Possible?: More millenials want liveable neighbourhoods, more transit, etc.

[shootingstar]

So says these articles:

http://pricetags.wordpress.com/2012/...home-builders/

http://pricetags.wordpress.com/2012/...hway-planners/


I've read in several sources in past 6 months, there's just less young people jumping on the bandwagon to buy a car, etc.

Maybe it's more in the big cities.

[Crankin]

I think this is true for a subsection of this age bracket.
DS and DIL just bought a house. It's in an "inner" suburb, more citified than where I live, but still, they can't walk out the door to shops. But, there is a bus stop on the corner so DS can get into Boston for work. It's a 15 minute drive for DIL to get to work in another city-suburb. They have one car. So far, it's worked because DS either takes public trans or rides to work. If he needs the car, he has to stay up late to pick her up; she's a restaurant manager with odd hours. Eventually, probably when a kid appears, or someone gets a new job, they will need 2 cars. But, it will be interesting to see what happens when they move into the house. They have been living a very urban lifestyle and this is going to be a change.

[shootingstar]

It may well be happening in certain parts of North America. Here where I live, there's probably enough buying homes out in the suburbs but there is ongoing vocal demand for extended transit. I'm out in the prairies in a a major city of over 1 million. A major light rail line is being extended right now. City has grown fast in past decade.

http://grist.org/transportation/2011...ns/?fb_ref=gl1

My niece and nephew who were raised in the suburbs in Toronto, both live near subway and bus.

Niece (26 yrs.) and her boyfriend have a car (his) but they try to avoid using the car if they can in Toronto. She commutes out to the suburbs to work daily by transit.

Her brother (24 yrs) lives...in Cambridge MA to attend university. Neither he nor his girlfriend have a car. She's probably using her parent's car since she is a medical intern.

My gut feel knows that these 2 children will not buy /live long term out anywhere isolated/in suburbs. (These are the children that lost their mom.)

My partner's children haven't gotten a car yet. Daughter is 32 yrs. and probably wouldn't feel comfortable using her license since she hasn't driven for a while (several years). She is used to transit in Vancouver. She lives downtown.

HIs son (30) and wife are expecting a baby so we'lll see if anything changes. So far no car and they live close to Toronto subway.

[jyyanks]

I work in NYC where public transportation/walking/biking is the preferred mode of transportation. The issue is that there is no space. So if a family wants the urban lifestyle and space, they will have to either shell out multiple millions of dollars for a bigger apartment or move to the suburbs where cars(suvs) are the preferred mode of transportation. Very few families can afford to live in Manhattan because of the cost of real estate and the cost of schools. My boss spends $40,000 dollars a year for PRESCHOOL!!!!! Unless your salary is outrageously high, living in the city once you have a family is not financially feasible unless you are willing to give up things like space and are willing to go to the public school closest to your residence. Some schools are better than others so the ones who are in the not so great schools have to pay for private education or move to the burbs. I'd be curious to see what its like elsewhere!

[Irulan]

Transitions to more liveable/walkable/smaller, less suburban communities has been underway in some locales for some years now.

[Crankin]

Shooting Star, your niece doesn't need a car to live in Cambridge. The city where my son lives now, in his apt. is right next to Cambridge. However, as a medical intern, her boyfriend probably needs a car for the late night shifts at the major teaching hospitals in Boston. Our public transportation stops running at midnight.
My DIL grew up in Boston. However, her parents gave no thought to the quality of the schools. She missed getting into the prestigious "exam" school by one point on the exam, for secondary school, had a horrible year as a 7th grader, where she was beaten up and called all kinds of racist names. On her own, she got herself into a Friend's School for gr. 8, with a scholarship, and then to an arts oriented private school for high school, where she had to travel 2 hours to get there. My son is well aware that the city where they bought their home is not where he would want his kids to go to school. They probably would move again before any child reached school age. It will be a huge adjustment for DIL, although by then, they should have enough money to move to a close in suburb, with public trans, better schools, and a decent "downtown" area. I know she feels like where we live is sort of like a vacation.

[shootingstar]

My boss spends $40,000 dollars a year for PRESCHOOL!!!!!

Wow, especially if that's for just 1 child.

Well, Crankin it's actually my nephew in Cambridge. He used to the shlepping along using transit and subway. Lots of medical interns would need a car at times, to deal with their crazy long shiftwork.

However I believe Grog's hubby when he was a medical intern, he cycled to work at times from downtown Vancouver area ...to a hospital in the 'burbs for him to build in fitness in a busy schedule.

[Crankin]

Same thing happens here, with the crazy tuitions for preschool. There's a private school at the foot of my street that charges 30K for preschool.
However, there are plenty of good quality preschools that are normally priced.
Just not in the city.

[westtexas]

So I guess I'm considered a "millenial" (what a dumb name) and I would have to agree. I'm moving back east and rather than live out in the suburbs where I will have to commute in to work, I'm willing to sacrifice space for the convenience of being close to everything. I'm looking at high rise apartments right now that sit within a few blocks of the rail line (it only goes up and down one street haha) so I can ride it to work instead of driving. I will keep my car though so I can trek out to the 'burbs where my folks live (25 miles away but still in the same city...).

But, I am single and have no children. And although I like driving for long trips, I despise having to get in the stupid car to go 5 miles to run errands or whatever. Where i live now walking/biking around town is impossible. Looking forward to a more close-in lifestyle when I move this summer.

It's what I want. But possible or not? Everything costs money and that's always the bottom line when it comes to these things.

[Kiwi Stoker]

When we moved last year we rented a car and drove 10km radius out from DH's work and then figured out what area looked OK to live in. We could of chosen areas near the beach etc but we decided having DH only 10 minutes drive from home was a prioirty. I really don't undertstand people who commute for an hour or more to get to work.

Criteria-

Had to be near a supermarket or other store so can walk to get milk etc.
Walking distance for a library or near a bus route to a library.

This way we are able to live with one car.

However after 2 years in Singapore and apartment living I am NEVER going to advocate living in apartments for families- especially children. You don't see kids playing or enjoying themselves in Singapore. They are stuck inside or at tution classes.

In Melbourne I have never seen so many parents and kids out and about- picnicking, riding bikes, walking, playing games. I'm sorry but we all need a patch of dirt or courtyard to just walk outside in.

Forget intesnive living, I think medium density of townshouses with a large courtyard should be the minimum for families with easy access to parks. High rise living is just awful.

[shootingstar]

Would agree that having a community centre and park within 5-10 min. walking distance is helpful for any type of housing.

In downtown Vancouver among highrise condos by the waterfront...they are BUILDING 2 new elementary schools (kindergarten to grade 6) because there are alot of families living in this area. When you think about that, it's incredible. 1 of the schools is in the Olympic Village area. So families with some money, are choosing to live closer to or in the core of Vancouver. Some of this housing is a blend of high-rise, low-rise and townhouses.

And these are more expensive places. There's lots of green lovely space, bike-pedestrian paths, market is close and Stanley Park is a few km. away.

It wouldn't be surprising that the culture of Singapore is such that children do play, but more of a tendency to get kids to study, study...which isn't totally healthy either.

I'm only saying this because in Vancouver there are many ESL schools for adults, older teens, many recently or directly from Asia, who are there because some have parents who are pushing them there to ramp on their grades ...to enter into university. (Also dearie's daughter has worked for several of these schools in Vancouver. I hear about the situation from her....)

It depends what one is used to. It doesn't interest me to be in a 2-3 bedroom single family dwelling out in the 'burbs. I don't have children. Makes no sense to isolate myself. Dearie had his taste of surburbs before he married and had children. He and his ex chose to live in a home in downtown Toronto not far from transit. There are some decent neighbourhoods in Toronto close to the subway. I know, I used to live there and still have family scattered across the city....all close to transit for their homes.

[Koronin]

When we lived in the Charlotte, NC area. We lived in Mooresville. Without traffic it's about a half hour drive to downtown Charlotte. During rush hour, that have hour becomes a minimum of 2 hours. Here's the thing about Charlotte. If you want to live in a decent to good area of town, you going to have to pay at least $500,000 for a house or condo. If you can't afford that (like most people) you either live in a very bad area, or you move to a different city and commute. As for public transportation, well if you work a regular hour job that's great you can use it, but if you work odd hours which my husband always did (or I did when I worked in Charlotte) public transportation is totally useless as the buses either aren't running when you get to work or when you get off work, or in the case of one of the night shifts I worked either one. Another thing to consider is taxes. Charlotte/Mecklanburg taxes are much higher than they are in any of the surrounding counties. In looking it's actually cheaper to commute to work and waste a couple hours a day sitting in traffic than to pay the much higher taxes in Mecklanberg county (which would include 3 other cities besides Charlotte). Also the cost of appartments and homes is a good bit less in the cities outside of Mecklanberg county as long as you aren't looking to buy a home on the lake, then those are also a minimum of $350,000 last I knew. I don't mind living in town. Where we currently live is actually about 1 mile outside of the city limits, but we love the neighborhood. (We also have virtually no public transportation anyway, what we do have is useless as it picks up in a couple neighborhoods and it's only stop is the mall). I grew up in a home in the city limits. The city I grew up in did not (and still does not) have any form of public transportation. Public transportation is just something that if you don't live in a huge metro area you really just don't have available. The one thing I did like about where I grew up was there were a few stores that were within walking distance. Where I'm at now, if the main road had a side walk or a mut you could walk to a couple of places. I have no interest in walking on the main road, but may eventually be willing to ride my bike on it. (But probably never during rush hour).

[westtexas]

In looking it's actually cheaper to commute to work and waste a couple hours a day sitting in traffic than to pay the much higher taxes...

To me, this is not cheaper. Although the actual dollars might be less, the toll on my life and my happiness is not worth it (same reason I don't shop at WalMart - I lose valuable years off my life going in that crazy place!). I could not imagine sitting in traffic in my car for a couple of hours each day. All that sitting and doing nothing... yuck. People who can do this impress me, as it is something I could never do.

[shootingstar]

Also the cost of appartments and homes is a good bit less in the cities outside of Mecklanberg county as long as you aren't looking to buy a home on the lake, then those are also a minimum of $350,000 last I knew.

In Vancouver, BC you would get a 1 bedroom and small one --if you're lucky. It has the highest real estate in Canada. (Actually at that price, it's probably more Toronto, which means Toronto is a bit cheaper than Vancouver.)

It terms of increased value for one's home over time, it's probably better to get a place within walking distance of transit or bike/ped path to destinations anyway --even if you drive alot.

Alot of real estate agents would tell you that....if they aren't, then they haven't progressed in their way of thinking. (Sorry to be brutal, but that's my opinion of what I expect out of real estate agents...intelligent, market forecasting of community future needs. Not just out to make a quick sale.)

Certainly in Vancouver and Toronto, it's been proven if you have a home within a very short bike ride to a bike -ped. path in a greenway area, it will make your neighbourhood more valued --for many different reasons.

At work, a colleague mentioned that she personally knew someone whose children (late teens to early '20s) had never used our local transit system which does have a wide network. She and I both thought it was wierd....and ridiculous. (which means the children had been chauffered around in cars or not allowed to use transit. ) The person who told me this is herself is a single mother with 2 children in now their early 20's. Colleague's children do a blend of driving as well as taking transit at times.

Koronin, I grew up a twinned city in southern Ontario in the 1960's-1970's. Population at that time was under 80,000 for 2 cities combined. There was/still is a transit system. This city also has 2 universities and 1 college. We lived only a 10 min. walk away from local bus system. I learned to use it when I was.....14 yrs. old by myself. Yes, those were the days. But later I went university and used it for lousy weather days. I just walked 5 km. each way between home and campus when the weather was good.

So as a child, I already knew how transit fitted into my life. If children are not exposed to using any transit several times per year (even with an adult), it would be tougher (in my opinion) to get them used it and how to weave it into their schedule.

Maybe some millenials got tired of being held to someone else's driving schedule, cost of car/insurance/gas to have a car, whatever else or maybe there's less stuff to do in the suburbs as teens grow independent and get itchy feet....? Or maybe preference to spend their money on technology vs. car or ...?

[Crankin]

My oldest son could not wait until he could drive himself to the train station. I started letting him go into Cambridge by himself when he was in 9th grade (I dropped him at the train) and many parents thought I was terrible. He spent his entire high school years "walking" around Boston and Cambridge, going to stores and coffee shops with his friends. We lived in a rural town of 5,000. There was nothing to do at all. My younger son never had the desire to do this. He was too busy training for racing on our rural and suburban roads. However, now he lives close to the downtown of his city, and one block from the beach, too. You can walk to plenty of places and catch also a train, which for southern California is good.
I remember so clearly, the first time I took my kids into Boston, after we moved here from AZ. They were 5 and 7. We went to do a walking tour, which involved taking the commuter rail and the subway to the start, as we lived up near the NH border at the time. My kids were "amazed" that I knew where to go, what trains to catch and the fact that I had started doing this at age 11 (and, that my mother let me).