GENERAL TOPIC: The cost of living!

SubQ · Post by **SubQ** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 4:58 pm

Prices and places to play around Spain, mainly Barcelona?
planning to move on in a year or so...

coelho

Sales Dude McBoob · Post by **Sales Dude McBoob** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 5:16 pm

I have a sick deal... Rent in Jersey City is $515. Two blocks from the subway and a 10 minute ride into the Village.

Our neighborhood has really gentrified drastically in the last 4 years... it's become New Jersey's SOHO. Outdoor cafes everywhere, wine bars, etc. Our apartment is waaay under market. Our landlord has too many properties to worry about so he hasn't gotten around to renovating our place.

It's nice. We've got a full home studio rocking with drums and amps and stuff. No complaints from neighbors. Neighbors are all DJs!

It's a killer deal, but, I've been living there for 4.5 years and I am longing for a change. Most of my friends live in Williamsburg Brooklyn... that's where I want to be. I just want to be able to go out and hang and see a band and my friends without the hour long ride home through subways and tunnels. I want to live without trains. Get a bike and ride to work. Walk to a buddy's place. Grab a beer at the corner pub. I'm married to the train at my place. I can't get out of Jersey without it.

I look online at real estate prices and rents everyday... I can't believe how much people are paying for rent in some other US cities + non-cities. Often it seems near NYC prices. Yikes! I could never leave NYC if that's how much people are paying to live in Florida. Whatever. I love New York. That's all there is to it. If I never own a car again thats okay with me.

I love Brazil too. When I was in Florianapolis in April there were nice beach houses there for around 40k.

SubQ · Post by **SubQ** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 5:36 pm

Nice to know, Dude.
I'm also keen to move to NY, but maybe it's a step further, too much dough. Maybe Barcelona is the place to polish my Live PA skills, then I can rock in NY with my crafts as producer, composer and muscian, maybe start a new band and play around... dreams are alouded

Florianopolis is a beautiful place, with beautiful chicks and beaches.. but it get's quite gllomy at winter. Here's summer all the year.

say hello if you return to brazil someday, i'll be glad to point you some of the goodies here

best
coelho

djadonis206 · Post by **djadonis206** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:01 pm

Seattle's super chill - renting you will loose your ass, easy unless you live in a dump

bought the spot I'm in now in 2001 for $182K - it's only 900 square feet, 2 story, 2 bedroom 1 bath but it's in the heart of the city <-- which cost an arm and leg

The median price of a home in Seattle is about $275K - so the crib has made a consdierable amount of money in less 5 years - however when it's time to get something bigger it's going to cost alot more unless we move to Renton or Federal Way

but you know the other usual shit like Directv, internet, gas, power auto insurance add up

lucky to own my car so, work gives up the yearly bus pass so - on a 30K - 50K income you could live here easy, if you buy your house - renting is cool but it's really expensive and you're kind of like working backwards in Seattle

Sales Dude McBoob · Post by **Sales Dude McBoob** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:30 pm

SubQ wrote:Nice to know, Dude.
I'm also keen to move to NY, but maybe it's a step further, too much dough. Maybe Barcelona is the place to polish my Live PA skills, then I can rock in NY with my crafts as producer, composer and muscian, maybe start a new band and play around... dreams are alouded

Florianopolis is a beautiful place, with beautiful chicks and beaches.. but it get's quite gllomy at winter. Here's summer all the year.

say hello if you return to brazil someday, i'll be glad to point you some of the goodies here
best
coelho

I love Brazil! Man, I saw the band CSS in Brooklyn the other night, they're form Sao Paulo, and they kicked soo much ass it wasn't funny.

If you want "Nova York" you gotta go for it. It's hard to get settled here, but once you're in you're in. I'd love to go back to Brazil. My buddy lives in Salvador, so that's probably my next stop if I get to go back. I'll say hello if I get the chance to go!

SubQ · Post by **SubQ** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:45 pm

Yeah, Cansei de ser Sexy is a nice band... they used to suck, but now it seems they learn on how to be innovative and funny without knowing much about their instruments and such.
Attitude still is the best seller.

anyway, I live in Recife, a nice music town, kinda near of Salvador. I guess you would like here, specially on carnival.

If I pop up in NY someday, you'll know. I feel it's the best place on earth to know if you're really good in what you're doing, or not - I'd like to give it a try someday, maybe there's room for weird musicians with rooty backgrounds like myself.

PM me if you show up.

best
coelho

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:32 am

djadonis206 wrote:Seattle's super chill - renting you will loose your ass, easy unless you live in a dump

Just have to look around. I live in georgetown in a wharehouse space of about 940 sqare feet, oddly enough $940 rent. My neighbor runs a Pro Tools studio, and occasionally has live acts in his art gallery, so he's OK with a bit of noise from me.

I have a PA, a monitor system with subwoofers.
I mix with headphones after 10PM on weeknights.

Right now though, I would trade it all for air conditioning!

nylarch · Post by **nylarch** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:49 am

$2250 for 1000 s.f. in Brooklyn. Probably $750K to buy a comparable place.

But you can't always put a price on never driving, everything you need to live your life within 5 blocks of the place you live. 15 minute commute to work. Cool people all around... NY rules.

djshiva · Post by **djshiva** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:29 am

hartsta wrote:Please stop bitching about the cost of living in the grand old USA you guys don't know how lucky you are, just for a second why don't you take your heads out of your butts (backsides) & take a look around. Price for -: 1 Liter gas US average $.97, UK average £.97. conversion $1.80 for a liter of gas (or petrol if cannot understand what i am trying to get across). Prices for property http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/ Its getting beyond a joke. If you live in the grand old USA,
PLEASE
STOP MOANING!!!!

hey now!

not only was sqook's point a valid one (the US is HUGE and transportation between cities is limited mostly to cars...buses and trains don't always get you where you need to go and planes are super expensive), but i gotta add to that.

now admittedly i do not know much about the employment situation there in the UK, but consider this:

*the federal minimum wage in the US is $5.15. according to the US census bureau, in 2001 (and certainly this has gone up in the last 5 years), the median monthly housing costs (rent, utilities, and garbage and trash collection) for renter occupied homes was $633.

5.15 times 40 hours a week is 206. if i were to apply the percentage of taxes i usually have taken out, that would make a weekly check about 164.80. times that by 4 weeks in a month. that's 659.20. so basically, someone making the minimum wage could not afford the average housing costs in the US from 5 years ago, let alone buy food or pay for transportation.

*43 million americans (most of them working class) have no health or dental insurance. those who do can still lose everything if hit by a major medical emergency. in fact, the leading cause of bankruptcy in america is major medical bills. and those without can become incredibly sick or even die if they have to choose between a roof over their head or paying medical bills.

*the corporate bastards who run this country are doing their damndest to turn the whole damn country into a service industry economy by sending high tech and manufacturing jobs overseas.

we don't have it any harder or any better than anyone else. poor people have it tough no matter where you go, and more people are getting more poor in the US. the rest of the world has this image of the US as the richest country in the world, and in numbers we are.

but those numbers are going to the richest people in the country, while the rest of us (middle to working class) are getting progressively poorer. real wages have stayed static since 1973, and the cost of living has skyrocketed. the reality on the ground is poor people are getting poorer and rich people are getting richer.

i guess my point is that playing the "my struggles are bigger than your struggles" game gets nobody anywhere. things are tough all over. but until you have walked a mile in my shoes, don't try and tell me how good we have it here in america. hell, one look at the aftermath of hurricane katrina says more about this than i ever could.

p.s. i HIGHLY recommend reading barbara ehrenreich's "nickel and dimed: on not getting by in america".

smutek · Post by **smutek** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 1:19 pm

Bravo Sheva!

Regarding the same static wages since 1973, why don't we hear about this in the media? Why aren't people talking about it? A hell of a lot of Americans are thinking about it. Why is the media silent?

It's off limits because all of the major media outlets are owned by big corporations. I'd love to know where this so called liberal media is that I always hear about. Two sides of the same coin the media is. Keeps the people nicely seperated though. Left and right.

pfft. What about the people?

djadonis206 · Post by **djadonis206** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:07 pm

Machinesworking wrote:
djadonis206 wrote:Seattle's super chill - renting you will loose your ass, easy unless you live in a dump
Just have to look around. I live in georgetown in a wharehouse space of about 940 sqare feet, oddly enough $940 rent. My neighbor runs a Pro Tools studio, and occasionally has live acts in his art gallery, so he's OK with a bit of noise from me.

I have a PA, a monitor system with subwoofers.
I mix with headphones after 10PM on weeknights.

Right now though, I would trade it all for air conditioning!

Georgetown and South Park (it's a real place in Seattle where Mexicans live - seriously. I was just as shocked when I first rolled through the neighborhood) are the about to be the last of it's kind in Seattle - I was even considering living down there at one point but I can garuantee if you stick around in that neighborhood as the Gentrification keeps happening the rent's 'gon go up

My buddy (I think I told you) is in this dope little triplex across from another triplex - he's paying about $300 but in the last year and a half his rents gone up from $200 to $300 - but they can practice their hip - hop folk alt rock thing - I kick it down there all the time

I love Seattle - it's super expensive to live here but we do have the highest minimum wage in the country - Harborview (one of the best public trauma centers in the country) anyone can go there and it's not hard to get a job here

I'm not saying move here cause we don't take kindly to your kind round here (out of towners, ask the Californian's) but it's pretty chill

Go Hawks!

Valiance7 · Post by **Valiance7** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 4:28 pm

Guys times are NOT hard....I think the opposite is just the case. Look at how the standard of living has increased in at least the developed countries over the last 100 years or so. It is crazy. They were frickin' riding horses to school 100 years ago. Air conditioning? Computers to allow us to sit around and make music all day? Sweet.

Not to mention that even 100 years ago people were concerned with surviving....I mean when they did their monthly budget food and ANY kind of shelter were the only two things that really got taken care of. Now the only debate is HOW nice of a neighborhood do you want to live in. Food is almost a non factor. In the US (and I assume in almost all other developed countries) you could get enough food to survive for like $100/month easy. The thing to think about is actual standard of living through time...and I have to say ours is pretty damn good right now compared to just about any time in history.

I know it's all fashionable to diss capitalism but it is what has led to much of these improvements in peoples lives. Socialism/communism didn't create the frickin' personal computer that is for sure. Capitalism might leave a wide gap between the leaders and the trailers but the entire group (the human race) speeds along at a faster clip than in other systems. IMHO.

And to the minimum wage thing here is a stat taken from a liberal web site trying to show how UNJUST the minimum wage is:

6.6 million workers (5% of the workforce) currently earn less than $7.25 and would be directly affected by an increase.

Dude are you kidding me? Less than 5% of the workforce earn less than $7.25 which is over 40% MORE than the current minimum wage? That says it all right there. GOVERNMENTS DO NOT SET WAGES, MARKETS DO!!!! Everyone complainging about the minimum wage and pretty much absolutely nobody gets paid just that...pretty funny really. The markets have left minimum wage behind and so should the frickin' government.

IMHO.

djadonis206 · Post by **djadonis206** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 4:44 pm

Valiance7 wrote:Guys times are NOT hard....I think the opposite is just the case. Look at how the standard of living has increased in at least the developed countries over the last 100 years or so. It is crazy. They were frickin' riding horses to school 100 years ago. Air conditioning? Computers to allow us to sit around and make music all day? Sweet.

Not to mention that even 100 years ago people were concerned with surviving....I mean when they did their monthly budget food and ANY kind of shelter were the only two things that really got taken care of. Now the only debate is HOW nice of a neighborhood do you want to live in. Food is almost a non factor. In the US (and I assume in almost all other developed countries) you could get enough food to survive for like $100/month easy. The thing to think about is actual standard of living through time...and I have to say ours is pretty damn good right now compared to just about any time in history.

I know it's all fashionable to diss capitalism but it is what has led to much of these improvements in peoples lives. Socialism/communism didn't create the frickin' personal computer that is for sure. Capitalism might leave a wide gap between the leaders and the trailers but the entire group (the human race) speeds along at a faster clip than in other systems. IMHO.

And to the minimum wage thing here is a stat taken from a liberal web site trying to show how UNJUST the minimum wage is:

6.6 million workers (5% of the workforce) currently earn less than $7.25 and would be directly affected by an increase.

Dude are you kidding me? Less than 5% of the workforce earn less than $7.25 which is over 40% MORE than the current minimum wage? That says it all right there. GOVERNMENTS DO NOT SET WAGES, MARKETS DO!!!! Everyone complainging about the minimum wage and pretty much absolutely nobody gets paid just that...pretty funny really. The markets have left minimum wage behind and so should the frickin' government.

IMHO.

Wow, look at you - I agree with you 100%

Capitalism is cool - it puts the responsibility on YOU to succeed - the resources are there, the opportunities are there all you have to do is go get them

and when you have them it's about what you do with them - it's up to you to make the best of your world.

God forbid if you're successful and your neighbor is not - thats life and then you die.

kennerb · Post by **kennerb** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 4:49 pm

Things in Oregon are getting more spendy since the Californification in the mid 90's. I still think we have it pretty good though.

Here in Eugene things are going up quickly. I have a good deal on a two bedroom apt in a house. I pay $550. a month. The wages suck big time here though so it's hard for people to even afford that much.

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:03 pm

djshiva wrote: we don't have it any harder or any better than anyone else. poor people have it tough no matter where you go, and more people are getting more poor in the US. the rest of the world has this image of the US as the richest country in the world, and in numbers we are.

mmmm, I dunno about this. There is 11% unemployment in my city, and 20% unemployment in my district. And yet, I'd say I see 10 times less homeless people than I ever did in indy. And those that I do look well fed/drunk.

The US has more wealth, but it also has a much larger division between the rich and the poor. And as you noted, it's growing, sadly..