Live Where You Play; yay or nay?

[Lmoot]

Let me preface this by saying that I am a bit of an introvert homebody, but I still like to meet up with friends and coworkers from time to time. It seems, especially around here, that being right around the corner from restaurants, or a brewery, or other entertainment and amenities is a common desire. However, I just can't imagine it being on my list, despite having bought a house near such amenities. What I like most about my place, is that even though it's in the city, it feels like a displaced, reclusive area. I've lived here for several years, but never really took advantage of the proximity of the venues nearby. Going forward, my dream house would be nowhere near any of those places. And it's not because I don't like to go to restaurants, or see a play, or even go to the library close by, or see concerts; it's because I just like the idea of having my residential area separate from my play area.  It makes a trip to any of those places seem like something special, like a little adventure.

I'll be honest I never understood the appeal of being able to walk to a restaurant or a brewery. Unless you live near a busy strip, it's assumed that you would only be able to walk to the same few restaurants and breweries. I feel like that would make my world feel smaller and more repetitive.

I am not trying to critique someone else's lifestyle choices, only to understand it more. I guess a lot of it has to do with the fact that I don't really partake in local entertainment anyway. Most of the things I like doing would take traveling to get there, especially since "travel" is one of those things. Part of the excitement for me, in trying a new restaurant, or going to a festival, is in leaving my neighborhood to do it.

So I'm just curious how many of us out there enjoy going out, but don't necessarily like to live in the hubbub. And if you are living in the hubbub, do you still love it, or does it begin to feel monotonous?

[GnomeErcy]

It's much more important for me to live closer to work - where I'm going to be five days a week for many years - than it is to be close to where I choose to have a social life, maybe once a weekend at MOST. More realistically it's closer to twice a month. At that point I'd rather drive, take a Lyft/the bus, or bike.

Of course, if it was less expensive to live closer to the hubbub and it was close to my work, I wouldn't explicitly move away from something due to it being near other stuff.

[Retire-Canada]

So I'm just curious how many of us out there are, who enjoy going out, but don't necessarily like to live in the hubbub. And if you are living in the hubbub, do you still love it, or does it begin to feel monotonous?

I lived downtown for 7-8yrs in the centre of the city where I could bike and walk to everything. I loved it. The main downside is it made getting to my outdoor recreation activities longer/harder. From a social activity point of view I never got tired of living downtown.

Currently I live ~4km from downtown in an area with lots of walkable stuff and a longer, but still reasonable cycle into downtown. The benefit is I am only 15mins drive from my typical outdoor rec activities.

Given I like to get into the forest a couple times a week the current setup is pretty great. If I wasn't that keen on being in the forest than living downtown was better.

[SC93]

We live in the middle of the metroplex. While we are 10 minutes away from downtown, the only time a downtown trip is made is every day for my wife to work. We go to different places and do different things. On Friday nights & Saturday nights for my whole life I have been at the dirt tracks from Omaha to Houston and all in between so that is always a drive. Part of our fun is driving to where we are going. I love being right in the downtown area, I love being 10 minutes away in a quiet suburb and I love living in the country where I was raised. Neither of us care as long as we are having a good time.

[2Birds1Stone]

I really like living close to all the bars, stores, mountain biking trails, gyms, office, etc that I use regularly.

I can live 90% of my life in a 10 mile radius.

[sailinlight]

While I don't really care about restaurants and bars, it is important for me to live in a place that I enjoy being, compared to living in a crappy city or neighborhood and then traveling to the place I want to hang out several times a week.

[KarefulKactus15]

Man im conflicted on this right now.   I just took a new job outside of our metro area. 

I can get housing either downtown and have a rocking social life, or get a place by my work and have an awesome commute. 

Cant have both =/      About a 25 minutes drive from my work to downtown lol.    Im leaning towards living by work cause ive been doing the long commute thing for a while.

[Just Joe]

Smallish town. Easy to get from home ot work and various places we like to go for little outings. Big outings require a drive across a few counties to bigger venues. Works fine for us.

[surfhb]

Even though I don't partake, its nice knowing I can get out of bed  at 4 am and walk 300 feet to buy a Slurpee.   Can't tell you why but it just does.    To be living around people and a community brings me joy.   Can't understand why anyone would want to live out in the sticks.   

I also require myself to live near the ocean. 

[Askel]

I completely misread what you meant by entertainment. 

I consider having convenient access to good biking and skiing essential to where I choose to live. 

I've found that I can crank up the tunes, crack a beer, and even grill a burger just about anywhere though. :D 

[Lanthiriel]

I'd prefer not to live next to the type of entertainment you describe, but every day I miss living across the street from a 300-mile trail system. One of my biggest complaints about Portland is not having anywhere to take my dog off-leash hiking after work. We used to do 3 to 5 miles every day, but now we go to the dog park in the summers only, which is much less enjoyable for both of us.

[Lmoot]

I completely misread what you meant by entertainment. 

I consider having convenient access to good biking and skiing essential to where I choose to live. 

I've found that I can crank up the tunes, crack a beer, and even grill a burger just about anywhere though. :D

Good point about "entertainment" being ambiguous. I definitely find nature and physical activities more entertaining.  But yes, I was thinking more of urban entertainment. What brought this post on, was having two different work/social groups, recommended the same indi, round-the-way restaurant within the same week. A restaurant, and many like it in the area, that I have been to with the same and other groups of friends and coworkers. When I suggested a different place, in a different area, but still not too far away, it got vetoed immediately because, oh it's so close and everybody likes the food there.

I also live in an historic area where there is a lot of civic pride, and unfortunately my civic pride gene is recessive, as was my school spirit pride, now that I think of it. I just can't see frequenting the same areas over and over and over again, just because it's a neighborhood gem. The greatest pride of a coworker of mine and her family, is that they bought their house within walking distance of this place (heaven forbid it ever closes). I mean the food is ok, but it tastes just as good a 10 min drive away. 

It just made me think of limiting ones choices. The idea that living in condensed urban areas automatically translates to one doing more things, isn't always the case. I've heard of people for example who were born in and grew up in New York City. People who have the means to go anywhere in the world they want, but have never been outside of their borough. Which got me thinking, this idea that you have everything at your fingertips, could then anyway hinder your willingness to go outside of that bubble?

 Lately I have been thinking about buying a house with lots of property, in the sticks. It's not something I could ever see myself doing before. I would be happy living in a small town and still would, but I've been drawn more and more to the idea of keeping my residential space in a different space than play (not work, because I work from home). I like to travel a lot. I've been to Africa twice in three years, and will be going to Peru next year, and Africa again in 2019. But a part of me didn't want to let go of the idea of being so close to everything. And when I sat and thought about it, I had to think hard when the last time was that I decided on my own, and not just going along with someone else, to go to a nearby restaurant or concert or a football game?

Maybe working from home has been making me kooky. Maybe I'm just over it and want a change. Maybe I'm not getting as much value from my community as I thought I would.

[keyvaluepair]

I guess it depends. I've always liked to live 15+ miles from work since I like(d) riding my bike to work. After that my main decision point was the quality of the local school system - so you know where my priorities are.
So "nay".

[ToTheMoon]

I really like living close to all the bars, stores, mountain biking trails, gyms, office, etc that I use regularly.

I can live 90% of my life in a 10 mile radius.

It was not intentional when we chose to move, but 80% of our life is now in less than a 5 mile radius, 90% in less than 10 - and we LOVE it!

With no commute or large center to contend with when doing errands, we have so much more time to play, and we can be out on the trails, or at our activities in less than 10 minutes - and a lot of that does not involve a vehicle!

I highly recommend it, and could not imagine living in a bigger city again (though visiting is now a novelty.)

[Nudelkopf]

I live in a small town, where everything is within 6km /3.5mi. It's great, and not looking forward to moving to a new city where everything is heaps far away.

(For what it's worth, I bike or walk everywhere. No public transport.)

[ice_beard]

I play in the mountains.  I have lived in/very close to the mountains and it's great. 
I would prefer to be there right now, but it's not exactly in the cards.  I would love to live across the street from a chair lift at a nice ski resort, however so would many other people. 

When I was younger it was nice to be within stumbling distance of bars, but now I don't really care.  It's more important to me now to have access to some open space, which we fortunately have.  There also happens to be a couple large bars I've never been to down the street.   

[Ann]

I don't necessarily need to be near where I'm going to "play", but I do love being close to the grocery store, the gym (face punch?), and work.  That's me, though.  If you are exploring nature then you wouldn't need a gym, if you are FIRE you won't be going to work and grocery store visits can be coordinated to much fewer visits quite easily.

[SachaFiscal]

I lived in a metro area twice for a couple years and had a 45min-1hr commute to work.  Both times I got sick of the commute and moved closer to work. I found that I was too tired to go out on weekday evenings but enjoyed it on the weekends. Also it was a lot more expensive to live in the city. Rent, commuting costs, restaurant and takeout costs were all higher. We couldn’t afford to buy anything there and still retire early. I think it is a fun experience to have for a year or two maybe in your twenties or early thirties when you have more energy. Especially if you are single or a no kids couple. But nowadays the spouse and I like to eat home cooked food more than going out. A drive into the city once on the weekend for some fun is much cheaper and about all we can handle.

[soccerluvof4]

We live walking distance to a nice smaller town that has a dozen bars , half dozen restaurants, library, local shops etc..but the traffic doesnt affect us and or do we see it so that helps. I do like the convenience of what it offers BUT in the perfect world I would not of sold my vacation Cabin up in the woods where I was 7 miles to a big town that had everything. With kids though I lost out on that so if I have to be in the southern part of the state then I like the fact I can walk to everything but not have to see or be affected by it in anyway.

[ACyclist]

I do live in a metro scenario.  However, my metro and what you guys might think is metro might be different worlds. My town is small.  There is relatively little traffic or parking problems.  It's nice.

[Hula Hoop]

We don't really do bars and restaurants that much since we have small children and are mustachian so we only go to restaurants occasionally.  I thought your question was more about leisure activities in general which in our case would mean kid related activities, concerts, galleries and things like that.

[Zikoris]

What other people find entertaining, or what I find entertaining? I don't go to restaurants or bars/clubs, so where those are located is irrelevant to me. Actually, if I end up moving I'll probably outright try to avoid them, because I'm surrounded by them right now and dealing with drunk idiots pisses me off (they really like yelling in the alley under my balcony).

I do like having a movie theater and arts venues easily accessible. Also a library, hiking trails, and nice places to bike.

[Accidental Fire]

"Play' to me also means the outdoors, not restaurants and movies.  I live in the D.C. area, and while it may seem like a cluttered area surrounded by suburban hell, the cool thing is that I can be in the mountains in under 2 hours, and I can be on the ocean in 2.5.  There's also the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac right in my backyard for paddling etc.  And for cycling our trail network is one of the largest in the country.

So it's not a bad place for me to have a diverse set of 'play' places.

[Syonyk]

Even though I don't partake, its nice knowing I can get out of bed  at 4 am and walk 300 feet to buy a Slurpee.   Can't tell you why but it just does.

I hear this from a lot of people about the supposed joys of living in a city.  Why do you care?  Especially if you've never, once, made use of this.

It was usually phrased as, "But Chinese delivery at 3AM!" as though this were a self evident requirement of modern life, and nowhere without this could be considered civilized.

If I woke up hungry at 3AM, I'd go to my kitchen and make a snack.  Going out, or even waiting for something to be delivered, is radically far down the list of things I'd do if hungry at that hour of the morning.

I hear the same sort of thing about living near great museums and art galleries and such.  People make awkward noises if you ask when the last time they went to such a place, but apparently "living near them" makes them feel good?  I really don't understand at all.

Can't understand why anyone would want to live out in the sticks.

Good.  It's no good out here if lots of people move out of the cities.  Fortunately, people have been overwhelmingly spending more and more money to cram themselves into smaller and smaller places on the coasts, so not too much risk of expansion into the good places to live...

Why do I like living out in rural farm country?  Because, in the context of this thread, my work and play are both right near me - on the property.  I work from home, I spend my free time fiddling around with stuff on the property, and nobody cares what I do within an incredibly wide range of reasonable things.  The antique tractor (75 years old) sitting outside that I use in the winter and was in the grass for a few months while I worked on it?  No problem.  The shipping container workshop?  County isn't OK with it yet, but that's just because I didn't pay my proper permit fees for it.  The only other question I get about it is, "How much did you pay for that and where'd you buy it?"  I can do what I want with my time and property, and not have, say, a complaint filed with the city about the apples in my backyard serving as rat food.  Because there was an apple tree back there.

Cities are so dense as to be functionally anonymous.  Not the case out in the "sticks" as you call them - you do get to know people better when there are long distances between houses.

[Hula Hoop]

I think it's a myth that cities are anonymous.  When I walk down the street in my adopted area of a city, I constantly say "hi" to people as I know most of them.  My daughter's best friend lives literally 5 feet from our front door across the hallway.  Our kids go to school 5 minutes walk from our apartment and most of their friends (and our friends) live within a 10 block radius.  My husband grew up in a small village out in the country and he says that where we live now is also a "village" - just a different kind. 

As far as the cultural offerings of a city - despite having small kids we actually do cultural stuff all the time.  Took the kids to a free modern art museum today and last weekend we went to a concert that cost a couple of euros.  Obviously, this is not everyone's idea of fun - but we enjoy it so living in a city is worth it to us.

[Dollar Slice]

I hear the same sort of thing about living near great museums and art galleries and such.  People make awkward noises if you ask when the last time they went to such a place, but apparently "living near them" makes them feel good?  I really don't understand at all.

I hear this a lot, and I definitely know some people that are like this. But there actually are a lot of us that take full advantage of living somewhere with many cultural opportunities. I can't really do museums right now for medical reasons (too much walking/being on my feet) but I am all over the activities where I can sit down... concerts, theater, film, etc. My typical schedule is to go out 15 nights a month for those things, and sometimes I'll do multiple events a night. I have plenty of friends that do cultural things at least once a week. And I have quite a few friends that are more involved than just wandering through a museum every now and then - people who are volunteer ushers, people who are studying obscure instruments, people who are organizing their own events, people who curate event series, people running festivals. Not everyone in NYC is like this, but there is a pretty large community of folks like us.

@Hula Hoop, yeah, people will say things like "New York is the biggest small town in the world" because you constantly run into people you know, or friends of friends, or whatever. This week I went to a concert in Bed Stuy and randomly started talking to some stranger at the bar... it turned out the night before he had been hanging out with the same friend I'd been hanging out with three nights earlier, who lives 15+ miles away in New Jersey. 20 million people in this metro area, and this sort of thing happens all the time.

[zinnie]

Let me preface this by saying that I am a bit of an introvert homebody, but I still like to meet up with friends and coworkers from time to time. [...]

I'll be honest I never understood the appeal of being able to walk to a restaurant or a brewery. Unless you live near a busy strip, it's assumed that you would only be able to walk to the same few restaurants and breweries. I feel like that would make my world feel smaller and more repetitive.

I am not trying to critique someone else's lifestyle choices, only to understand it more. I guess a lot of it has to do with the fact that I don't really partake in local entertainment anyway. Most of the things I like doing would take traveling to get there, especially since "travel" is one of those things. Part of the excitement for me, in trying a new restaurant, or going to a festival, is in leaving my neighborhood to do it.

[...] And if you are living in the hubbub, do you still love it, or does it begin to feel monotonous?

Cuts to respond to certain parts. First paragraph: I am also mostly an introvert, and after being out I quite enjoy coming back to my single family home where I have as much privacy as I like.

Second paragraph: I don’t get how being close to things means that you’re on a busy strip. I consider a mile or less easy walking distance, and I am currently about one mile or less from all the restaurants, parks, museums, movie theaters, grocery stores, libraries, farmer's markets, etc. that I need. There are five distinct neighborhoods in that area so there are more restaurants and breweries than I could ever visit at my spending level. Downtown is 3.5 miles and an easy bus or bike trip. I'd say 99% of my life is within five miles; it is so convenient and enjoyable that it would be really hard for me to move somewhere that this wasn't the case.

Third paragraph: living by a lot of things doesn’t limit your ability to also travel for special things. I also like travel, but it is expensive, and at a mustachian level of spending I appreciate that I don’t need to drive for the majority of what I do.

Forth paragraph: I don’t get your point about living near things making those things monotonous. I still have as many choices of where to go, I can just get there using my own body power instead of wasting money and polluting the environment by driving a clown car. I want everything that I do on a regular basis to be close (which makes sense, right? live near the things you do most of the time) so I plan my life based on what's around me.  When I'm searching for something new, I always sort by distance to my house and find the closest good choice. Visiting business that are close to you also helps you cultivate relationships with neighbors and a sense of community.

[boarder42]

Yeah I misunderstood what you meant. Live where you play to me and for other mustashians I would think would have to do more with living where you have access to your hobbies in the most affordable way. Not living where a restaurant or bar is. Unless that's your entertainment. I live on a lake because that's where I like to play. When we FIRE we will likely move to a lake in the mountain states because that's the most beautiful part of the country. Or we may move to a more remote lake that is cheaper due to not being proximal to a large city

[waltworks]

We used 2010 census data and my wasted youth as a mountain bike bum/extensive knowledge of ski towns to choose where to live based on:
-Quality of schools.
-Quality of mountain biking.
-Quality of skiing.

Living away (even 20 minutes away) from the stuff we like to do is absolutely unacceptable to me.

-W

[headwinds]

I say YAY! The mountains were the biggest reason I moved where I now live. Now I get to see this every morning, and it is worth every bit of sacrifice I had to make in order to live here.



And seeing as how my whole town is only about 2 mi square, everything is close even though I live on the edge of town :)

[JLee]

No.  My social life is in Manhattan and I refuse to live there - wayyy too much money!

[boarder42]

I say YAY! The mountains were the biggest reason I moved where I now live. Now I get to see this every morning, and it is worth every bit of sacrifice I had to make in order to live here.



And seeing as how my whole town is only about 2 mi square, everything is close even though I live on the edge of town :)

Where is this.

[Schaefer Light]

My dream is to be able to take a golf cart from my house to the 1st tee.

[zinnie]

I say YAY! The mountains were the biggest reason I moved where I now live. Now I get to see this every morning, and it is worth every bit of sacrifice I had to make in order to live here.



And seeing as how my whole town is only about 2 mi square, everything is close even though I live on the edge of town :)

Where is this.

+1 to this question. beautiful!

[waltworks]

Looks like Bishop/Eastern Sierras to me. But I could be wrong.

-W

[Bateaux]

I live in the swamps of Louisiana.   My heart is in the mountains.   I've got a pretty good paying job and an obligation to stay there another year or so to provide health insurance for my family.   It's like prison having to stay here for work.

[bash]

Why not both?

My ideal would be to have a condo in the city and a house in the country.  Figure a 2br. penthouse condo in a luxury building in some walkable part of a happening city where you could walk to work, bars, restaurants, and other entertainment, enjoy the rooftop pool looking out over the city skyline, and Uber anywhere within minutes.

And also a rural spread with a few hundred acres (or a lake/mountain home/other attraction) within a 30-45 min. drive of the condo where you could host larger groups, play outside, enjoy various toys and plentiful, cheap storage.

I can think of several cities where this would be easy to accomplish, if one had a few million to spend on the real estate.

[rubybeth]

I live in a medium size city where both DH and I work. We actually work within about 2 miles of each other. We regularly drive about an hour away to a much bigger city for cultural entertainment that we enjoy. Living in that bigger city wouldn't mean all that much more in terms of salaries and would result in a much higher cost of living, plus far longer commutes. So we just go and do fun things and visit friends and stay with my sister or get a hotel around once a month. I like having the advantages of the smaller city for living and the larger city for when we want to "get away."

[LifeHappens]

I work remotely and DH is semi-retired. We can live just about anywhere. We moved to our present location for access to the water and the thought that we might enjoy life in something akin to a fishing village.

We don't.

We're in the process of moving to a small city, where we will be within walking/biking distance to a library, live theater, nice parks and - yes - a brewery or two. We much prefer that lifestyle on a daily basis and are willing to drive to access water and other outdoor recreation. It turns out having to drive 10 miles or more to run daily errands is not the life for us.

[Syonyk]

Why not both?

You sort of answer your own question.

... if one had a few million to spend on the real estate.

A "few million" is quite a bit to spend on what you could accomplish with a hotel every now and then in the city.  A lifetime of swanky hotel rooms for a weekend a month would still probably be cheaper than buying an infrequently used luxury condo.

[bash]

Why not both?

You sort of answer your own question.

... if one had a few million to spend on the real estate.

A "few million" is quite a bit to spend on what you could accomplish with a hotel every now and then in the city.  A lifetime of swanky hotel rooms for a weekend a month would still probably be cheaper than buying an infrequently used luxury condo.

In my hypothetical situation, you live at the condo most of the time for your 9-5, and the place in the country is to get away on weekends or holidays.  Obviously maintaining two households isn't the most efficient use of resources, but it eliminates the inherent trade-offs of choosing one or the other while introducing some new downsides.  Many wealthy people choose this option.  A condo in Manhattan and a beach house in the Hamptons is a common example.

If you rarely go to the city, then yes, obviously an occasional hotel would be cheaper than owning a luxury condo.  But not nearly as appealing, depending on your preferences.  Getting a hotel room isn't a replacement for living downtown.

[big_slacker]

My parents live walking distance to an area with a ton of unique little bars and restaurants (Alberta st in Portland OR if you want to google). If they somehow *DO* manage to get bored with the completely bonkers number of bars and restaurants local to them it is possible to get into a car, ride a bike or take a bus to another area with a ka-jillion restaurants. :D

For me though I don't eat out for entertainment at all. For that I have the mountains and the water, and yes I want to live as close as I can possibly manage to those. And no having them close doesn't make it boring. Ever.

[jeninco]

We pay an insane amount to live in a small city (120,000-sh) with great bike routes and good schools, butted up against the edge of the mountains. Great restaurants and bars (although we hardly ever eat out) a big state university (so we can get some cultjah, if necessary), decent live music scene. About an hour drive to the state capital, with decent museums, and about an hour to a major airport. It's about a 10-minute bike ride to several lovely weekday hikes.
DH works in town, I work from this very house.

So yeah, live where you play/exercise.

[Erica]

The photo was taken last month from our upstairs bedroom deck. We just moved here.
Living here is akin to being on vacation. Love the location, town and the house is so comfortable!!
Clean air and water, lots of mtn biking trails, hiking, fishing, streams, lakes, rivers, snow mobiling, it's heaven on earth.
Skiing is about an hour away, Reno Nevada is also about an hour away. Townsfolk are wonderful people.
Husband lost 10lbs so far and I have went down a pants size within the last 5 weeks due to mtn biking.
Town is adjacent the Tahoe National Forest

Population- 125 Full time Residents with the remaining 125 being part timers who own vacation homes here. Maybe 10 yr round renters
Town is best known for it's hiking in the Buttes and the Pacific Coast Trail (which is 1/2 mile away from our front door)
20 miles away is Likely the most popular spot (or #2) in Calif to Mtn Bike. Though there are plenty of trails here too.
An abundance of volunteers run many town services. It's a pretty united community. We are joining Search & Rescue soon and may be training to become EMT's. We joined the hiking club already. This tiny town boasts 2 restaurants, a bakery, small store, 3 tiny churches, fire dept, community hall, realtor, bar library, gas pump w/ snowmobile shop, rv park, post office, public bathrooms with showers & fountains, small chamber of commerce bldg, multiple campgrounds  and multiple resorts. Each of the two restaurants are open 3 days per week during the downtime of the winter. Otherwise Tourism is the towns main income. Socialization in the morning at one of the restaurants is essential to connecting to the townsfolk.

Downside- The Commute to work though it is very worth it. Drive to work Wed afternoon and come back Friday afternoon working straight thru except 6 hrs off on Thurs. 4 days off per wk isn't bad. Closest bank is 20 miles away and the only choice is Wells Fargo. We are within 1/2 mile from town or less so we hear the fire department bullhorn. it's not a bull-horn but an alarm that plays the tune to that old Close Encounters of the Third Kind movie. When it sounds, we worry it might be someone we know. It is LOUD and wakes up everyone in town.. This isn't really a downside since it's only sounded 7x or so  in the last 4 weeks i recall.

1 hr 45 min round trip so 3 1/2 hrs total per week. Received a 3K raise just as we were moving so perfect timing. May be able to get paid working for those 6 hrs now, keeping fingers crossed. That would mean no breaks but 2 of the 6 hours each week are overtime and I am already there.
If it doesn't materialize, I'll be keeping my eyes open to possibly switching jobs to reduce the commute.

[headwinds]

Looks like Bishop/Eastern Sierras to me. But I could be wrong.

-W

Bishop, CA. Right you are.

[Villanelle]

After living in Japan and in a place where so many things are so vey close, I place much more value on being close to everything I could need.  That doesn't mean I didn't still go to places outside a quick walk or bike radius, but it was so nice to realize I was out of milk and be back at the house, milk in hand, in under 5 minutes. 

Also, as someone who is very socially anxious, the idea of being a local at a few places greatly appeals to me.  Walking into our version of "Cheers" for a drink every few weeks sounds delightful.  Eating and drinking and shopping "where everybody knows your name" sounds wonderful, as I'm far less anxious around people I kind of know. 

I don't value it quite enough to make it worth a long commute, but for a forever home?  It will be darn high on the priority list. 

[tinylittlemonkey]

I bought my home close to the things I like to do... Museum District, mom and pop restaurants, and I live in the middle of 3 popular neighborhoods for going out (coffee shops, bars, TACOS!). I like having the sense of "this is my neighborhood" and I even do my part to keep it nice and to support small/local businesses.

...however, I live very close to downtown and believe it or not all the businesses are up North which is about 30-45 minutes away by car in no traffic! Commuting absolutely sucks and I am completely over it. I looked into moving and with real estate prices the way they are, I just don't think it is worth it. ::sigh::

[big_slacker]

The photo was taken last month from our upstairs bedroom deck. We just moved here.
Living here is akin to being on vacation. Love the location, town and the house is so comfortable!!
Clean air and water, lots of mtn biking trails, hiking, fishing, streams, lakes, rivers, snow mobiling, it's heaven on earth.
Skiing is about an hour away, Reno Nevada is also about an hour away. Townsfolk are wonderful people.
Husband lost 10lbs so far and I have went down a pants size within the last 5 weeks due to mtn biking.
Town is adjacent the Tahoe National Forest

Population- 125 Full time Residents with the remaining 125 being part timers who own vacation homes here. Maybe 10 yr round renters
Town is best known for it's hiking in the Buttes and the Pacific Coast Trail (which is 1/2 mile away from our front door)
20 miles away is Likely the most popular spot (or #2) in Calif to Mtn Bike. Though there are plenty of trails here too.
An abundance of volunteers run many town services. It's a pretty united community. We are joining Search & Rescue soon and may be training to become EMT's. We joined the hiking club already. This tiny town boasts 2 restaurants, a bakery, small store, 3 tiny churches, fire dept, community hall, realtor, bar library, gas pump w/ snowmobile shop, rv park, post office, public bathrooms with showers & fountains, small chamber of commerce bldg, multiple campgrounds  and multiple resorts. Each of the two restaurants are open 3 days per week during the downtime of the winter. Otherwise Tourism is the towns main income. Socialization in the morning at one of the restaurants is essential to connecting to the townsfolk.

Downside- The Commute to work though it is very worth it. Drive to work Wed afternoon and come back Friday afternoon working straight thru except 6 hrs off on Thurs. 4 days off per wk isn't bad. Closest bank is 20 miles away and the only choice is Wells Fargo. We are within 1/2 mile from town or less so we hear the fire department bullhorn. it's not a bull-horn but an alarm that plays the tune to that old Close Encounters of the Third Kind movie. When it sounds, we worry it might be someone we know. It is LOUD and wakes up everyone in town.. This isn't really a downside since it's only sounded 7x or so  in the last 4 weeks i recall.

1 hr 45 min round trip so 3 1/2 hrs total per week. Received a 3K raise just as we were moving so perfect timing. May be able to get paid working for those 6 hrs now, keeping fingers crossed. That would mean no breaks but 2 of the 6 hours each week are overtime and I am already there.
If it doesn't materialize, I'll be keeping my eyes open to possibly switching jobs to reduce the commute.

I'm guessing the MTB spot mentioned is Downieville (great ride!) and you're in Sierra City? Awesome location!

[Just Joe]

I live in a medium size city where both DH and I work. We actually work within about 2 miles of each other. We regularly drive about an hour away to a much bigger city for cultural entertainment that we enjoy. Living in that bigger city wouldn't mean all that much more in terms of salaries and would result in a much higher cost of living, plus far longer commutes. So we just go and do fun things and visit friends and stay with my sister or get a hotel around once a month. I like having the advantages of the smaller city for living and the larger city for when we want to "get away."

We made similar choices. We wouldn't fit well in the city.

[Erica]

The photo was taken last month from our upstairs bedroom deck. We just moved here.
Living here is akin to being on vacation. Love the location, town and the house is so comfortable!!
Clean air and water, lots of mtn biking trails, hiking, fishing, streams, lakes, rivers, snow mobiling, it's heaven on earth.
Skiing is about an hour away, Reno Nevada is also about an hour away. Townsfolk are wonderful people.
Husband lost 10lbs so far and I have went down a pants size within the last 5 weeks due to mtn biking.
Town is adjacent the Tahoe National Forest

Population- 125 Full time Residents with the remaining 125 being part timers who own vacation homes here. Maybe 10 yr round renters
Town is best known for it's hiking in the Buttes and the Pacific Coast Trail (which is 1/2 mile away from our front door)
20 miles away is Likely the most popular spot (or #2) in Calif to Mtn Bike. Though there are plenty of trails here too.
An abundance of volunteers run many town services. It's a pretty united community. We are joining Search & Rescue soon and may be training to become EMT's. We joined the hiking club already. This tiny town boasts 2 restaurants, a bakery, small store, 3 tiny churches, fire dept, community hall, realtor, bar library, gas pump w/ snowmobile shop, rv park, post office, public bathrooms with showers & fountains, small chamber of commerce bldg, multiple campgrounds  and multiple resorts. Each of the two restaurants are open 3 days per week during the downtime of the winter. Otherwise Tourism is the towns main income. Socialization in the morning at one of the restaurants is essential to connecting to the townsfolk.

Downside- The Commute to work though it is very worth it. Drive to work Wed afternoon and come back Friday afternoon working straight thru except 6 hrs off on Thurs. 4 days off per wk isn't bad. Closest bank is 20 miles away and the only choice is Wells Fargo. We are within 1/2 mile from town or less so we hear the fire department bullhorn. it's not a bull-horn but an alarm that plays the tune to that old Close Encounters of the Third Kind movie. When it sounds, we worry it might be someone we know. It is LOUD and wakes up everyone in town.. This isn't really a downside since it's only sounded 7x or so  in the last 4 weeks i recall.

1 hr 45 min round trip so 3 1/2 hrs total per week. Received a 3K raise just as we were moving so perfect timing. May be able to get paid working for those 6 hrs now, keeping fingers crossed. That would mean no breaks but 2 of the 6 hours each week are overtime and I am already there.
If it doesn't materialize, I'll be keeping my eyes open to possibly switching jobs to reduce the commute.

I'm guessing the MTB spot mentioned is Downieville (great ride!) and you're in Sierra City? Awesome location!

Yes you are correct. Thanks! We still haven't rode Downieville trails yet, only up here. The days are shorter and my biological clock doesn't comform easily to leaving earlier than noon to ride. love night riding but weather isn't going to be complying anytime soon.