A big "what if?" WWYD?
Lets say that you have a big chunk to spend on a home. For fun, lets say you have a cool million....just for fun.
would you...
1. buy a flat in a high rise or a smaller, older home with a zero lot line in a very desirable neighborhood in the city. You'll have to send your kiddos to private school to the tune of 10 grand each per year.
2. build a home that you've always thought of, three times as big, an hour to an hour and half out of the city center where you have land and horses. Not many old friends will come this far to see you from the city. You can send your kids to award winning public schools this far out.
So, what's your choice? Big city, small place and private school or wide open country(ish), large home that you build and public school for the kids?
Re: A big "what if?" WWYD?
2 for sure. I really could not care less about the friends we have visiting us. We don't see many of our friends (all young, no kids) now and we only live 15 minutes from most of them.
I would HATE to raise the kids in the city. Yuck.
Country.
I hate hate hate the city.
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Neither of those, really, but 1 if I had to choose. We live in a condo in the city and I LOVE the city. One thing I hate is not having a yard, and that is a large part of the reason we will eventually move to the suburbs (schools, too). But, not, like raising-horses-country. Just boring ol' suburbia in a good school district.
Every time we visit my ILs in the country, 1.5 hours south of here, I think "man, I could never in a bazillion years do this."
ETA: If I could live in the city with a yard (and had enough money to pay for private schools), I would do it in a heartbeat. But even $1M homes here usually have small lawns and are basically on top of neighboring houses.
No way could I ever do #1.
#2 all the way. I am not a big city kind of kid.
Definitely 1. I could never live in the country. I'd be bored out of my mind. I love having access to museums, shopping, and the arts.
Seriously. I live in the suburbs now and I hate it. I can't wait to get out of here and move back to the city.
If those are the only options, I choose #2.
This is tough.
I'm going to S.S.
I would add on and improve my exisiting home (I live in the 'burbs of a major city). And then I would buy property in the Northwoods of MN AND Hayward, WI area.
Since this would save me money in the long run (b/c I would pay cash for the properties) I would have enough to send LO to private school.
#2, no question. When I was little I used to spend weeks with my aunt on her 2 acre property in BFE Oregon. I ran barefoot through the woods, played in the creek for hours, fished for crawdads... If I could provide that kind of childhood for my kids, plus be able to send my kids to amazing schools with no added expense, well that would pretty much be a dream come true.
I hate Chicago. I miss the PNW.
#1 for these reasons:
- I hate new builds
- I don't care about my social life but I could see my child as having a better social life with lots of friends hopefully nearby. Parks, museums, and whatnot will fill the void that not having a yard will create.
Man I don't have anyone around me right now and it sucks. We have several acres of yard right now but she doesn't give a damn about it. The nearest park is 15 minutes away and driving to it is a PITA but she loves it. I remember growing up in an apartment complex and it was the bomb because I had a million friends nearby to hang out with. I'm a country girl right now and while I do love the peace and quiet and no traffic whatsoever, I just hate thinking about having to drive every damn where to do any damn thing for her when she gets older.
The grass is always greener dammit.
eta: excuse my tl;dr. Wine does that to me.
#1. I'll never live in the suburbs again.
Unable to even.
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This is my dream life! Ah the burbs! Home sweet home.
We recently left the boston burbs for a small crappy city a little further west. Because apartments in the burbs are expensive and impossible to find. I freakin hate the traffic and it's so hard just to get to a decent restaurant or shopping. And the roads never get fixed! Potholes everywhere!!
I never said it was horrible nor did I imply it. It just has it's cons just as city living would.
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