A disturbingly large percentage of the people I know are pushing me to live in downtown Atlanta, citing advantages like ease of commute, better places to hang out, and in general, some ill-defined hipster urban flavor.
No thanks, folks. That's not for me. I don't want to take public transportation, nor do I want it near the place I live, invest my money and time, and store all my worldly possessions. In some other cities and countries, public transportation may not be as bad; here in Atlanta, it gives criminals access to more victims. I think it's funny how the same people who talk about how great public transportation is always, invariably, without exception...still own a car. Excuse me. If it's so convenient and cheap and safe and otherwise ironclad...why do you have to own a car? Sell your car so you don't have a backout option, and then maybe you can preach to me and we can debate with some sense of honesty.
Other things: I don't want homeless people outside my front door. I don't want to hear yelling, screams, shouts, fights, sirens, traffic, etc outside my home 24x7x365. I don't want to wonder if my car will be there each morning when I leave to go to work. In short, I don't want to experience situations like this. I don't want to pay tax so that deadbeats in the downtown county can get free money. I don't particularly enjoy passing hookers, druggies, and insane people on the way to work. I don't require there to be a dozen funky urban coffeehouses within walking distance of my home. Ditto for bars, especially the kind that house strange and unpredictable people. Besides, my weekends of constant drinking are behind me - I'm not 21 anymore (or 25, or 30-something trying to pretend like I'm 25.)
While I desire a new (or fairly new) home, I don't need a loft or condo downtown. Most of these are nothing more than old apartments or abandoned buildings that get renovated and sold for big bucks. Their age aside, they have the same external problems described in the previous paragraph. Even if they didn't, I have to point out that $150,000 is too high a price for a 600-800 square foot 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom home. If it happens to be 80 years old, that just makes it worse.
Some people and magazines (like creativeloafing.com) would call me a suburban snob. That's fine, though it's just an argument made by people who crave all of the things I just denounced. To each their own. I don't apologize for the way I feel. I know what I want, and I worked hard to get it. A lot of the people who disagree with me got an easy degree and switch jobs every three months because they feel that someone owes them something more than what they have. That's fine too - the way it's looking, the two schools of thought will live in separate areas and continue to wonder why the other is crazy.