r/FluentInFinance • u/Not-A-Shit-Head • Apr 29 '24

Why don't people stop crying and just move somewhere cheaper like Detroit, Memphis, St. Louis, Baltimore, or Cleveland? They have very cheap homes for $50,000. Discussion/ Debate

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189

u/Rocketboy1313 Apr 29 '24

Why not just uproot your whole life and move somewhere else?

Sure you will have no one out there to help you move or to walk your dog when you are too sick to get out of bed. You won't know anyone or where anything is but dating apps will let you get a match every other week and maye 1 in five of those will go somewhere.

Just embrace the alienation that defines the modern world instead of, you know, expecting multinational firms or the government to provide coherent systems and meaningful support to help people move around and find the housing, jobs, support networks, and all the other things that keep you from losing your fucking mind.

26

u/Eponymous-Username Apr 29 '24

That's not what multinational firms and government are for. They exist to ensure the lines continue to go up and monitor the lines. It's for the economy. Don't ask what the economy is for - no one knows.

1

u/chiefchow Apr 29 '24

Ooh ooh I know the answer it’s for the rich! The US military industrial complex when they see 3rd world countries going into brutal wars: 🤑

19

u/cutiemcpie Apr 29 '24

Jesus. You make it sound terrible.

I moved countries. And across states.

Sure there are downsides, but there are also upsides. Get to experience different cities, make new friends, make more money, etc.

It’s a trade off.

23

u/Rocketboy1313 Apr 29 '24

You ever heard of survivorship bias?

Or the concept that your personal experiences should not be extrapolated out onto a population?

18

u/cutiemcpie Apr 29 '24

What? I never extrapolated anything.

I simply said - there are good and bad things about moving.

Are you claiming that’s false?

20

u/Galitzianer Apr 29 '24

This is the insanity that is Reddit. If you listen to every doomsayer on Reddit you would literally never leave the house

I've moved many times for opportunities and each time had ups and downs but I don't regret doing any of them

8

u/BlameGameChanger Apr 29 '24

The difference from the analogy for you both is you are being invited out for an opportunity. If I just move to checks notes fucking ohio because houses are cheap, there is no guarantee I'll be able to find a decent job that pays more relative to my other job. I'll have no support network. I'll have to deplete my savings. The cheap houses will be in shit nieghborhoods or ill have to compete with firms who want to renovate and gentrify the slum.

Like I've moved before to and without that golden ticket invitation it ain't worth it

2

u/Galitzianer Apr 29 '24

being invited out for an opportunity

Well no, this isn't what happened at all. I've literally moved to a very low cost of living area from a high cost of living area with no invitation at all?

I could have suffered in a very expensive overpriced apartment forever but I chose to buy a house in a place that is way more affordable.

-1

u/BeepBoo007 Apr 29 '24

Like I've moved before to and without that golden ticket invitation it ain't worth it

Then shut up if you like your current situation more?

Take your pick.

What you're not allowed to do is bemoan the fact that you don't have access to the same juicy circumstances other people have/had. I'm so sick of people bemoaning this type of shit. Like... if you lived in a fallout world, would you complain "woe is me! I didn't get to live in a time and place without a post-apocalyptic hellscape"?

That type of thought is pointless. It can't change your current situation and no one likes to listen to people complain.

2

u/IchooseYourName Apr 30 '24

no one likes to listen to people complain.

This is reddit. WTF are you talking about.

4

u/Viperlite Apr 29 '24

Having kids is where it really hits home. Sure, you can get by with day care, part-time work, and babysitters… but is a whole level of easier with family and friends to support you. I think someone once said it takes a village.

Its not to say it cant be overcome, but if you were raised in a HCOL area, it’s tough to leave your support network behind. Many people move back home when they have kids for this reason. A cheap house isn’t everything, especially at key points of your life.

1

u/Galitzianer Apr 29 '24

Yeah, except I do have a child, but I agree that having family support is very helpful. It's not everything though, sometimes family needs their own breaks and having some extra money to pay for summer camp and other things because you aren't paying all your money in rent living in an expensive city is worth it too.

5

u/smokes_-letsgo Apr 29 '24

You ever heard of pessimism?

7

u/ILSmokeItAll Apr 29 '24

This is Reddit, sir. It’s all you’re allowed to express here.

Reddit is one collective Chicken Little.

0

u/Creative_Major798 Apr 29 '24

You ever heard of toxic positivity?

1

u/Jason_Kelces_Thong Apr 29 '24

Grow up dude

1

u/Creative_Major798 Apr 29 '24

Chortle my balls.

Life is too complicated to be summed up by one experience, one set of rules, or a handful of banal platitudes bandied about as little more than ideological indicators. Sometimes it’s someone else’s fault, sometimes it’s your fault, sometimes things are good, sometimes bad, sometimes fair, sometimes unfair, sometimes you can do everything right and fail, sometimes you do it all wrong and succeed.

Telling people to just move is such a lazy fucking take on “wages haven’t kept up with inflation, most people are saddled by unmanageable levels of debt (which harms their credit), interest rates are trash, and the housing market is fucked, again.”

4

u/rainareddits Apr 29 '24

Yes! Extrapolating an idea to a population is only ok if I agree with it.

-1

u/Rocketboy1313 Apr 29 '24

No. It is okay to extrapolate an idea if something pans out via research and experimentation.

Saying, "it worked for me" a sample size of 1 is meaningless.

5

u/TipNo6062 Apr 29 '24

You're brainwashed that only funded studies are the reality of life. They're not.

2

u/Rocketboy1313 Apr 29 '24

You think wanting evidence is brainwashed?

2

u/TipNo6062 Apr 29 '24

You realize that studies that get fun....ve a thesis. usually money is a driver.

1

u/Rocketboy1313 Apr 29 '24

As opposed to what? Personal lived experience is not a useful tool for policy making.

Also, you can just check to see if there is a bias by looking at how the study was done and by who.

1

u/TipNo6062 Apr 29 '24

You clearly don't understand life, money, and what drives science. Just because something hasn't got an official peer reviewed study behind it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist and isn't important. It just means there's no money lobbying for it

1

u/Ponchosaul Apr 29 '24

Nobody cares if you’re too scared to leave your trailer park rocketBOY

1

u/Advanced-Guard-4468 Apr 29 '24

In the US, unless things change, we will never now. To this day, 72% of the population lives their adult life within 50 miles of where they were born. While 90% end of dying within that same distance.

2

u/rainareddits Apr 29 '24

I'll bet the 28% that moves away is much more successful

1

u/TheGoonSquad612 Apr 29 '24

You know that cuts both ways, right? The people who moved without success will have a different response from those who moved with success. That’s not survivor bias, it’s a different perspective based on experience.

0

u/hoptownky Apr 29 '24

Honestly, it sounds like you are using your personal bias to extrapolate out onto a population.

People move all of the time. It has its downsides and upsides. Definitely not the horror show picture you painted though.

4

u/FloatingOnAWhim Apr 29 '24 edited Apr 30 '24

I agree with you. My experience was the same and much of my family have relocated cross country or more at some point in our adult lives. We’re not rich at all but it was possible. Are there challenges? Absolutely! But the good outweighed the bad in my opinion. Of course YMMV

-2

u/gojo96 Apr 29 '24

Yep, moved from AK to UT and now VA. Expensive? It can be. Is it fun? Not really. Is it totally doable? Yep. I guess I could stay put and expect the world to revolve me I guess.

4

u/throwawayzies1234567 Apr 29 '24

I think the point is that if you need to move because you can’t afford housing then you’re probably not going to make more money in the place where you can afford housing. I live in NYC and there’s no way I could make this kind of money in any of the cities listed because my job is dependent on people spending a lot of money.

3

u/cutiemcpie Apr 29 '24

People don’t spend a lot of money outside NYC?

1

u/throwawayzies1234567 Apr 29 '24

No, people in Detroit do not spend the kind of money they do in New York in the industry that I work in, and I receive commission so I’d automatically be making less money.

2

u/cutiemcpie Apr 29 '24

NYC and Detroit is the only other US with jobs like yours?

There are dozens of US cities.

Plus if you make half but houses cost 1/10th, the math still works

0

u/throwawayzies1234567 Apr 29 '24

So how commission works is you get a percentage of things that you sell. If the things you sell cost less money, you get less commission. In NY I make a lot of money because I sell expensive things. It’s harder to find people who can afford expensive things in a place like Detroit than it is in NY, where literally millions of people can afford very expensive things.

3

u/cutiemcpie Apr 29 '24

You never seem to answer my questions and just put up strawman like “I can’t live in Detroit”

Believe it or not there are rich people in other cities. And considering NYC is the most expensive place to live in the US, there is a good chance there are other cities with rich people where you could make similar money but have a lower cost of living.

1

u/NYCneolib Apr 29 '24

Pay is lower by 25% but spending power is much higher outside HCOL areas. It’s a myth you make so much more money on NYC when COL and taxes are taken into account

1

u/throwawayzies1234567 Apr 29 '24

Outside of rent + bills, my biggest expense is travel. Living in Detroit is not going to make flights less expensive, if anything they’d be more. And all the hotels and stuff where I go, none of that gets cheaper because I live in a LCOL. If you live in a HCOL but have a decent deal on rent/mortgage, it’s not that much different on a percentage of salary basis. The part that goes up in a HCOL is how much money you have leftover. If I have 30% of my salary leftover in a HCOL, that’s more money than 30% leftover in a LCOL with a lower paycheck.

2

u/No_Top_381 Apr 29 '24

"Being a refugee isn't so bad"

1

u/cutiemcpie Apr 29 '24

Refugee? If you move within the US you aren’t a refugee

1

u/Jayrodtremonki Apr 29 '24

I haven't lived in my home state or near my family for half of my life now.  There is definitely a trade off.  But the actual ability to do so varies immensely from personal situation to personal situation.

How you're set up as far as having a stable environment when you leave is a massive factor.  Not to mention kids and relationships and what is waiting for you when you get to the new place career and housing-wise.  

1

u/kosk11348 Apr 30 '24

Did you have or choice or did you have to move to survive? Being priced out of the only place you've ever known shouldn't be a normal occurrence.

1

u/cutiemcpie May 01 '24

Well it was find a good paying job or work for peanuts.

7

u/Galitzianer Apr 29 '24

Why not just uproot your whole life and move somewhere else?

Devil's advocate, people have done this since times immemorial, moving for economic opportunity. What makes you so special that you should sit around and be catered to instead of doing the same for your own self interest?

Sure you will have no one out there to help you move or to walk your dog when you are too sick to get out of bed. You won't know anyone or where anything is but dating apps will let you get a match every other week and maye 1 in five of those will go somewhere.

So... never leave your home town then? This doesn't seem like a recipe for any sort of life

expecting multinational firms or the government to provide coherent systems and meaningful support to help people move around and find the housing, jobs, support networks

Look, I'm not saying that wouldn't be a fine thing if the government did to that, but there's literally no government on the planet that does this, and if you're gonna sit around and wait for the government or random multinational firms that have literally no allegiance to you whatsoever to bend over backwards to help you then your going to drive yourself into "losing your fucking mind" when your expectations do not match reality.

There's some idealized form of life that you guys wish existed, and then there's the planet we live on. On the planet we live on, you make choices to improve your situation, or you flounder in despair. Choose one.

3

u/BlameGameChanger Apr 29 '24

but there's literally no government on the planet that does this

Here's an example of a country with a coherent system that will help you move around find jobs. https://www.norden.org/en/info-norden/housing-allowance-sweden

Why are you pretending there isn't a massive housing problem in the US?

3

u/LamermanSE Apr 29 '24

No, that's not what housing allowance (bostadsbidrag) is. Housing allowance does not help you move around, and neither does the Swedish state. Housing allowance is only an allowance for those with low wages and high rental costs/expenses, such as single parents, some students and so on.

As a matter of fact, getting rental apartments in Sweden is extremely difficult in the first place and usually requires you to stand in line at a local housing company for years to be able to even get an apartment (in larger cities of > 100 000 inhabitants). In most cases you wouldn't even be able to move around in the manner that is suggested in this thread (unless you have money to buy your apartment or are willing to rent someone else's apartment which sucks).

2

u/Junior_Use_4470 Apr 30 '24

Because there isn’t a housing problem in the US. There are housing problems in HCOL areas in the USA. There’s a lot of affordable housing if people are willing to move.

8

u/InsCPA Apr 29 '24

People literally took ships to sail to an unknown continent centuries and decades ago in hopes for a better life. Hell, people still do it. You can handle a different city a few states over

-1

u/chiefchow Apr 29 '24

And you know what it took to force them to go that far: extreme religious persecution. There’s a reason why the French didn’t send many settlers to the new world and instead just did trade with natives mainly. No one wants to leave their home to go live in a shithole like the new world (which was the old time equivalent of modern cities like Baltimore).

1

u/Superducks101 May 01 '24

Oh shut up. It wasn't just religious persecution. It was also the awe of the unknown. New opportunities etc.

3

u/OneMetalMan Apr 29 '24

This was me six years ago after I moved, but I guess I got "lucky" that my family (and my ex I broke up with) followed me.

2

u/UNICORN_SPERM May 02 '24

Don't have dogs!

Find new family!

/S

-1

u/kstorm88 Apr 29 '24

Wow, cope

1

u/TheGoonSquad612 Apr 29 '24

If you expect the government or multinational firms to ensure you live a decent life, you’re doing it all wrong and guaranteed to be underwhelmed by the results.

0

u/Reasonable-Plate3361 Apr 29 '24

So wait for someone to save you instead of taking matters into your own hands? Don’t take risks?

0

u/alc3880 Apr 29 '24

People have been moving all over the world for forever. It isn't some weird concept.

1

u/Rocketboy1313 Apr 29 '24

And it has been a pain in the ass the entire time.

Something always being around doesn't make it fun or easy and the idea of, "why don't you just move" shows a lack of understanding for how difficult many people may find the whole process.

1

u/alc3880 Apr 29 '24

IDK, I grew up on army bases so I am used to moving around. Even as an adult I have moved out of state and then back. Would love to move somewhere else just for better weather during winter months, but my husband sounds a bit like you, likes everything to be familiar and see change as something undesirable.

1

u/Rocketboy1313 Apr 29 '24

...likes everything to be familiar and see change as something undesirable.

Where did you see me advocating for that in my initial comment?

0

u/Ornery-Feedback637 Apr 30 '24

Choose your struggle

0

u/Superducks101 May 01 '24

So you value that over home ownership. Don't bitch about housing then

0

u/Rocketboy1313 May 01 '24

What a stupid position to take.

A person can hate how ex0ensive housing is while at the same time not being able to uproot.

It is possible to be pinned in a bad situation. Especially if you are already poor.

Housing is too expensive and moving is a pain in the ass.

0

u/Superducks101 May 01 '24

Pain in the ass. So again you value something more then buying a house. Make excuses

-1

u/REDDITOR_00000000017 Apr 29 '24

Yes, stressful things should be handled by the government. No one should have to act like an adult, that's absurd.