If money were no object, which major USA downtown would you pick to live?

[Trivers]

During the past three months, I've traveled to Manhattan, San Francisco, San Jose, Portland, Chicago, and Miami for biz/personal trips.

I've stayed in mid-priced hotels. (Actually, non were cheap as in staying at a Best Western in the 'burbs. )

Observations:
Manhatten: Used to love to go here. Now I find it crowded, dirty, and people are rude on the streets, but normal once inside. Least value per sq ft of hotel space of all the cities.
San Fran: Love the Wharf. Expensive, a homeless problem, past its prime?
Portland: Beautiful, had to fight off the homeless on every block as I walked. No sun the entire trip.
San Jose: Energy! Wonderful weather, expensive as hell. Traffic sucked.
Chicago: More I go, the more I fall in love. Clean, not crowded, people are friendly. Saw two panhandlers the entire weekend. Good hotel value.
Miami: Great food, the babes on South Beach were amazing eye candy. It would be too hot in summer. Condos expensive.

So if I had to move from middle of no-where Wisconsin where there are more cows that cars, I would pick downtown Chicago and try to find a condo overseeing a river or Lake Michigan.

What about you?

[Why Not?]

Originally Posted by jaa1025

Honolulu.

Traffic is atrocious and the whole island thing but I loved living there for 2 years. So much culture, people are great, beaches, weather. Absolutely love it.

This is a smart fella

[PunkinDrublic]

No downtown Olathe? Thread fail. I’ve always loved SoCal. I would love to stay in one of those beach cities south of L.A or in Orange County. Probably Newport Beach.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by PunkinDrublic

No downtown Olathe? Thread fail. I’ve always loved SoCal. I would love to stay in one of those beach cities south of L.A or in Orange County. Probably Newport Beach.

Or Santa Monica?
You an live beside the ocean, leave the fire behind, swim out past the breakers and watch the world die

[PunkinDrublic]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Or Santa Monica?
You an live beside the ocean, leave the fire behind, swim out past the breakers and watch the world die

Sure, I mean if you got to live in one of those places and didn’t have to commute in traffic every day I think life would be pretty sweet.

[SuperBowl4]

Originally Posted by PunkinDrublic

No downtown Olathe? Thread fail. I’ve always loved SoCal. I would love to stay in one of those beach cities south of L.A or in Orange County. Probably Newport Beach.

HERMOSA BEACH

[scho63]

Originally Posted by ShiftyEyedWaterboy

I wasn't. There wasn't much going on when I was there. Great wine, though. One of the better wineries I've been to out there. I love the view at Bluemont Vineyards, too.

I'm studying Aerospace/Aviation Mgmt so I'll probably gun for an operations gig at Dulles. I could do a ton with that degree, though.

Good luck. You won't need much help getting a job. That degree will have people begging you to work for them. Orbital Sciences, Rolls Royce Engines, Lockheed, Gruman, Blackhawk Technologies, CAIC, and a million more there within spitting distance from Dulles Airport. Either on Rt 28 or the Dulles Toll Road.

Aside from the horrific traffic and sky high rent/property, it's a GREAT place to live. I loved it for the last 10 years.

You'll never get bored.....

[ShiftyEyedWaterboy]

Originally Posted by scho63

Good luck. You won't need much help getting a job. That degree will have people begging you to work for them. Orbital Sciences, Rolls Royce Engines, Lockheed, Gruman, Blackhawk Technologies, CAIC, and a million more there within spitting distance from Dulles Airport. Either on Rt 28 or the Dulles Toll Road.

Aside from the horrific traffic and sky high rent/property, it's a GREAT place to live. I loved it for the last 10 years.

You'll never get bored.....

Yeah, I figure I probably won't have too much trouble with that degree. Is rent/property that high out in Loudoun/Clarke? I looked around a little when I was there and it looked pretty damn good. I was looking out in the boonies, though. I'm in Denver where it's absolutely horrid. Over $1000/month would get me a closet studio in Little Honduras here. Any decent newish home with a yard is around 3k now. If I can get views like below I don't care about a long commute.

EDIT: So I looked around some real estate sites for shits n giggles. There are definitely a lot of hoity toity areas but there's some really reasonable stuff there. A 5 bedroom, 5 bath, 5,000 sq ft for 440K. That's not happening in Denver for less than a million.

[Coogs]

I've never been there, but I think if I was young and single, I might try living in downtown Nashville for a year or two.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

I've thought about this one for a couple days, and the city I live in doesn't matter much to me (obviously LOL).

My business and my kid's friends are far bigger concerns for where I am going to live than what I'm going to be doing after work.

For the sake of argument, if I can move everything I love about where I am, I'm moving to Honolulu. I ****ing loved Hawaii when I was there, and I can get my ass out of town and chill really easily. The leeward (IIRC - I live in the High Plains - Give me a break) side of the island is arid enough that the humidity won't choke my ass to death (I live in a desert. It is a major weather issue for me. Much more than cold), and it doesn't snow.

And Teddy's, Mother****ers.

Originally Posted by Why Not?

This is a smart fella

I called it first.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

D'ya remember the 90s?

"Portland is a city where young people go to retire."

[scho63]

Originally Posted by ShiftyEyedWaterboy

Is rent/property that high out in Loudoun/Clarke?

The further away from Wash DC you move, the lower the prices generally.

Areas like Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Potomac MD are sky high and exclusive.

Places like McLean and many areas of Reston have sky high prices. In Reston Town Center, a BEAUTIFUL location, they have several newly built apartment complexes getting $2,500-$6,000 a month, NY style prices. I lived there for a year when I first moved to NoVA in 2007, splitting a 2 BR 2 BA luxury apt with someone for $900 each plus utilities.

Loudoun County has a big footprint and unless you want to live with 40,000 Indian developers avoid Brambleton. It's a brand new town that in the last 20 years went from around 10,000 people to 40,000. Ashburn, where I lived is great and has a good affordability.

I would be shocked if you don't have starting pay of at least $85,000 a year and possibly $100K+ if you work for someone like Orbital or Lockheed or Northrop Grumman. If you have a clean background, you should start preparing yourself for a government security clearance, which can bump your pay another $20K most times or more. I think you can go to the FBI and request one for a fee but I'm not positive.

Clarke County is much cheaper but there is a small problem: so many people have moved West from DC and places like Alexandria and Arlington plus the explosive population growth that traffic coming East every morning is ridiculous. You should see the line of cars every day coming out of Maryland across Point of Rocks bridge on Rt 15 through wine country and small towns. It takes 90 minutes to go 15-20 miles of stop and go with lights.

You have to judge for yourself your pain level of commute versus the sanctity of open space and cost of living.

In Loudoun County, the HIGHEST per capita county in the US, you pay a fee each year for your car to be in the county as a resident.

Towns like Herndon also have another fee. Herndon is a nice little town with many amenities, not too expensive but very very Hispanic with a small MS-13 factor that does not stand out too much.

Manassas is THE Hispanic capital of Northern VA along with Langley Takoma Park in MD. Both places you do not want to live in, no matter how cheap.

Another big factor is how old you are and what you like to do in your spare time. There are SO MANY things to do you will NEVER get bored, I can guarantee you that.

Hope this helps.