What is the best and the worst about where you live?

[Neighbor]

So many individuals never leave their "home town" area.  Much of my own family are still at my own hometown to this day. Some moved away but returned, the call to return being hard for them to ignore.

While I have no interest in being outside the USA I speculate on moving  on a regular basis as there are so many oh so interesting places to consider. Though I have moved coast to coast more than once I have always kept my one home, which is now in my mind the family homestead. Wish in a sense that I had never sold any of them and just rented them out, but that was not the plan at the times.

To think, I bought a California home for $24,000 sold it for $79,000, and last time I saw it sell it went for $790,000. I have had my present homestead some 43 years now. It is "filled" with many memories,  the good ones, and the very harsh ones too of life's adventure. Don't know quite what to do with it as it is really more suited for a larger family, but it is home base. Everything around it has changed, but it is still home. And so, I guess I can understand how many never move around like I have; instead they have built and hung in at the "fort" they know as home in the area of their own birth.

To think how much of the world is on the move today, just masses of people being transplanted here and there all over the world, emigrating and immigrating. 

[Neighbor]

BTW talk about crazy the way things are going- One family member is looking for a new place; their rent on a small unit going from $3,000 a month to $8,000 US dollars. I cannot get a grasp on that happening, but it is real life today.

[Debp]

33 minutes ago, Neighbor said:

BTW talk about crazy the way things are going- One family member is looking for a new place; their rent on a small unit going from $3,000 a month to $8,000 US dollars. I cannot get a grasp on that happening, but it is real life today.

Oh, that's awful.   At least we have rent control on older buildings in L.A.   Rents can only be raised about 4 percent each year... again, only older buildings are covered by this rule.

Can I ask what city or State your family member is in?

[Dennis1209]

As with everyone else, there is a priority of factors that influence where we decide to live. Employment is most likely the #1 factor of where we choose to live; cities are where most decent jobs and compensation are.

I was born and raised in an urban environment, spending most of my life in or near a metropolitan city until I retired, namely, St. Louis, Missouri, living directly across the Mississippi River in Illinois. Urban and rural both have their advantages and disadvantages as I view it. The following are some of my likes and dislikes:

City (urban) dislikes:

·         Congestion, parking, bumper-to-bumper traffic, road rage, getting stuck for a long time behind a significant accident. Too many people are at the same place at the same time.

·         Air, noise, litter, light and human pollution.

·         Excessive city, county, and state taxes, rules, ordnances, and politics.

·         Compared to rural life, people are in too much of a rush, inconsiderate, and generally rude overall.

·         Crime, riots, civil unrest.

City likes:

·         Availability of everything (services & products) you want or need the same day.

·         The nearness of restaurants, entertainment, sports, etc.

Rural dislikes:

·         Not able to get repair parts, services, and products on the same day.

·         Ticks, chiggers, and biting flies in the summer.

·         Planning and reducing your trips into town and a list of what you need.

·         Not close to hospitals or medical attention when you need it the most.

Rural likes:

·         Privacy, peace, quiet and a better environment for everything. Can see the stars at night.

·         Overall, people are more laid back, respectful, and friendly.

·         Seldom traffic jams and bumper-to-bumper traffic.

·         Many are conservative and self-reliant vis a vis government dependency and reliance.  

·         Wildlife and nature vs. a concrete jungle. The fantastic display of hundreds of lightning bugs flashing on and off at night.

·         Having a large garden, chickens with fresh eggs, a pond with many fish, etc.

·         Community churches close by, and so much more.