Rural Urban Divide, Millennial Lifestyles & City of the Future

[Essbee]

Here’s a relevant article in the LA Times about http://articles.latimes.com/1986-08-05/business/fi-1545_1_first-time-buyers about San Diegans buying their first properties for under $100K in 1986. Del Mar Heights is mentioned as a place where an attached home could be found in that range.

Something just made me nostalgic about the big fat Sunday newspapers of the early 1990s. Remember when there were at LEAST 2 huge sections of the San Diego Union Sunday paper devoted to ads for new home developments? I would look at those ads, wondering how far away those new neighborhoods were, and looking over the floor plans, and pictures of smiling families…

[svelte]

[quote=Essbee]I remember checking out some of the Del Mar Highlands model homes back in early 1986. … I was in 5th grade and we had just moved to San Diego from the Midwest. I recall that an attached townhouse or duplex was $109,000. That seemed way out of reach for us at the time.[/quote]

We moved here in 1987 and I remember new homes in Mira Mesa going for $100K at that time, which being from a small burg up north I thought was outrageous.

[The-Shoveler]

Yet another list,

These Will Be the 15 Biggest U.S. Cities in 2046

Riverside is number 10.

https://www.cheatsheet.com/culture/these-will-be-the-15-biggest-u-s-cities-in-2046.html/?a=viewall

[FlyerInHi]

Ahh, Shoveler, I’m kicking myself for not buying in Riverside. It’s becoming a new sprawling LA. On my frequent drives San Diego-Vegas I got to know Riverside quite well. I promised myself that, next recession, I will buy in Riverside.

As big as Riverside is, it’s the most vulnerable to a real estate downtown in Southern California. Well….San Bernardino is more vulnerable. Of course, I’m ignoring Imperial and the other “irrelevant” counties.

[FlyerInHi]

I was talking to friends about retirement planning. That crazy couple is talking about moving to temecula wine country from West LA. Nothing with Temecula if you live there already…. but retiring from LA sounds crazy to me.

I think it’s better to own condos in several cities and make the rounds. You want to be near major attractions. Perhaps rent an apartment in France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Uruguay… whatever and stay sereral months each year. Airbnb and home share sites make it possible.

Plus in the next 10 years, with electric vehicles, there will be little pollution in the cities. Electric vehicles will improve liveability; and the desirability gap between urban and rural areas will widen considerably. I will wait to be proven right.

[svelte]

[quote=FlyerInHi]I was talking to friends about retirement planning. That crazy couple is talking about moving to temecula wine country from West LA. Nothing with Temecula if you live there already…. but retiring from LA sounds crazy to me.

Plus in the next 10 years, with electric vehicles, there will be little pollution in the cities. Electric vehicles will improve liveability; and the desirability gap between urban and rural areas will widen considerably. I will wait to be proven right.[/quote]

Generalizations are a biotch.

Not hard to predict a trend that has been happening for decades – ie small town drying up. Nothing new.

However, it depends upon what small town you are talking about. Some near more desirable areas are certainly growing and will continue to do so.

And you never know – your friends from west LA may have just lived there for the income. Maybe they are from more rural areas. Perhaps they are just returning to their roots. You’ll find a lot of small northern calif cities filled with San Francisco retirees. They live the rest of their life perfectly content with the slower pace.

[svelte]

[quote=FlyerInHi]I was talking to friends about retirement planning. That crazy couple is talking about moving to temecula wine country from West LA. Nothing with Temecula if you live there already…. but retiring from LA sounds crazy to me.

Plus in the next 10 years, with electric vehicles, there will be little pollution in the cities. Electric vehicles will improve liveability; and the desirability gap between urban and rural areas will widen considerably. I will wait to be proven right.[/quote]

Generalizations are a biotch.

Not hard to predict a trend that has been happening for decades – ie small town drying up. Nothing new.

However, it depends upon what small town you are talking about. Some near more desirable areas are certainly growing and will continue to do so.

And you never know – your friends from west LA may have just lived there for the income. Maybe they are from more rural areas. Perhaps they are just returning to their roots. You’ll find a lot of small northern calif cities filled with San Francisco retirees. They live the rest of their life perfectly content with the slower pace.

[The-Shoveler]

[quote=FlyerInHi]I was talking to friends about retirement planning. That crazy couple is talking about moving to temecula wine country from West LA. Nothing with Temecula if you live there already…. but retiring from LA sounds crazy to me.

I think it’s better to own condos in several cities and make the rounds. You want to be near major attractions. Perhaps rent an apartment in France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Uruguay… whatever and stay sereral months each year. Airbnb and home share sites make it possible.

Plus in the next 10 years, with electric vehicles, there will be little pollution in the cities. Electric vehicles will improve liveability; and the desirability gap between urban and rural areas will widen considerably. I will wait to be proven right.[/quote]

Temecula is a good sized city these days with plenty to do, SD or LA attractions are just about an hour away.

Weird as it seems I actually live in both places.
The Temecula/SD/OC areas are much more fun than LA IMO.

Self Driving cars will not be restricted to LA LOL.

My plan is to retire in TV or North SD.

[millennial]

[quote=FlyerInHi]I was talking to friends about retirement planning. That crazy couple is talking about moving to temecula wine country from West LA. Nothing with Temecula if you live there already…. but retiring from LA sounds crazy to me.

I think it’s better to own condos in several cities and make the rounds. You want to be near major attractions. Perhaps rent an apartment in France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Uruguay… whatever and stay sereral months each year. Airbnb and home share sites make it possible.

Plus in the next 10 years, with electric vehicles, there will be little pollution in the cities. Electric vehicles will improve liveability; and the desirability gap between urban and rural areas will widen considerably. I will wait to be proven right.[/quote]

I’ve lived in West LA (Sawtelle and Olympic) and I wouldn’t exactly consider it an “urban lifestyle”. LA is just like San Diego which is just urban sprawl and depending where you were in West La would be similar to Point Loma or UTC. Fact is that you will need to jump in a car at some point to do daily errands, and deal with traffic parking etc. Major pain especially if you’re old.

Furthermore I can’t see anything wrong about packing up and selling your place at a solid price in the city and moving to more affordable housing in the country. I don’t know their financial situation, but for most that would make far more sense than the opposite.
With the money in the bank from the sale you can use the returns to pay for months of air bnb, reinvest, or give it to your favorite charity.

Personally I don’t know why I would live in a place like West LA unless I was a young 20 something professional who had a job close by. Having a place in Manhattan or even downtown SD to get that urban lifestyle and a home in Maui to have the island lifestyle would be more preferable for me. Also it wouldn’t be when I’m 65 but when I’m 50 and the kids are out of the house and I can fully enjoy what downtown life has to offer.

My lifestyle preference is 38 with kids-suburban lifestyle, 50 no kids-urban w/ island getaway, 65 retired and old-move to island house and do whatever the hell I want, 90 and in wheelchair- retirement community and plenty of drugs to keep me occupied.

[Ribbles]

TV resident here. As an aging Gen Xer, it’s perfect. I’ve done the LA nightlife – it feels like a series of giant mausoleums with the occasional club that is trying too hard to be hip and utterly failing at customer service. A night at the Lafayette hotel / Red Fox Room and a concert at the Observatory is way more my speed.

Old Town in Temecula is surprisingly fun for grownups.

[scaredyclassic]

WTF is there to really do, anyway, anywhere?

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=scaredyclassic]WTF is there to really do, anyway, anywhere?[/quote]

So true. But what do you make of urban architecture and planning.
As individuals we have only so little control. But together we can change our cities.

http://www.thebookoflife.org/the-importance-of-architecture/

Also our cities are planned makes on a post wwii model of dependence on the automotive and separation of residences for businesses, probably to limit pollution.

However new green technologies will change our cities.
More bike lanes, electric scooters, etc…

Washington, DC I now a cool city to live in. A lot of people cannot afford to live there anymore. Why leave the city if it means not being able to afford to return later?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/lifestyle/style/the-invasion-of-the-scooter-bros-a-new-tribe-whizzes-past-the-haters-on-washington-sidewalks/2018/05/17/2baf3024-4d5d-11e8-84a0-458a1aa9ac0a_story.html

[scaredyclassic]

I think my life would be the same anywhere.

[The-Shoveler]

IMO My life has become a lot more fun and interesting after moving to TV/North-SD going on 17 or so years ago now.

I still have ties to LA but I rarely spend much down time there.

Well once in a while we still go to Downtown LA or one of the several Asian communities in LA to shop and eat.

It’s not like you cannot get there from here.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=scaredyclassic]I think my life would be the same anywhere.[/quote]

I think you would be happier in bike friendly environment like Copenhagen where people of like minds can meet everyday because they live close. Imagine if San Diego were more like that.
I predict electric transport changing how cities evolve. Problem is cities evolve slowly and we may never experience the best. Anyway, we will see in 20 or 30 years. I am making real estate investments based on being centrally located and I can see the demand for quality housing. There is few new construction so modern, remodeled housing is in high demand.

You can also watch episode on amazon prime.

[Author]

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