On the highway, passing small towns, I sometimes question why we pay so much to be in the city when there is nearly unlimited affordable property everywhere else. Of course the more central, the closer to things, the less time getting anywhere. We aren’t really buying a location. We are buying time.

@manton and CO2

@manton Time is the most valuable resource.

@manton Pair a 60-mile round trip commute with a used Nissan Leaf that has at least a 100-mile range. Your 70-year-old self will thank me when you buy that affordable (now) property.

@manton sometimes in LA (and Auckland now I think about it), it is quicker to drive ‘into the country side’ and then back in along a different road, than than taking the direct route ‘across town’.

@manton you’re also buying a local community. There’s a reason that cities attract people, and it’s not just saving time by being closer to places they might want to go, but also the ability to interact with people and participate in culture.

@rscottjones I think you might be being a bit dismissive of rural culture here. There’s a distinct difference between the two but rural towns have a culture of their own as well. Maybe just not “pop culture”.

@alexcox That’s a good point too.

@alexcox @manton I remember our old neighbors, a couple including a woman who had only recently transitioned in her 40s, saying "We can't move outside of Massachusetts." They live in Western Mass now and are thriving. Location anxiety is real! ❤️

@scattershot they do, but it’s a whole different thing. Maybe I should have put cosmopolitan culture—but it’s something you can’t find in rural areas. It’s not just pop culture, but a mixing of ideas, traditions, commerce, and arts that has attracted people worldwide to cities for thousands of yrs.

@rscottjones I see, I think I probably misread your original post.