What If the Housing Bust Wasn’t a Game-Changer?

[Kriegsspiel]

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2012/06/what-if-housing-bust-wasnt-game-changer/2318/#

Recent article (from June 20), lots of links inside the article too, for anyone who's interested.  And it has this cool map:

[Ego]

According to the report, the new normal will be the same old exurb of the old normal.  What it fails to realize is who is (or will be) living in those exurbs.  We are witnessing a reverse gentrification where poor people are being pushed out of the cities and are moving into the low cost, no job exurbs.   Just like Paris.  The previous exurb residents are the ones doing the pushing. 

[tooqk4u22]

Urban environments are still the flavor of the day, and all the current data suggests that young people especially want to live in urban areas.  Makes a lot of sense because this is typically where the jobs, their friends and the action all is.  One thing that the current trend fails to take into account is that many of these young people are living in tiny studios, have multiple roomates, and/or are paying hefty sums for rent.  As they age and look to have families they will need/want larger places and unless they are in the top income % it won't be affordable.  Now the younger generation is slower to get to the family stage than prior generations for any number of reasons but eventually it will happen. 

Although I think they will prefer the suburbs as opposed to the exurbs.

[Guitarguy]

I have to post this link to a government program that caught my eye earlier today, which I think is pretty interesting once we consider that map of urban sprawl that was posted above:

http://www.kansascommerce.com/index.aspx?NID=320

To summarize: This is a program which will, in essence, subsidize college graduates who decide move to rural areas in the state of Kansas. As soon as I saw this, my mustachianism alarm went off. The counties on this list are all at least 2 hours away from any major city in Kansas, such as Wichita, Lawrence, Topeka, and Manhattan. Who in their right mind would move almost 2 hours away from work opportunities, to save a measly 20% off total outstanding loans, up to $3,000 a year on student loans?

 Maximum savings, if you happen to find a county that will waive your state income tax, would be an additional 6% on your yearly income. So if you made 30,000, would be a $1800 tax credit + $3,000 student loan credit = $4,800.

Who would commute almost 60,000 miles a year, (which at $.50 per mile comes out to roughly $30,000 in commuting costs) to save $4,800? What an asinine program.