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With all due respect that’s _your_ dream. I hated growing up in a house with a back yard and a driveway. I’m not sure I would have wanted to grow up in downtown

With all due respect that’s _your_ dream. I hated growing up in a house with a back yard and a driveway. I’m not sure I would have wanted to grow up in downtown Manhattan, but an apartment in a small city would have been infinitely better.

BuyMyBitcoins 4y ago
>”I hated growing up in a house with a back yard and a driveway.” May I ask why?
- tomtheelder 4y ago
  Mostly because it was boring and isolating. To be clear I didn’t dislike the yard! I disliked what living in an area of traditional SFHs (aka the suburbs) entailed. My cousins growing up lived near the core of a small city and visiting them was like a breath of fresh air. So many fun activities nearby, things you could walk to, way more people to meet. Where I grew up I was basically stuck on just my street unless I could convince my parents to drive me somewhere, and even when I had that there was nowhere interesting to go. I guess when I was like <10 years old it didn’t really matter, but the older I got the worse it was. I’d never move back to a suburb personally, and I certainly wouldn’t raise kids there.
  - dgunay 4y ago
    I had exactly this experience growing up too. My friends were all _at least_ a 2 mile walk from me, on 8 lane 60mph stroads with nothing but gated communities and strip malls along the way. Biking was not great either because of how hilly it could get. Once I got a car life got much better, but it didn't have to be that way.
- anon291 4y ago
  For me, it's the fact that new single family developments are unwalkable and a major contributor to childhood depression. Children are meant to be out and about. This can happen in the rural countryside where kids can play in woods and the like. It can happen in the city where kids can hang out around town and see all kinds of people. It cannot happen in a suburb because the cars are too fast, there are too many of them, and there's no safe place for kids to walk by themselves. And even if they could in most bedroom towns, there's nothing to do. For me, I'd live in the country or the city never the suburbs. I had to beg my parents to take me anywhere. My kids just leave the house and find friends or say hi to neighbors. No effort on our part and they get to be free.
  - TheCoelacanth 4y ago
    Car-centric suburbs are the worst of both worlds. Not enough space for real outdoor activities. Nothing nearby worth going to.
dinkumthinkum 4y ago
Well, you are an extreme outlier. There are all kinds of people on this world but this very uncommon. Most people in apartment complexes are trying to get into their own home or hole that they can.
- tomtheelder 4y ago
  I’m not convinced that’s true at all.
- anon291 4y ago
  That's not true. Most renters want to own because owning is cheaper. Renters live in houses too... It's not like home renters are less likely to want to own. I know a family who rents a lovely house in a super nice neighborhood... They still want to own.
- HWR_14 4y ago
  Many renters want to own, but they may want to own a townhome or a condo and not a single-family home with a driveway and a yard.
- jandrewrogers 4y ago
  Extreme outlier? I know many people that can afford to live anywhere they want that choose to live in an apartment for its many advantages. It sounds like you are projecting your own biases. The notion that everyone desperately wants to live in a suburban house is manifestly false. There is a reason the rents on nice urban apartments in good areas would easily cover the mortgage in an average suburb, yet are still in high demand.
lynndotpy 4y ago
I second this sentiment. I grew up in rural and suburban America, and I'm jealous of those who grew up with more people around them.
iinnPP 4y ago
You hated growing up in a house with a backyard? What a problem to have. Wow.

BuyMyBitcoins 4y ago

>”I hated growing up in a house with a back yard and a driveway.” May I ask why?

tomtheelder 4y ago
Mostly because it was boring and isolating. To be clear I didn’t dislike the yard! I disliked what living in an area of traditional SFHs (aka the suburbs) entailed. My cousins growing up lived near the core of a small city and visiting them was like a breath of fresh air. So many fun activities nearby, things you could walk to, way more people to meet. Where I grew up I was basically stuck on just my street unless I could convince my parents to drive me somewhere, and even when I had that there was nowhere interesting to go. I guess when I was like <10 years old it didn’t really matter, but the older I got the worse it was. I’d never move back to a suburb personally, and I certainly wouldn’t raise kids there.
- dgunay 4y ago
  I had exactly this experience growing up too. My friends were all _at least_ a 2 mile walk from me, on 8 lane 60mph stroads with nothing but gated communities and strip malls along the way. Biking was not great either because of how hilly it could get. Once I got a car life got much better, but it didn't have to be that way.
anon291 4y ago
For me, it's the fact that new single family developments are unwalkable and a major contributor to childhood depression. Children are meant to be out and about. This can happen in the rural countryside where kids can play in woods and the like. It can happen in the city where kids can hang out around town and see all kinds of people. It cannot happen in a suburb because the cars are too fast, there are too many of them, and there's no safe place for kids to walk by themselves. And even if they could in most bedroom towns, there's nothing to do. For me, I'd live in the country or the city never the suburbs. I had to beg my parents to take me anywhere. My kids just leave the house and find friends or say hi to neighbors. No effort on our part and they get to be free.
- TheCoelacanth 4y ago
  Car-centric suburbs are the worst of both worlds. Not enough space for real outdoor activities. Nothing nearby worth going to.

dinkumthinkum 4y ago

Well, you are an extreme outlier. There are all kinds of people on this world but this very uncommon. Most people in apartment complexes are trying to get into their own home or hole that they can.

tomtheelder 4y ago
I’m not convinced that’s true at all.
anon291 4y ago
That's not true. Most renters want to own because owning is cheaper. Renters live in houses too... It's not like home renters are less likely to want to own. I know a family who rents a lovely house in a super nice neighborhood... They still want to own.
HWR_14 4y ago
Many renters want to own, but they may want to own a townhome or a condo and not a single-family home with a driveway and a yard.
jandrewrogers 4y ago
Extreme outlier? I know many people that can afford to live anywhere they want that choose to live in an apartment for its many advantages. It sounds like you are projecting your own biases. The notion that everyone desperately wants to live in a suburban house is manifestly false. There is a reason the rents on nice urban apartments in good areas would easily cover the mortgage in an average suburb, yet are still in high demand.

lynndotpy 4y ago

I second this sentiment. I grew up in rural and suburban America, and I'm jealous of those who grew up with more people around them.

iinnPP 4y ago

You hated growing up in a house with a backyard? What a problem to have. Wow.