area, for instance. I have a friend who makes six figures in SF and just rents a room.
wcummings 10y ago
In Somerville, yeah.

p4wnc6 10y ago

When living in Boston/Cambridge between 2008 and 2015, every apartment I lived in had serious noise issues, and it wasn't just being able to hear too much from neighboring apartments ... it was also hearing people blast music out of their open windows from other buildings or in shared parking areas. Reporting these noise violations never did anything. The police showed up, asked people to stop, they stopped for 30 minutes then just started up again. After months and months of this at two totally different apartments, I finally just stopped reporting the egregious noise violations, because what's the use? Probably some disruptively loud neighbor started thinking what you thought -- that if no one is actively complaining then it must be OK, when really it was just worse: the mechanism of complaining doesn't actually help solve the problem so it's of no use. It's especially bad in older buildings that have been converted into apartments -- which represents a lot of the inventory in Cambridge and Somerville. Edit: Forgot to add -- city construction noise is also a huge problem, and most cities have specific laws about how much noise construction crews can make and at what times. Inside the permitted limits (even if the limits are actually unreasonable from a human health and well-being point of view) you have no recourse of any kind. For instance, I usually go on very long runs on Friday nights -- it's one of my weekly exercise and meditation habits. So I tend to sleep in on Saturdays to let my body recover. Being woken up by jackhammers at 9 am on every Saturday for an entire summer was a very miserable experience for me.