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There are places in the US where you can buy houses for a tiny fraction of what a condo would cost in a major city, but the problem are the same--you will have

There are places in the US where you can buy houses for a tiny fraction of what a condo would cost in a major city, but the problem are the same--you will have to invest in rehab, the local economy is probably not good, etc. On the other hand, if you can still do remote work and get money that way, you could make a go of it. But it wouldn't be easy.

ghaff 5y ago
And broadband Internet may well be an issue. 5G may help in some cases although my dad's house which doesn't have broadband also has almost non-existent cellular service. (There's a hot spot but it's limited in both speed and amount of data. Basically no streaming.) Starlink should help in this regard. You don't really have good alternatives to landline broadband today in the US generally.
- Sebb767 5y ago
  In theory, you could also invest into laying a local fiber cable. It's not cheap (think 4 to 5 digits), but depending on the location, it might be worth it.
  - ghaff 5y ago
    It's a ways down a private road so it would certainly cost a lot. For now, it's just a vacation/summer place. It means I can't really work remotely from there unless I can mostly work offline (which I can't really in general) but I'm fine without things like streaming.
    - Sebb767 5y ago
      If you are or know the owner of the road, it would probably not be that big of a problem - fiber and equipment is quite cheap and you could do the digging yourself (it would not be perfect, but it does not matter for private use). Usually, the real problem is getting the permits from the government and/or the owners in between; in your case, you might just need to get the ISP to meet you at the border of the premise. Setting up a wireless ISP (posted quite often on HN) might be another solution. But, if it works for you, it's probably not worth the investment.
      - ghaff 5y ago
        The road is maintained by the homeowner's association that we're a part of. If I were going to be living there full-time, better Internet is something I would probably have to look into. My brother did look into options (as have others along the same road) and he concluded that a hot-spot with limited data now with hopefully Starlink in the future made the most sense. For occasional use, limited Internet is fine. I don't depend on streaming for myself and I don't expect to work from there to any major degree. (And can always go into the town library or wherever.)
aledalgrande 5y ago
Aside from the cited internet, I would be worried about the other types of infrastructure around me if I was living in such a place. If it keeps depopulating, who's going to pay for roads, water and electricity plants? What's safety gonna be like? Closest ER? There's a lot of things that we are provided with every day and expect to be there, that we don't really think about.

ghaff 5y ago

And broadband Internet may well be an issue. 5G may help in some cases although my dad's house which doesn't have broadband also has almost non-existent cellular service. (There's a hot spot but it's limited in both speed and amount of data. Basically no streaming.) Starlink should help in this regard. You don't really have good alternatives to landline broadband today in the US generally.

Sebb767 5y ago
In theory, you could also invest into laying a local fiber cable. It's not cheap (think 4 to 5 digits), but depending on the location, it might be worth it.
- ghaff 5y ago
  It's a ways down a private road so it would certainly cost a lot. For now, it's just a vacation/summer place. It means I can't really work remotely from there unless I can mostly work offline (which I can't really in general) but I'm fine without things like streaming.
  - Sebb767 5y ago
    If you are or know the owner of the road, it would probably not be that big of a problem - fiber and equipment is quite cheap and you could do the digging yourself (it would not be perfect, but it does not matter for private use). Usually, the real problem is getting the permits from the government and/or the owners in between; in your case, you might just need to get the ISP to meet you at the border of the premise. Setting up a wireless ISP (posted quite often on HN) might be another solution. But, if it works for you, it's probably not worth the investment.
    - ghaff 5y ago
      The road is maintained by the homeowner's association that we're a part of. If I were going to be living there full-time, better Internet is something I would probably have to look into. My brother did look into options (as have others along the same road) and he concluded that a hot-spot with limited data now with hopefully Starlink in the future made the most sense. For occasional use, limited Internet is fine. I don't depend on streaming for myself and I don't expect to work from there to any major degree. (And can always go into the town library or wherever.)

aledalgrande 5y ago

Aside from the cited internet, I would be worried about the other types of infrastructure around me if I was living in such a place. If it keeps depopulating, who's going to pay for roads, water and electricity plants? What's safety gonna be like? Closest ER? There's a lot of things that we are provided with every day and expect to be there, that we don't really think about.