Re: Yeah, Honolulu's pretty cool.
 

So, Sandy got to grow up in a place that looks like this, and I got to grow up in a town where the median home price is $69,300.

That's just sucky. Poo.

Re: Re: Yeah, Honolulu's pretty cool.
 

Wow. You can't even get a one bedroom condo unit for $69,000 here :( .

I think the value of my parents house is well into the $500Ks now, which is slightly above the median.

Yeah, I'll never be able to buy a home here...but at least I'll still get to frolic in the ocean for free! ;)

I went to college at Wisconsin - Platteville for two years and we used to go on Iowa adventures all the time.

Wow, if the median price of a home was 500k I would be homeless.

And my neighborhood's considered middle/upper-middle class! :eek:

12 years ago when my parents bought our house, I think it was a little over $300K. Cost of living back then wasn't nearly as bad as it is now.

3 bedroom homes in Hawaii Kai, Aina Haina, and Kahala (East Honolulu) start at $600-700K!

That's a 1 bedroom condo in my Los Angeles 'hood.

I have a friend who lived in Laurel Canyon and it was a nice 3 bedroom house but it was really nothing special, other than the fact that it was worth 1.2 million. The prices over there are sick.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellesley%2C_MA

Wellesley is great. the rest of MA: WAY TOO LIBERAL

Sounds like Connecticut. :rolleyes: 3BR houses in Norwalk start at $700K. In Stamford, that would get you a condo; in Greenwich, that would get you a closet. The closer you get to NYC, the more you pay.

Anyway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwalk%2C_Connecticut

One of my dearest friends in college was from Bolton, Mass and when he graduated he got a job back "home" and rented the most adorable little carriage house behind a mansion in Wellesley. I went to visit him and fell in love with that area.


PS: Massachusetts people, help me because I'm having a brain jam! When we lived in Portland, ME, we'd occasionally head down to Mass for the weekend and I remember one of the first towns we'd go through once we crossed into Mass from NH had a name that was pronounced completely differently than it was spelled. I can't remember the name, and it's bothering me. Can anyone help me out?

Gloucester (pr. Glosster)?

There's Gloucester, Worcester, Westborough - any of those work?

Wellesley is a great town, if you can afford it; the whole Newton/Wellesley/Weston/Brookline/Chestnut Hill area has gone way up in price, and you (along with your significant other) have to be making pretty good money to afford a home in the area.

As far as CT - aephi alum, you're right, housing prices have shot way up there. My parents were pretty smart (and lucky) with their house. My dad is a contractor, so he was able to build in an area where there wasn't too much development. There were dirt roads when we first got there. Eventually the area sprouted up, a golf course moved in, and the value of their home has gone up by a good amount. It doesn't help when tax season comes along, but when they decide to retire and scale down, it will be a nice turnaround on the sale.

When I was looking to buy, I definitely saw listings in Boston in that price range for a 1 bedroom. I definitely had to rethink the streets I wanted to live on!

And just the way I like it!

Condo prices in Boston/Brookline are such a wake-up call. You can find some good places for good prices if you look long enough, but it's definitely discouraging. Even rents are insane.

As far as the liberal part - between being a Yankee fan and a Republican, I'm pretty much used to being in the minority here. I still love the area.

Yeah my rent in Allston was out of control. Although I now have to laugh b/c my mortgage payment in what I consider a better location is less than my rent. But adding in condo fees and property taxes, it all evens out.

I recently heard that Van is the most expensive place in Canada and fifteenth in a list of selected countries. I don't know where Toronto ranks in the world list, but the average home is slightly over $300K in the "416." (inner "suburbs" (the old North York, Etobicoke, etc...) and the city)

ETA: I grew up in North York, Ontario, which until 1998 (when it amalgamated with the City of Toronto), was a separate municipality.

Population: 650,000

Demographics:

White: 53.2 %
Chinese: 11.4 %
South Asian: 9.0 %
Black: 8.7 %
Filipino: 3.4 %
Latin American: 3.2 %
All Others: 11.1 %

North York does not give the cost of an average single family home or average family income, but I would guess that it is slightly higher than the average in all of Toronto. I checked the ) Multiple Listing Services site and most of the homes were at least in the 350Ks. North York is also home to Jane and Finch an area of the Greater Toronto Area that has a reputation of being underprivileged and violent and The Bridle Path , where homes are in the millions (this area is reputed to be "nouveaux riche" opposed to the "older" money of Rosedale .

Schools in North York include: A.Y. Jackson Secondary (Grades 10-12); Earl Haig Secondary (9-12); Claude Watson School for the Arts (Grades 4-12, with the high school division (Grades 9-12) located in the same building as Earl Haig); The Crescent School (all boys' day school); Highland Junior High (Grades 7-9); Zion Heights Jr. High (7-9...both Highland and Zion Heights have ranked high in the Grade 9 standardized math tests); Cummer Valley Middle School (6-8), St. Joseph Morrow Park High School (girls' Catholic high school, Grades 9-12), Brebeuf College (boys' Catholic high school, 9-12) St. Agnes Catholic School (elementary, JK-8) and Blessed Trinity School (JK-8). Public schools in North York are usually JK-5/JK-6 for elementary schools, 6-8 or 7-9 for intermediate and 9 or 10-12 for high schools. There are some JK-8 schools (aka "elementary and middle schools") in areas where there aren't many tweens. All public schools are now under the Toronto District School Board (North York, like the other cities that eventually amalgamated, had its own board. They were allowed to keep the school division system rather than change to the JK-6/7&8/9-12 system that is used in other parts of Toronto). With the exception of one or two, Catholic schools in North York are funded the same way as public schools. The school are all JK-8 for elementary and 9-12 for high schools. Elementary schools choose whether they want their students to wear uniforms, but all high schools require them (AFAIK, anyway). The schools are under the Toronto Catholic District School Board (formerly the Metropolitan Separate School Board.

I suspect you could say that just about in any major urban area when compared to the cost of housing there.

When I think of condos, I always think of an old joke:

Q: What's the difference between a condo in (fill in the blank) and AIDS.

A: Some day you may be able to get rid of AIDS.

In reality, there are some good things about condos, but you need to take into account any additional fees (maintenance, organization fees, etc.), and always be aware of what the resale market is.

Vancouver is a Canadian city in the province of British Columbia. It is the largest metropolitan centre in western Canada and third largest in the country.

The city's population is 545,671 and that of the metropolitan area is 2,186,965 (2001 census). [1] Vancouver is one of the cities of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) and of the larger geographic region commonly known as the Lower Mainland of BC. The mayor is Sam Sullivan, NPA (see List of Mayors of Vancouver). The Port of Vancouver is significant on a world scale, and Vancouver is also the third largest film production centre in North America after Hollywood and New York. Vancouver will be the host city for the 2010 Winter Olympics, the 2006 United Nations World Urban Forum and the 2007 Memorial Cup. Vancouver will also host some games for the 2007 FIFA U20 World Cup.


More about Vancouver...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...er-westend.jpg

And that is exactly why I'm fleeing Los Angeles as fast as my poor little feet can take me! I refuse to pay $600,000 for something approximately the size of a closet. Sigh.

Right now, the resale market for condos in Boston is better than homes in Mass, I believe. There are places that don't even last a week on the market. I had appointments to see places one day and I would get a call the day before saying it was already off the market. And the prices just keep climbing. Hopefully it'll still be like this when I try to sell.

I was just going to say, the condo market is great here. Housing prices have gotten out of control, so a lot of young professionals and young families are turning to condos as ways to stay in the city. There's been talk that the market will suffer a bit this year, but that hasn't happened yet.

I'd forgotten how many New England towns aren't pronounced the way they're spelled. My Mainer friends still laugh because I thought that Bangor was pronounced like "Bang-er" and "Saco" was pronounced like "sacko" when I first moved up there. And we won't even get into the pronounciation of "Biddeford" (Biddefid-really fast).

Turns out the town I asked about in my previous post was "Haverhill" which is, of course, pronounced (I think) "Hayvril" and not "Have-r-hill".

Born Here---> Chicago, Illinois

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...kyline2005.jpg

Moved to when I was 5 and grew up here---> San Francisco, Ca

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nfrancisco.jpg

Demo's
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there are 776,733 people, 329,700 households, and 145,068 families residing in the city. The population density is 6,423.2/km² (16,634.4/mi²), making it the second densest city of 500,000 or more, as well as the fifth densest county, in the country [3]. . There are 346,527 housing units at an average density of 2,865.6/km² (7,421.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 49.66% White, 7.79% African American, 0.45% Native American, 30.84% Asian, 0.49% Pacific Islander, 6.48% from other races, and 4.28% from two or more races. 14.10% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. The ethnic makeup is 19.6% Chinese, 8.8% Irish, 7.7% German, and 6.1% English. San Francisco has the largest Chinese population in America and the largest Asian population outside of Hawaii. The City has the highest percentage of gay families (as well as a large numbers of single gay people) of any American county or large city. Gay men outnumber lesbians, who are more concentrated in the suburban East Bay.

There are 329,700 households out of which 16.6% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.6% are married couples living together, 8.9% have a female head of household with no husband present, and 56.0% are non-families. 38.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.30 and the average family size is 3.22. San Francisco has fewer children, in proportion to the population as a whole, than any other large city in the United States.

In the city the population is spread out with 14.5% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 40.5% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.7% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 103.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 103.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $55,221, and the median income for a family is $63,545 one of the highest in the United States at 15th place overall and 3rd in a single large city. Males have a median income of $46,260 versus $40,049 for females. The per capita income for the city is $34,556 which is ranked as the 19th highest in the country. 11.3% of the population and 7.8% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 13.5% of those under the age of 18 and 10.5% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Two great cities.

The $hithole I grew up in...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pampa%2C_Texas

My family moved downstate shortly after I graduated HS and I have only been back three times since. The last time was 9 years ago. Dont know if I'll ever go back. There's not much there for me.

Where I have lived for the last Dozen years and consider "my hometown":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Antonio%2C_Texas

San Antonio's nice. I lived at Lackland for several months so I was able to see the town pretty well. Never got a chance to go to Coyote Ugly though.

Hayvril is correct! I had a history professor at Miami that would always pronounce Worcester wrong, and it annoyed me so much. I came close many times, to raising my hand in the middle of a 200 person lecture to correct him but never did.

Wink is a city located in Winkler County, Texas, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 919.

Wink was the hometown of singer and songwriter Roy Orbison, although he was born in Vernon, Texas.

Geography
Wink is located at 31°45'15" North, 103°9'20" West (31.754119, -103.155647)GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.0 km² (1.1 mi²). 3.0 km² (1.1 mi²) of it is land and none of the area is covered with water.


Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there are 919 people, 341 households, and 260 families residing in the city. The population density is 311.3/km² (809.1/mi²). There are 437 housing units at an average density of 148.0/km² (384.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 85.64% White, 0.87% African American, 0.33% Native American, 0.00% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 10.88% from other races, and 2.29% from two or more races. 23.07% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 341 households out of which 42.5% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.1% are married couples living together, 12.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 23.5% are non-families. 22.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.1% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.70 and the average family size is 3.15.

In the city the population is spread out with 31.8% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 37 years. For every 100 females there are 84.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 81.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $38,068, and the median income for a family is $44,750. Males have a median income of $32,266 versus $20,526 for females. The per capita income for the city is $15,888. 14.0% of the population and 10.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 17.6% of those under the age of 18 and 20.8% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.


Basically, it is a small crap hole town that has no stop lights and if you blink you'll miss it. I guess I enjoyed growing up there but will never go back to live there. I would say that 75% of the people I knew from high school either live there or somewhere w/in a 50 mile radius of there.