You get one group of Freepers calling anybody who would liver there and pay those prices morons. Then you have the other group posting photos of what the same money would get you in some remote hamlet in the middle of nowhere, USA.
Message to the latter group. Most people do not want to live in your rural one stoplight town. Sure, it's probably a nice safe place to raise your kids and I'm sure the other 784 people there are friendly as heck. But soon as your kids grow up, they are headed for the city lights, unless they are pining for a career at Wal-Mart or the local feed store. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But don't expect that's what they will want.
As a conservative capitalist, I see the increasing real estate values in areas like Silicon Valley and Metro NYC as a success story. It is a GOOD thing!
And yes, these areas feature many successful businesses that pay very large salary packages to those who have the skill set to work for them. Or, if you are entrepreneurially minded, you can start your own business and become a multi-millionaire or a billionaire. These are all GOOD things.
I recently relocated to the NYC area for my company. All my working life, I have aspired to work in Manhattan. To me, this is the big leagues. And even coming from Boston area, I was astonished to see the housing prices. To buy the equivalent home I had up there down here would have costed me several million dollars, had I decided to move as close to the city as I was to Boston.
But I did okay, I got a home in Southern CT that is 50 miles as the crow flies to my Manhattan office and I have to take the Metro North train to work every day, but I like it. I'm where I want to be.
When I was moving down here, I had to decide between a modest home in an urban area that would keep me close to my office or a larger home that I was accustomed to up north, but an hour from the city. I decided to go with bigger house and more land and learn to love the commute. Which I did. I bought myself an iPad and now those hour long commute train rides are a breeze as I can catch up on email, surf Free Republic, read a book or watch a movie.
I still had to pay close to a million for my house out here but its surrounded with several acres of woods. It's a nice retreat after spending the day in the city. I know for the same money, I could get a mansion in Nebraska or Kansas. But there's no way would want to live there. And I've lived in small towns before, such as in Alabama and Iowa, so I know the difference between them.
So basically you find a way. There are millions of people still coming to Silicon valley to find work at rapidly growing companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, etc. Somehow, they manage to work it out despite the high real estate prices. Same in NY Metro area, which is still by and large growing. Walking through the streets of Manhattan, I see cranes everywhere as high rises are constantly going up. The boroughs are rapidly gentrifying and seeing explosive growth.
In spite of liberalism and attempts to socialize all of us, capitalism continues to thrive in parts of the East and West coasts.
Imagine the economic growth this whole nation would see if we had leadership in Washington that understood capitalism.
Best of both worlds varies according to your preference. Mr. V works two weeks on, two weeks off in the city and then comes home to rural Maine. That NYC money goes a long way here.
Our daughter is planning big things, and yes, a long way from here. I expect she will want to raise her kids here, but if not, that’s her choice. Nice place to grow up - and we keep a boat in southern New England for a summer base when we tire of the rural life. We like life off the hamster wheel of NYC but can return when we want the bright lights. YMMV
Not our house, but a nice one locally.