Cool story. Reminds me of my marketing days using the Prism demographic system. The premise was to use demographic address-specific info to create similarities at the block (25-50 HH level). Their slogan was the “birds of a feather flock together.”
Early on through nine moves in the business we learned to always buy the lest expensive house in a neighborhood, if nothing more than for the resale value.
Lots of talk from some about the “left” and dems. You may find this interesting:
"Long ago, there was a noble word, liberal, which derives from the word free. Now a strange thing happened to that word. A man named Hitler made it a term of abuse, a matter of suspicion, because those who were not with him were against him, and liberals had no use for Hitler. And then another man named McCarthy cast the same opprobrium on the word ... We must cherish and honor the word free or it will cease to apply to us."
so it's timely to copy/repeat what was posted the other day about the Democrat in Maine:
Platner has secured the endorsement and approval of a number of leading Democrats, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Graham Platner, the Maine Democrat who until recently wore what sure looked like a Totenkopf tattoo (he covered it up after it became a political embarrassment). The tattoo one of the three key branches of Hitler’s Waffen-SS, the armed backbone of the Nazi regime. And the SS-Totenkopfverbände arguably represented the worst of the SS. Among other duties, they were concentration camp guards, the people who were responsible for order in the industrial killing machines of Nazi Germany. There's more history about Platner that I won't include.
As a young family following the 2008 financial crisis, we had the chance for a reset. We consciously chose to move to a small, older home we could just barely afford. It is in a nice neighborhood with exceptionally good public schools where we’re all surrounded by high-achievers. Our option at the time was a larger, more beautiful home in a rough town, where people worked hard but generally didn’t expect any more than just getting by, and where we would have needed to send the kids to private schools.
Looking at our four children now, their relationships, their successes, and the amazing human beings they are, I know we made the right choice.
I think if you can remain in a community for the long haul this is best for children. If, however, you are in a highly mobile environment such as the military or certain businesses/trades then living in a higher-end community can back fire. I know I always tried to be in the best communities we could afford and that every three years we would move again. The other families children could be VERY clickish. Okay maybe that is not a word but having children in these schools where they were treated as outsiders and shunned or sometimes even bullied was not the best. I do feel strongly that for our children to do their best staying in one or two communities works best on so many levels.
I commuted to this state everyday for 3 years (45 minutes in/ 2.5 hours home), then my husband was transferred here so we moved. Our initial plan was to pick a nice town between both jobs, which were 90 minutes apart. We settled about 35 minutes from his job and 55 minutes from mine, because we fell in love the town. Lots of restaurants within walking distance, close to NYC and easy to hop on any one of the main roads that would get us back to see our families without jumping through hoops (unless you count the BQE and Belt Parkway as major hoops). When it came time to start thinking about kids, we started looking at school districts, property (back yards) and family neighborhoods. We've moved twice since that initial landing but settled in the home we have now for the last 21 years. We are now looking at the next phase of our lives and our goal is to get out of NJ and move where I can sit on my deck and look at the water; and where my husband can golf...often and year-round. It won't be Florida. We do have an estimate of what we want to pay for our next (last) home and we're not shy or worried about what others may think. We have worked hard for the last 35-40 years and sacked enough away to be able to choose who we want our neighbors to be. I don't want young kids living next door (been there, done that). I don't want people with cars up on cinder blocks. I don't want a single demographic so we look like the Stepford Wives. But I've earned the right to choose the criteria for my new neighborhood. If some think that's a negative, that's their problem, not mine. We were raised in lower middle class families and worked hard. If someone wants to write an article about my 'privilege' they won't find any.
My 2¢…look into the Greenville, SC upstate area. Mountains <45 minutes away, beaches an easy 4hour drive, low cost of living/property taxes and no SS taxes. Asheville is only an hour away. We’ve been here 9 years and love it.
My wife and I are in the exact same spot and have started our search but have not yet found what we are looking for as far as our next/final/retirement residence. We are not Florida people. Would like to find a place near water, good downtown with shops and restaurants, moderate temps... and a little bit of charm where not all the houses are cookie cutter in design. The search continues!!
Greenville seems to be more progressive than the rest of the state, much like Atlanta vs the rest of Georgia. The DT is outstanding and shows up on a lot of the top mid-sized towns while Greer is on smaller town lists.
We were living in a condo when we had our first child on the way. So we decided to live in a neighborhood. We were looking for a four bedroom ranch in Cincinnati. There were none for sale that we could find. So we ended up with a two-story colonial and it was a little bit of a reach, but we thought we’d only be there for a couple years. Now 38 years later, we found that a lot of young couples were buying in the neighborhood. Our kids would have lots of friends go to the same schools and play a lot of sports together. Now we find it hard to move, even though we are in a great school district and a great neighborhood, finding a downsized house that could still fit all our kids and grandkids is way above what we could sell our house for. So they’ll have to drag us out of our house.
After 50 yrs of marriage with 4 kids & 7 grandchildren who all live very close, I believe that a lot of our happiness and success stemmed from the community we lived in. If I had to pick one characteristic that stands out, it was all the great people who volunteered their time. The sports teams, the Scouts, the PTA, Knights of Columbus, etc… were all well run and fun to be involved with. Of course, schools are at or near the top of the list, but I would highly recommend finding out as much as you can about all of the programs in town. It will give you some insight as to what your neighbors will be like..
We were living on a small island off the coast of Maine, connected by a 2 lane bridge to the mainland. The society there did not support education or the arts (we are both artists). So we researched towns near colleges which support education. We moved to the Hanover, NH area (Dartmouth college) of New England. The Dresden school district (NH&VT) met and exceeded our hopes for our children's educational needs. The community was supportive and we have been there 48 years. Being close to a world class heath institute has met our needs as octogenarians too.
the majority of Americans believe their fellow residents are kind, according to the results of a Gallup survey released last month. The paper — titled “Americans Think Kindness Prevails in the U.S.” — notes that nearly three-quarters of the 2,000-plus participants believe adults in the country are either “very” or “somewhat” kind.
Roughly 65% of Americans reported experiencing kindness from someone in their community in the past week alone and 60% said they’d seen people treating others with kindness and respect either “very often” or “often.”
And kindness really seems to be contagious: Those who received acts of kindness more often reported higher comfort in initiating kind acts toward others and were more likely to view people in the U.S. as kind.
In the spirit of being kind and celebrating the country’s big 2-5-0 coming up, the United States of Kindness initiative is encouraging everyone to perform 250 acts of kindness
Because of my husband's job, we have lived in one of the poorest counties and one of the richest counties in our state. I'm glad my children had the opportunity to experience both. It has served them well to stay humble and appreciate opportunities when they come without being pulled into privilege. Wherever you live, it's probably a good idea not to stay in that bubble but to show them how to appreciate and engage with all sorts of communities.
regarding if you could live anywhere: as far as schools are concerned, we didn't have any choice through middle school for our kids. I was in the military, a majority of that time overseas, and our kids went to Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DoDDS). Our daughter-in-law teaches for DoDDS in Korea now, and she says it's the best teaching job she's ever had. Facilities are well-maintained, she doesn't go out of pocket for supplies, every family has at least one parent working, they value education, kids are generally well-behaved. When I retired and we bought a house, school reputation was a big factor.
Maybe some of your best writing:
To summarize, just in case you forgot to renew your subscription to American Sociological Review,
I know! It sure made me laugh.
Cool story. Reminds me of my marketing days using the Prism demographic system. The premise was to use demographic address-specific info to create similarities at the block (25-50 HH level). Their slogan was the “birds of a feather flock together.”
Early on through nine moves in the business we learned to always buy the lest expensive house in a neighborhood, if nothing more than for the resale value.
Lots of talk from some about the “left” and dems. You may find this interesting:
"Long ago, there was a noble word, liberal, which derives from the word free. Now a strange thing happened to that word. A man named Hitler made it a term of abuse, a matter of suspicion, because those who were not with him were against him, and liberals had no use for Hitler. And then another man named McCarthy cast the same opprobrium on the word ... We must cherish and honor the word free or it will cease to apply to us."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt.
so it's timely to copy/repeat what was posted the other day about the Democrat in Maine:
Platner has secured the endorsement and approval of a number of leading Democrats, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Graham Platner, the Maine Democrat who until recently wore what sure looked like a Totenkopf tattoo (he covered it up after it became a political embarrassment). The tattoo one of the three key branches of Hitler’s Waffen-SS, the armed backbone of the Nazi regime. And the SS-Totenkopfverbände arguably represented the worst of the SS. Among other duties, they were concentration camp guards, the people who were responsible for order in the industrial killing machines of Nazi Germany. There's more history about Platner that I won't include.
As a young family following the 2008 financial crisis, we had the chance for a reset. We consciously chose to move to a small, older home we could just barely afford. It is in a nice neighborhood with exceptionally good public schools where we’re all surrounded by high-achievers. Our option at the time was a larger, more beautiful home in a rough town, where people worked hard but generally didn’t expect any more than just getting by, and where we would have needed to send the kids to private schools.
Looking at our four children now, their relationships, their successes, and the amazing human beings they are, I know we made the right choice.
I think if you can remain in a community for the long haul this is best for children. If, however, you are in a highly mobile environment such as the military or certain businesses/trades then living in a higher-end community can back fire. I know I always tried to be in the best communities we could afford and that every three years we would move again. The other families children could be VERY clickish. Okay maybe that is not a word but having children in these schools where they were treated as outsiders and shunned or sometimes even bullied was not the best. I do feel strongly that for our children to do their best staying in one or two communities works best on so many levels.
I commuted to this state everyday for 3 years (45 minutes in/ 2.5 hours home), then my husband was transferred here so we moved. Our initial plan was to pick a nice town between both jobs, which were 90 minutes apart. We settled about 35 minutes from his job and 55 minutes from mine, because we fell in love the town. Lots of restaurants within walking distance, close to NYC and easy to hop on any one of the main roads that would get us back to see our families without jumping through hoops (unless you count the BQE and Belt Parkway as major hoops). When it came time to start thinking about kids, we started looking at school districts, property (back yards) and family neighborhoods. We've moved twice since that initial landing but settled in the home we have now for the last 21 years. We are now looking at the next phase of our lives and our goal is to get out of NJ and move where I can sit on my deck and look at the water; and where my husband can golf...often and year-round. It won't be Florida. We do have an estimate of what we want to pay for our next (last) home and we're not shy or worried about what others may think. We have worked hard for the last 35-40 years and sacked enough away to be able to choose who we want our neighbors to be. I don't want young kids living next door (been there, done that). I don't want people with cars up on cinder blocks. I don't want a single demographic so we look like the Stepford Wives. But I've earned the right to choose the criteria for my new neighborhood. If some think that's a negative, that's their problem, not mine. We were raised in lower middle class families and worked hard. If someone wants to write an article about my 'privilege' they won't find any.
My 2¢…look into the Greenville, SC upstate area. Mountains <45 minutes away, beaches an easy 4hour drive, low cost of living/property taxes and no SS taxes. Asheville is only an hour away. We’ve been here 9 years and love it.
My wife and I are in the exact same spot and have started our search but have not yet found what we are looking for as far as our next/final/retirement residence. We are not Florida people. Would like to find a place near water, good downtown with shops and restaurants, moderate temps... and a little bit of charm where not all the houses are cookie cutter in design. The search continues!!
Greenville seems to be more progressive than the rest of the state, much like Atlanta vs the rest of Georgia. The DT is outstanding and shows up on a lot of the top mid-sized towns while Greer is on smaller town lists.
We were living in a condo when we had our first child on the way. So we decided to live in a neighborhood. We were looking for a four bedroom ranch in Cincinnati. There were none for sale that we could find. So we ended up with a two-story colonial and it was a little bit of a reach, but we thought we’d only be there for a couple years. Now 38 years later, we found that a lot of young couples were buying in the neighborhood. Our kids would have lots of friends go to the same schools and play a lot of sports together. Now we find it hard to move, even though we are in a great school district and a great neighborhood, finding a downsized house that could still fit all our kids and grandkids is way above what we could sell our house for. So they’ll have to drag us out of our house.
After 50 yrs of marriage with 4 kids & 7 grandchildren who all live very close, I believe that a lot of our happiness and success stemmed from the community we lived in. If I had to pick one characteristic that stands out, it was all the great people who volunteered their time. The sports teams, the Scouts, the PTA, Knights of Columbus, etc… were all well run and fun to be involved with. Of course, schools are at or near the top of the list, but I would highly recommend finding out as much as you can about all of the programs in town. It will give you some insight as to what your neighbors will be like..
We were living on a small island off the coast of Maine, connected by a 2 lane bridge to the mainland. The society there did not support education or the arts (we are both artists). So we researched towns near colleges which support education. We moved to the Hanover, NH area (Dartmouth college) of New England. The Dresden school district (NH&VT) met and exceeded our hopes for our children's educational needs. The community was supportive and we have been there 48 years. Being close to a world class heath institute has met our needs as octogenarians too.
no matter where you live:
the majority of Americans believe their fellow residents are kind, according to the results of a Gallup survey released last month. The paper — titled “Americans Think Kindness Prevails in the U.S.” — notes that nearly three-quarters of the 2,000-plus participants believe adults in the country are either “very” or “somewhat” kind.
Roughly 65% of Americans reported experiencing kindness from someone in their community in the past week alone and 60% said they’d seen people treating others with kindness and respect either “very often” or “often.”
And kindness really seems to be contagious: Those who received acts of kindness more often reported higher comfort in initiating kind acts toward others and were more likely to view people in the U.S. as kind.
In the spirit of being kind and celebrating the country’s big 2-5-0 coming up, the United States of Kindness initiative is encouraging everyone to perform 250 acts of kindness
this is the link:
https://www.usofkindness.org/?ck_subscriber_id=2496808141&utm_source=convertkit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Most%20Americans%20say%20the%20US%20is%20kind%20-%2021725803
I love this idea! Thanks for letting us know.
Because of my husband's job, we have lived in one of the poorest counties and one of the richest counties in our state. I'm glad my children had the opportunity to experience both. It has served them well to stay humble and appreciate opportunities when they come without being pulled into privilege. Wherever you live, it's probably a good idea not to stay in that bubble but to show them how to appreciate and engage with all sorts of communities.
regarding if you could live anywhere: as far as schools are concerned, we didn't have any choice through middle school for our kids. I was in the military, a majority of that time overseas, and our kids went to Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DoDDS). Our daughter-in-law teaches for DoDDS in Korea now, and she says it's the best teaching job she's ever had. Facilities are well-maintained, she doesn't go out of pocket for supplies, every family has at least one parent working, they value education, kids are generally well-behaved. When I retired and we bought a house, school reputation was a big factor.