Yeah, that's about 2-2.5x what it costs here; the 2k a month is what you pay on a loan of 500k for 30 years repayment. I have absolutely 0 interest in moving,

Yeah, that's about 2-2.5x what it costs here; the 2k a month is what you pay on a loan of 500k for 30 years repayment. I have absolutely 0 interest in moving, it's nice here: we have a proper Democracy (proportional representation), you can cycle everywhere and the culture is socially liberal* and understanding. * The Netherlands is very socially liberal, but I live in the Bible Belt where a large proportion are socially conservative. However people learn to accept each other's differences and the PR ensures that certain groups don't get a disproportionate voice. I actually like living here: Bible Belt means community and a similar decency standard whilst live-and-let-live means that our LGBT friends can actually live their lives in the open.