I live in WV in a rural area. Houses differ greatly. 2 floor, one floor, trailer, 2 garage, trailer, mcmansion, trailer… all on each street. Then I go to Houston and find this setup. I kept driving past my inlaws cause every damn street and house looks exactly the same.
Yup. And look at the warehouses all these cars are going from these bullshit suburbs to get to. If you find joy in the architecture of a Home Depot you are a profoundly odd person
I mean, those are basically just large apartments at that point, all cookie cutter. But at least the house is decent size and has a yard and you own it.
With an apartment you have no yard, probably no garage, cant make any changes to it, and you hear all your neighbors, and smell them if they smoke, and you dont own shit. Apartments actually benefit the wealthy class, which is why I find it funny lemmings love them so much.
I guarantee 99% of people would want a house on 2 acres thats a 30 minute drive to town than an apartment.
2 acres 30 minute from town is just not a realistic expectation, unless by town you mean a small rural town. even most suburbs are at least 1 hour drive away from downtowns.
apartments are a real solution to a lot of environmental and financial problems, and offer a higher quality of life for particular areas (mostly access to culture and socializing). it is ok not to value those things and prefering a more rural place, but then you should expect to be giving away a lot of the benefits of living in a city.
the (orders of magnitue) higher cost of land in cities over rural areas should tell you that a lot of people actually want to live there, and while access to job opportunities is one of the factors, a lot of it is the cultural benefits of cities.
and regarding aparments benefiting the wealthy class, i have no idea where you are coming from. obviously there is a big cost of living crisis, and city living is not expect from that, but car dependance benefits the wealthy class much more than walkable apartment life, which is why the US has been pushing for suburbs and car dependance for the last 80 years.
What if you buy it? You can buy apartments, you know.
I guarantee 99% of people would want a house on 2 acres thats a 30 minute drive to town than an apartment.
I think that owning a house is also a lot of work, because you’re responsible for everything yourself, including construction and maintenance, and i don’t like that. There’s a proverb: You build the first house for your enemy, the second house for your friend, and the third one for yourself. It says that when you’re young and inexperienced, you don’t know what to look out for when you build a house. So you might build rooms without proper ventilation, and that makes mold grow. You might build the garage in the wrong dimensions, because you don’t know better. You might mess up the room layout or their sizes. When you buy an apartment built by the city, you can have a reasonable expectation that they’ve built 10000 apartment units before and know what they’re doing. With private construction companies, i’m reasonably worried about being ripped off or fucked with. I trust public housing much more than private construction companies.
On top of that if i live in the city, i don’t even need a garage, nor a car. It’s all very efficient and compact.
I know you can buy apartments, but its a joke to me. If you dont own the land its on, thats as worthless as renting.
I can see your take on liking things already done for you. Im someone who likes doing it the hard way and doing things myself. Maybe when im really old then it’d be fine to let others do things. Ive just always preferred to do anything i can myself, and if I really cant, then ill call a pro, like for gas line work. Electrical, I do myself just fine.
Ive heard many many more complaints about apartments and terrible landlords and awful appliances than I have from a homeowner because you can fix shit yourself.
Also, garages can be for a lot more than just car stuff. Workshop, band space, hangout space, etc.
I guarantee 99% of people would want a house on 2 acres thats a 30 minute drive to town than an apartment.
This is an insane take.
Many people like density.
With an apartment you have no yard, probably no garage, cant make any changes to it, and you hear all your neighbors, and smell them if they smoke, and you dont own shit.
Many apartments have yards.
If you own that apartment, you can make changes to it. Maybe not some drastic changes, but I imagine the real limited there is money rather than architectural.
Many apartments are sound proof. I almost never hear my neighbors.
I don’t know if my neighbors smoked. I’ve never smelled anything.
Apartments actually benefit the wealthy class, which is why I find it funny lemmings love them so much.
Maybe apartments in non US countries are nice? Any I’ve ever seen in the US are shit. And not cheap ones either. Paper thin walls and trash electrical.
And yes I know you can “buy” apartments but thats kind of a joke. You cant seriously think buying an apartment is like buying a house on a plot of land. You dont own the land your apartment is on and you sure as heck cant add on to it or build a small workshop near it! “Owning” an apartment or a townhouse is a scam.
Again, I just prefer open spaces and not being surrounded by people I dont know and probably won’t get along with. You cant pick your neighbors and it takes 1 Karen to ruin your life.
And yes, of course Karen’s exist in other communities with houses. I also think homeowner associations should absolutely be illegal and no one should be able to tell anyone what to do with their own house. Ill never live in one.
My apartment isn’t bad and blows away houses around here unless I want to spend about 3x what I pay for rent on a mortgage (after a 20% downpayment). Any house cheaper than that is going to be a shitbox. Yeah, I know about equity, but 3x is a huge gap that I instead choose to put towards retirement.
The sound insulation here could be better, but even so most of the noise comes from outside. Garbage trucks, barking dogs, etc. The house I lived in growing up was actually louder. A lot more neighbors’ dogs that were left outside at all hours of the night, more lawn equipment (when I was home, instead of during the business day), etc.
If I had hobbies that were loud or took up a bunch of space (particularly outdoor space), then I’d probably have to look into getting a house. But I’m in a good spot and see no reason to change.
What parts of the US have you visited? I’ve only really spent time in the NYC area. Many apartments in NYC are pretty nice, though I can’t judge their electrical quality. When I lived outside the city, I rarely had problems with hearing neighbors.
I don’t think most people really want to build a small workshop in their day to day. I did know a guy who got up to some weird shit in his apartment’s back yard. Bunch of artists doing weird metal sculpting stuff.
Again, I just prefer open spaces and not being surrounded by people I dont know and probably won’t get along with.
That’s fine, man. You don’t need to live in a city. But I don’t think it’s accurate to say most or even “99%” of people feel the same. Many people are happy in denser living spaces.
image source: https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/infrastructure/573354-the-longest-road-in-america-runs-through-12/
Top image looks like one of the movie posters for Vivarium
I live in WV in a rural area. Houses differ greatly. 2 floor, one floor, trailer, 2 garage, trailer, mcmansion, trailer… all on each street. Then I go to Houston and find this setup. I kept driving past my inlaws cause every damn street and house looks exactly the same.
Yup. And look at the warehouses all these cars are going from these bullshit suburbs to get to. If you find joy in the architecture of a Home Depot you are a profoundly odd person
TIL I’m a profoundly odd person
J/k, I’ve always known that 😂
I mean, those are basically just large apartments at that point, all cookie cutter. But at least the house is decent size and has a yard and you own it.
With an apartment you have no yard, probably no garage, cant make any changes to it, and you hear all your neighbors, and smell them if they smoke, and you dont own shit. Apartments actually benefit the wealthy class, which is why I find it funny lemmings love them so much.
I guarantee 99% of people would want a house on 2 acres thats a 30 minute drive to town than an apartment.
2 acres 30 minute from town is just not a realistic expectation, unless by town you mean a small rural town. even most suburbs are at least 1 hour drive away from downtowns.
apartments are a real solution to a lot of environmental and financial problems, and offer a higher quality of life for particular areas (mostly access to culture and socializing). it is ok not to value those things and prefering a more rural place, but then you should expect to be giving away a lot of the benefits of living in a city. the (orders of magnitue) higher cost of land in cities over rural areas should tell you that a lot of people actually want to live there, and while access to job opportunities is one of the factors, a lot of it is the cultural benefits of cities.
and regarding aparments benefiting the wealthy class, i have no idea where you are coming from. obviously there is a big cost of living crisis, and city living is not expect from that, but car dependance benefits the wealthy class much more than walkable apartment life, which is why the US has been pushing for suburbs and car dependance for the last 80 years.
What if you buy it? You can buy apartments, you know.
I think that owning a house is also a lot of work, because you’re responsible for everything yourself, including construction and maintenance, and i don’t like that. There’s a proverb: You build the first house for your enemy, the second house for your friend, and the third one for yourself. It says that when you’re young and inexperienced, you don’t know what to look out for when you build a house. So you might build rooms without proper ventilation, and that makes mold grow. You might build the garage in the wrong dimensions, because you don’t know better. You might mess up the room layout or their sizes. When you buy an apartment built by the city, you can have a reasonable expectation that they’ve built 10000 apartment units before and know what they’re doing. With private construction companies, i’m reasonably worried about being ripped off or fucked with. I trust public housing much more than private construction companies.
On top of that if i live in the city, i don’t even need a garage, nor a car. It’s all very efficient and compact.
I know you can buy apartments, but its a joke to me. If you dont own the land its on, thats as worthless as renting.
I can see your take on liking things already done for you. Im someone who likes doing it the hard way and doing things myself. Maybe when im really old then it’d be fine to let others do things. Ive just always preferred to do anything i can myself, and if I really cant, then ill call a pro, like for gas line work. Electrical, I do myself just fine.
Ive heard many many more complaints about apartments and terrible landlords and awful appliances than I have from a homeowner because you can fix shit yourself.
Also, garages can be for a lot more than just car stuff. Workshop, band space, hangout space, etc.
This is an insane take.
Many people like density.
Many apartments have yards.
If you own that apartment, you can make changes to it. Maybe not some drastic changes, but I imagine the real limited there is money rather than architectural.
Many apartments are sound proof. I almost never hear my neighbors.
I don’t know if my neighbors smoked. I’ve never smelled anything.
You seem to be confusing renting with apartments
Maybe apartments in non US countries are nice? Any I’ve ever seen in the US are shit. And not cheap ones either. Paper thin walls and trash electrical.
And yes I know you can “buy” apartments but thats kind of a joke. You cant seriously think buying an apartment is like buying a house on a plot of land. You dont own the land your apartment is on and you sure as heck cant add on to it or build a small workshop near it! “Owning” an apartment or a townhouse is a scam.
Again, I just prefer open spaces and not being surrounded by people I dont know and probably won’t get along with. You cant pick your neighbors and it takes 1 Karen to ruin your life.
And yes, of course Karen’s exist in other communities with houses. I also think homeowner associations should absolutely be illegal and no one should be able to tell anyone what to do with their own house. Ill never live in one.
My apartment isn’t bad and blows away houses around here unless I want to spend about 3x what I pay for rent on a mortgage (after a 20% downpayment). Any house cheaper than that is going to be a shitbox. Yeah, I know about equity, but 3x is a huge gap that I instead choose to put towards retirement.
The sound insulation here could be better, but even so most of the noise comes from outside. Garbage trucks, barking dogs, etc. The house I lived in growing up was actually louder. A lot more neighbors’ dogs that were left outside at all hours of the night, more lawn equipment (when I was home, instead of during the business day), etc.
If I had hobbies that were loud or took up a bunch of space (particularly outdoor space), then I’d probably have to look into getting a house. But I’m in a good spot and see no reason to change.
That makes sense ! I can see it from that point of view. Im also lucky to be in an area with cheap ish housing.
Yeah thats my thing. Tons of hobbies that are loud and also take up space ha
What parts of the US have you visited? I’ve only really spent time in the NYC area. Many apartments in NYC are pretty nice, though I can’t judge their electrical quality. When I lived outside the city, I rarely had problems with hearing neighbors.
I don’t think most people really want to build a small workshop in their day to day. I did know a guy who got up to some weird shit in his apartment’s back yard. Bunch of artists doing weird metal sculpting stuff.
That’s fine, man. You don’t need to live in a city. But I don’t think it’s accurate to say most or even “99%” of people feel the same. Many people are happy in denser living spaces.