PukeGreen
Active Member
which (stupid) family would pay $600k+ for a tiny 3 bedroom apartment to raise their "family" in, when they could get a huge house with a backyard out in the burbs...
a condo is no place to raise a family. especially not at those prices. adam vaughn doesnt seem to realize this.
You're stating an opinion as fact. There are many people in my condo building who are raising a child, in some cases, even two. And they are here voluntarily: the guy across the hall is an eye surgeon. I'm sure he could afford a nice house in the suburbs, but he says he loves living downtown, taking his two kids to the parks and walking to work at St. Mikes in 10 minutes.
The urban condo versus suburban home is simply a matter of priorities. Many people value more square footage and access to a lawn above all else. That's fine: but the costs for these priviledges can be very high in terms of both money and time, and those costs are now rising. If you live an urban lifestyle close to work and shops and don't need to own a car (or two, as in many suburban families) you are easily saving over $10K a year in disposable income. Add to this the time and costs of maintaining, heating, and cooling a large home and the financial incentives become even greater. Sure you pay a bit more up front, but you save money every year. Depending on the building, condo fees can be quite reasonable compared to the costs of maintaining a house, and they are more consistant month-to-month which makes them easier to budget for.
This doesn't even take into account other non-economic factors such as time: hours spent commuting to and from the burbs every day is time that could be spent with your kids, or simply living your life. There are also other factors like cultural diversity, access to restaurants, live music, museums, galleries, parks, street festivals, etc. Again, some value these things highly; some don't.
If you prefer a suburban lifestyle, more power to you. But there's no need to insult people who prefer an urban lifestyle by calling them stupid: in my opinion, parents deciding to raise their children downtown are pretty smart, and are honestly evaluating where their time and money is going instead of mindlessly following the crowds to the burbs because society says that's what they're "supposed to do". Cities are changing and times are changing. More and more people are opting to live downtown, with and without children, even if that means they have to organize themselves a little more carefully to fit into smaller spaces.