I live inside that ring. Bought a 5 bedroom house for around $100k 3ish years ago. Been putting some work into it, hoping to sell in a couple years to move even deeper into the ring.
The biggest problem is employment. I got lucky and landed a great job that pays well. The second problem is cost of food as it highly depends on location. If I drive an hour south or east, I can reduce my food costs by around 30%. Not everyone has that ability because of the bigger problem. Gas price is the 3rd biggest problem, we’re on average 20-30C more per liter than outside the ring.
Then there’s the actual places. So many have very poorly run municipal governments that are full of the dumbest motherfuckers around who sink entire budgets into poorly thought out capital projects and raise taxes for decades after. Poor tax enforcement so that there are many properties with years in outstanding tax debt that doesn’t get collected, which leads to even larger budget shortfalls and more tax increases. Every now and then I’ll see a tax sale listed for $20k+ because the owner died and no remaining family could afford to claim the property because it the outstanding tax debt.
This is why I want to move into the bush where I have no neighbours, because at least the miniscule tax burden is less of a slap in the face when I look outside and see nothing coming back from it.
I live inside that ring. Bought a 5 bedroom house for around $100k 3ish years ago. Been putting some work into it, hoping to sell in a couple years to move even deeper into the ring.
The biggest problem is employment. I got lucky and landed a great job that pays well. The second problem is cost of food as it highly depends on location. If I drive an hour south or east, I can reduce my food costs by around 30%. Not everyone has that ability because of the bigger problem. Gas price is the 3rd biggest problem, we’re on average 20-30C more per liter than outside the ring.
Then there’s the actual places. So many have very poorly run municipal governments that are full of the dumbest motherfuckers around who sink entire budgets into poorly thought out capital projects and raise taxes for decades after. Poor tax enforcement so that there are many properties with years in outstanding tax debt that doesn’t get collected, which leads to even larger budget shortfalls and more tax increases. Every now and then I’ll see a tax sale listed for $20k+ because the owner died and no remaining family could afford to claim the property because it the outstanding tax debt.
This is why I want to move into the bush where I have no neighbours, because at least the miniscule tax burden is less of a slap in the face when I look outside and see nothing coming back from it.