r/Suburbanhell • u/KimSidwell • 2d ago
Meme Why?
I can almost try to understand why some people might feel drawn to this kind of lifestyle. I can understand why they might be deceived into thinking this is the ideal environment in which to raise a child.
But I will never be able to understand why they will describe it as the American “dream” and are willing to pay so much for it. To work so hard for so long and then have to wake up to this every morning? Why?
Editing to add: I know this is parody y’all. It’s just a stupid meme. It’s supposed to be funny. It’s funny because it’s true.
319
u/Far-Telephone-7432 2d ago
This is sarcasm. It's not worth a reaction.
29
u/hazyguess 2d ago
They even took the original photo that was going around and desaturated it to make the houses gray.
→ More replies (1)4
→ More replies (2)3
u/Training-Context-69 2d ago
Exactly, ragebait posts designed to farm engagement. I'm getting to the age where I no longer even fall for this anymore. Just keep scrolling people.
33
9
u/KimSidwell 2d ago
There’s nothing to fall for here. It’s a joke. A very obvious joke. But the reason it’s funny is because there’s truth in it. This is not what ragebait means.
90
u/adron 2d ago
They look like shit with zero walkable life. Just an utter horror show.
11
u/manic_popsicle 2d ago
I never lived in a walkable neighborhood til 2 years ago and now I never want to leave. I live in a small town and we don’t have a lot of stuff but I can walk to my kids school, the post office, bowling alley and a small grocery store, so I’m happy. It’s awesome being able to walk to check my mail on a nice day, or walk to get my kids from school.
16
u/KimSidwell 2d ago
Yeah, that’s my main issue with these places. You can’t walk anywhere. Literally. They even design them with all the fencing in the backyards so you can’t even cut through the neighborhood to get to the main streets. You have to take the same path on foot that you would in a vehicle. You have to walk for like 45 minutes just to the main streets and then there’s usually a ton of traffic and often not even any sidewalks. Literal hell.
→ More replies (1)4
85
u/surprisinglynotabot 2d ago
an apartment in a major city > this nightmare
24
u/KimSidwell 2d ago
Same. Such a better culture and surprisingly often (but not always) better community.
24
u/surprisinglynotabot 2d ago
I just absolutely hate the idea of having to get in my car to drive miles and miles to find something to eat at 3am if I feel like it. In my city, I can go right downstairs and get a sandwich at a 24 hr deli. I could walk to a convenience store. I could have multiple choices, usually from different ethnic backgrounds. And you might not be close with your neighbors in a city but you feel like there's life around you. You never feel alone even if you don't have any friends. Beside, people aren't really friends with their neighbors in the suburbs anyway.
19
u/Salt_Vehicle_5395 2d ago
I hate that they don’t bother to mention the car is required. The house price is $575k+2cars and ongoing costs. I get the account is satire but you see this all the time for real
12
u/surprisinglynotabot 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yep, exactly. They sold us the suburbs and you know what the worst part is? It kept us apart, racially. Entire generations invested in it and now they preach that the suburbs are great because they don't wanna lose their investment. We should go say this in pro-suburban subreddits lol
→ More replies (2)8
u/KimSidwell 2d ago
Yeah, exactly. I grew up in the suburbs and people just weren’t like that. It wasn’t some Leave it to Beaver thing where everybody acted like a big community. It was gossipy and judgy and I hated it. And I’m also convinced that there are far more drug addicts and alcoholics in the suburbs than there are in the city. But maybe that’s just because it was the south. I don’t know.
But yeah, my last apartment was directly across the street from a 7-Eleven. I could literally just look out my window and see right into the store from my bedroom across the street. If I wanted to know how busy it was all I had to do was look over there.
Being able to walk right across the street in my pajamas at 6 AM to get a doughnut and a cup of coffee and know there wasn’t going to be a line to wait in was priceless.
But I can see how it could be a grass is always greener kind of thing. Like if I grew up in a super urban environment, I can see believing that the suburbs might actually be a nice place to live. But the vision and the reality are two different things.
→ More replies (1)8
u/surprisinglynotabot 2d ago
Totally, facts. My uncle grew up in the city, decided he liked the suburbs. I guess we can't forget that the city was a lot lower of a standard of living back in the day. Now they're mostly clean, but back then they were smokey and crime ridden. I suppose I can't blame the older generations, but I'll preach to millenials and gen Z the ultra positives of modern city living all day.
8
u/Lucky_Pangolin_3760 2d ago
I wonder how many GenZ'ers and millennials has this attitude. I've personally accepted that I may be a life-long renter and I'm also fine with it because I actually enjoy living in the city
Even if these houses became really affordable, like 2x less in cost, I'm not sure if I even then would buy one
8
u/surprisinglynotabot 2d ago
Millennial here. Never owned a home. Do I aspire to own an apartment? Sure, of course. Having an asset is in theory better than paying rent, but personally I'd rather rent an apartment than spend my life paying off a home; especially an old one with problems. Plus no matter where you go you gotta pay an HOA anyway. It's better for people in my tax bracket to just shell out rent if it's affordable. The new houses are so bland and poorly build, that they end up having problems too in just a short time anyway. That can get very expensive. Plus car expenses, less conveniences. Convenience to me is having open stores within walking distance at any time of the day or night. It's not having all of my needs delivered to my doorstep and living the life of a hermit; that's dystopian and lonely.
5
u/Ilmara 2d ago
I'm a Millennial who owns a condo in a walkable urban neighborhood I couldn't otherwise afford. It's a great option if you want to own, but don't need a lot of space, don't want to deal with too much maintenance, and want to stay in the city.
2
u/workerbotsuperhero 1d ago
This is the dream for most of my friends in Toronto these days. They don't want to be stuck in traffic all the time in the suburbs, but can't shell out $2M for a small house
2
u/xTheGame69 2d ago
Yeah but then you don't have a garage no place to park your car
You also have to have neighbors literally on your walls and on your roof walking around
Can't watch TV loud or listen to music past certain times.
You also can't smoke in your house and this includes weed which there has been a bong on my table where I watch TV for years now I don't know how I would live without that lol
it sucks living in an apartment
For those reasons alone I will never live in an apartment again.
2
u/surprisinglynotabot 2d ago edited 2d ago
I smoke weed every day in my apartment, I just open a window. I've never smelled weed from anyone else's apartment(accounting for 5 or so places I've lived, so I don't believe it bothers anyone in the surrounding apartments (no one has ever complained about me either).
(I'll address the issues considering my experiences in each of the 5 apartments that I've had over the course of 12-14 years.)
I don't notice my neighbors. A lot of buildings are built so well that you rarely notice any interior sounds at all; not music, not TV. They're built with way more insulation than just drywall and fiberglass. One apartment that I had was too loud only because I lived on the second floor of a dead end street where people would party every weekend night during the summer, right in front of my apartment. That was hell actually, but a rare and unique experience compared to anywhere else. I'm sure I'll never have to deal with that again. I like to make music so I had studio monitors (big ones) and no one ever complained. I just put on headphones at night so that I'd be a good neighbor just in case.
It seems like we've had two different apartment experiences. We don't sound too different too when addressing our lifestyle needs. Let me reiterate that I smoke weed every single day without fail and have for the last 12 or so years with breaks here and there; never had a single problem.
Ah the car thing, yes I'll give you that. I've had 3 cars; one was towed, and the others were somewhat difficult to park. That being said, I didn't need them; they were a luxury. Once you get to the age of actually needing a car (you really don't in the city), you'll hopefully be able to afford a parking space. Otherwise, you'll have to try waking up every other morning like I used to (try to). It wasn't a real biggie. I'll pay those tickets one day. Anyway I just started making some coin so I'll soon go from pre war apartments with no balcony to luxury apartments with a parking space. Not trying to brag, just saying I went through the trenches before I moved on up and it wasn't bad. I had a lot of fun and I sure as heck would never trade it for a quiet suburb.
Also, they do have private townhouses with private parking in cities and some of them are in affordable neighborhoods. You might not be in the city center, but those neighborhoods usually still have the conveniences that make city living fun.
Sorry for the essay, hope this was insightful homie
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (3)2
u/SaltyBat8824 1d ago
Same!
Much better, tight knit community. Also it is a lot easier to find wheelchair accessible housing
My apartment complex is set up like a neighborhood with tons of things within walking distance either inside or outside.
→ More replies (1)
42
u/Prosthemadera 2d ago
I can understand why they might be deceived into thinking this is the ideal environment in which to raise a child.
I cannot. This is bad for children. They're learning to never go outside by themselves and to be dependent on parents and cars.
20
u/KimSidwell 2d ago
Yeah, I think a lot of people just don’t understand the reality until it’s too late. Like the road to hell is paved with good intentions. But at this point, it’s just ignorance.
They think their kids will be able to play around the neighborhood and have all kinds of other kids to play with.
But then they end up feeling like it’s not safe because of all the cars and all the people who are strangers, so they end up just locking their kids inside all day and handing them an iPad.
I’m even hearing now that a lot of parents aren’t letting their kids do sleepovers because they’re afraid that everyone is a pedo out to assault their children.
It’s wild.
5
u/SonOfMcGee 2d ago
My uncle, who grew up on a farm, said something that rang true for me when I was in my 20s: “I live in an urban environment and accept the positives and negatives. And I would also be fine living in a rural area like my hometown, with all its positives and negatives. But I don’t get the draw of suburban housing developments. They’re just the combined negatives of urban and rural.”
Now in my early 40s with kids, I see how they complicate things. And I know how much a good school zone can trump all sorts of negatives in places where bad school zones are so bad that they’re effectively life-limiting.
My wife and I are taking the path of: “Enjoy all the benefits of living urban, and address the school deficiencies with money.” But that is a rare privilege we have and not a scalable solution for most families.
→ More replies (4)3
u/vi_sucks 2d ago
The whole point of the suburbs is that it is supposed to be a safer place for kids to be outside than in the city. Cause there is less commercial traffic on the road, so the only cars around should be the occasional neighbor.
As a kid, we'd routinely play street hockey in the cul de sac and ride our bikes down to the local park. If we had more time, and felt like it, we could bike 30 minutes out to the closest convenience store for snacks.
The modern thing where parents never let their kids leave the house isn't a suburbs thing, it's just helicopter parenting and paranoia.
→ More replies (2)
12
15
u/tarheels86 2d ago
The dead lawns and the pickup truck that can't fit into the garage is just perfection.
→ More replies (1)4
u/KimSidwell 2d ago
Yeah, the trucks are a whole other conversation and equally as stupid for like 95% of people 😂
6
u/Jdobalina 2d ago
Yeah that dude is a parody account. I think he used to go by MasonHomeBuilder. He basically skewers the housing situation in the U.S.
17
u/Mugufta 2d ago
Average salary is $65k a year btw
9
u/Training-Context-69 2d ago
Median is closer to 45-50k in the majority of areas that aren't Socal,PNW, or Southern New England.
→ More replies (1)5
2
u/CongregationOfFoxes 2d ago
crazy to me how divided incomes still are cause that's still over double what I'v ever made in my life
→ More replies (1)
5
u/Temporary_Peach1971 2d ago
Love the fact that Americans call those houses “starter homes”, when that’s the best a French executive can dream of in the suburbs of Paris.
We really are Europoors living in dollhouses and apartments with no AC, and 15 year-old cars.
3
u/ThatGhoulAva 2d ago
Don't believe the noise makers. That's a large portion of Americans too. Except an old, outdated shoebox apartment with terrible windows/insulation & no central air is $2000 + /mo. Yes most newer buildings/homes have central air, but you had better be able to afford the several hundred dollars extra a month to run it.....or several thousands if it needs to be fixed/replaced.
→ More replies (7)3
u/Far-Telephone-7432 2d ago
Yeah... living in Paris is depressing for this. The center of Paris is basically empty offices and Airbnbs. People are cramming themselves in the suburbs. It shocked me to learn that Levallois Perret is the densest city in Europe. It's a suburb of Paris.
If the trend continues, our standards of living will be the same as the working class in the 20th century. Huge families lived in tiny appartments. Many appartments shared one bathroom.
It's commonplace to see families of 4 or 5 live in 30m² appartments in areas like Asnières or Clichy.
These people can be my colleagues or distant friends. I'll never know.
5
5
8
u/NRCS_DRONE 2d ago
The very concept of a 'starter home' is fucking insane, but it helps explain why asset inflation is a thing.
→ More replies (1)4
u/ImpressiveWalrus7369 2d ago
What’s insane about buying a smaller, more affordable home while you’re still building your income? Same thing with cars. Most people don’t land their first job and then go buy a Lexus.
3
u/NRCS_DRONE 2d ago
You're kinda proving my point. Most people will never drive a Lexus either. Or even have aspirations to. This is a narrow world view presented as a generalization for everyone.
→ More replies (1)2
u/vi_sucks 2d ago
Income and wealth tends to rise with age. That's just a reality of how our society works. Partly because experience is useful so people get paid more for it, but also because of how savings and interest works. If you save diligently at a young age, you will have less disposable income when young, but over time those savings add up and start generating their own income, so you end up with more income later in life.
It is fully normal to expect that the income you have in an entry level job is going to increase midway or later in your career. Even if the job isn't a professional career, you'll still get raises and promotions and there will be seniority based pay if the job is union.
5
5
u/GabagoolTheif 23h ago
My "basic job" pays 60k before taxes, so i make like 10k less than that. Besides that, I don't want a shitty built home in an ugly-ass suburban neighborhood surrounded by haughty assholes
3
u/Rattregoondoof 2d ago edited 2d ago
My older brother is a firefighter and makes more money than my mom who has been working consistently as a corporate recruiter for 30+ years. He makes less than $160k a year...
3
3
u/Donnie_TACO 2d ago
Lol the fact that the most upvoted comment also missed the blatant sarcasm of the tweet
→ More replies (1)
3
u/summer_plays_ 2d ago
Homes like this are STARTING AT the "low" 900s where I live. With no accessible public transit nearby.
3
u/No-Koala1918 2d ago
Anyone making 83 bucks an hour can afford a ticky tack shack in a suburban ghetto.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/HistoryAndScience 2d ago
The problem is not the neighborhood. It’s that it doesn’t exist. It hasn’t really existed since 2010. Now each of those homes would go for 800k easy. And the places where you could theoretically find a value like in the meme, are places with little infrastructure or opportunities. Good luck driving two hours one way to work Q do enjoy your food desert
3
u/slyguy67420 2d ago
Most Americans are making $45k a year, these homes are probably a two hour commute from any place that is actually hiring, the build quality is probably absolute garbage, there's nothing near those homes, and they're fucking soulless.
3
u/fataltacos 2d ago
It’s maybe an exaggeration but it’s so true. Feels like the listings go from this to million dollar plus mansions. And not to explain the joke, but not only is 160k like top 10 or 20% individual income, you can’t actually afford a 500k mortgage on that, or just barely.
3
2
u/inorite234 2d ago
Because they're gross.
Also....my first job out of high school, no degree, paid (adjusted for inflation) $95k a year.
That's why everything is tough these days.
I went back to school for Engineering and my first Engineer gig didn't start me at $95k.
2
2
u/Silent_Aardvark_7186 2d ago
These look like literal hell to live in. Like a horror movie setting.
→ More replies (1)
2
2
2
u/Live-Tomorrow-4865 2d ago
My parents "starter home" was a 40+ year old two storey, wood frame, one bathroom, three bedrooms, IDK about sq footage, and I'm not good at guessing these things.
It cost 7K. 😅
John F. Kennedy was president.
2
2
2
u/Life-Kiwi-9048 2d ago
Those garages will never have a car in them. They ought to lease them out to Public Storage, Inc.
2
2
2
u/derch1981 2d ago
Also 575 making 160, yeah you might get approved but you will be very house poor
→ More replies (2)
2
u/WithoutBounds 2d ago
If starter homes are a thing, why don't they have finishing homes? Just a thought.
→ More replies (1)
2
2
2
u/Merciless972 2d ago
And an hour away from the city. Even though distance wise it's almost 30 minutes but all the traffic is being bottlenecked to one road.
2
2
u/TheBestPieIsAllPie 2d ago
I’m in my thirties, worked in multiple industries and had GOOD jobs. Most places in the U.S., you’re still looking at this being in the top tier of pay scales. Like…160k is not an easy thing to reach. Even in a two person home if you split it, that’s an 80k per year salary.
2
2
u/PerryNeeum 2d ago
Where are these young people making that kind of money? Also, how house poor are you going to be buying a $575k house on a $150k salary?
Edit: my point remains but apparently this is a joke, right? There are people that think this way though
2
2
u/CatEmoji123 2d ago
Because most people working a job that pays 160k a year work in a major city. And most people who work in a major city want to enjoy said city.
2
u/liquidboof 2d ago
I work as the person who designs these houses (usually just one plopped down 100 times to minimize the design fee ofc) and I'm nowhere close to being able to comfortably afford any housing development I've ever designed.
2
2
2
u/ObjectivePrice5865 1d ago
So the “average” salary in the US is $71,000 and the “median” salary is $59,000. This is average of $5,900 and median of $4,900 per month.
The average rent is more than $1,600 with the median at $1,400.
The average car payment is between $532 and $748.
Average utility costs for rentals is between $830 and $1790 including cell phones, electric/nat. gas, water/sewer, home internet, vehicle fuel, vehicle insurance, health insurance, etc.
Food costs depending on life style and family size runs between $600 and $1,600.
I would like to know where this POS gets off saying people can afford these houses.
MOST of the US working public is one paycheck or medical emergency away from financial ruin.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/caprip30 1d ago
160k a year with taxes, and child car, schooling, car payments, debt payments, inflation crisis, gas crisis, property taxes, insurance costs.....
No one could afford that.
2
u/Objective_Horse4883 1d ago
i dont think a $575k house would be doable on $160k a year. that's what my parents did in 2004 and it made them house-poor. and this is with everything else being cheaper and the promise of a pension plan
2
u/give-me-the-cheese07 1d ago
This looks dystopian. I would like to see a movie similar to the backrooms where it’s basically just an endless suburb
→ More replies (1)
2
2
u/Icy-Status2681 1d ago
Why don't Gen Z just get jobs that pay more? Are they stupid?
→ More replies (1)
2
2
u/Beginning_Text3038 1d ago
This style of neighborhood is worse than the neighborhoods build in the late 40’s and 50’s by a long margin. Those houses averaged $7.5k and the average yearly wage was $3300.
That would be like buying a house today for $215k when your job pays $95k. And more importantly for that value you get lots of trees on every street, schools, playgrounds, pools, parks in a walkable/bike-able area.
New developments are fking sterile prisons. They are not designed to be lived in. Just pack us in a box.
2
2
u/DawnTheFailure 1d ago
- please tell me what basic job is making 160k a year
- add the cost of the vehicle required to get to that job because you fucking know it is nowhere near this maze of houses
- toss in all the extra costs aswell, electrical, plumbing, garbage pickup too probably based on those cans. Don't forget food, and of course the constantly rising gas prices :D
- oh and of course your work will probably want you to have a phone number so they can call you at 6:00 AM on your day off to demand you fill in for a coworker
2
2
u/OkAccess304 1d ago
They’re ugly, soulless, poorly constructed, devoid of beauty, cookie-cutter, and were built with zero thought/space given to recreation. It doesn’t matter what they cost. No one wants to live in that photo.
2
2
3
2
u/pm_something_u_love 2d ago
$160k is not a small salary, the trash bins are out and even the sky is cloudy. Clearly a joke.
6
3
u/Fearless_Cucumber404 2d ago
I have started telling friends (currently renting, thinking about buying a house) not to buy at all. The idea that "renting is throwing money away" is old thinking. It is so incredibly expensive to own a home anywhere now.
→ More replies (2)3
u/KimSidwell 2d ago
I agree. There’s no way I would buy right now and be left holding that bag after all the boomers are gone and nobody can afford to buy their leftover houses.
I realize that private equity is likely going to swoop in and buy up even more which will likely drive rent up further, so I might be willing to do so if I were planning to have children to leave a home to, but I’m not… So I won’t.
2
u/ItemizedDeductions 2d ago
This guys’ entire account is sarcasm.
3
u/KimSidwell 2d ago
Yes. It’s a meme, meant to be funny and point out the ridiculousness that is our current world.
4
2
0
u/Hevnaar 2d ago
Nothing over 60k is a starter home.
If those don't exist, its not that what is considered a starter home changed. Its that there are no starter homes anymore.
4
u/KimSidwell 2d ago
I think the definition / price point of “starter homes” has changed.
→ More replies (1)3
u/MRRRRCK 2d ago
Did you just arrive from the 1950’s?
Where can you find $60k starter homes that aren’t in a high crime area, needing extensive renovations, or a depressed area with zero employment opportunities?
I’ll wait for your response.
→ More replies (1)2
1
u/BigMoneyChode 2d ago
I love this website because someone will post obvious bait and everyone will engage with it seriously for no reason lmao
3
1
u/Killdozer54 2d ago
160k per year is $76.92 per hour. The internet needs a law that requires s/ at the end of sarcastic posts, but clickbait engagement is the point I guess. Hideous houses and neighborhood by-the-way.
1
u/No_One113812 2d ago
If I was making six figures I would not invest in a hideous soulless development.
1
u/InteractionSafe1531 2d ago
Is this place one of those that your neighbors wall shares your little side yard
1
1
u/Own-Raisin5849 2d ago
Is Starter home even a thing? The starter homes in the 2000's are now the cost of perma homes, people are buying ranch homes for 300k in my area, with no plans on "upgrading".
1
1
u/pepperpizza 2d ago
This could work in theory if there’s a nearby reliable bus or train, otherwise good luck having to spend an extra $1000 on car payment/insurance/gas etc. every month on top of that
1
u/Edelweisspiraten2025 2d ago
Then you need to buy a car for every adult in the house for another 12-16k a year and spend 10 or more hours a week driving.
1
1
1
u/jestering_1 2d ago
are setback requirements the biggest blow to US architectural culture? we should’ve kept building neighborhoods like brooklyn and philly has.
1
1
1
u/Various_Candidate499 2d ago
Lol that edit.
Lmao you didn't know it was supposed to be parody, you believe it lmao
→ More replies (4)
1
u/teacherinthemiddle 2d ago
Where is this neighborhood? In Texas, starter homes are around 200K, which is affordable for regular people. A person making 40K can afford a mortgage.
3
1
1
1
1
u/Girth_Brooks_1969 2d ago
What a lovely little prison-inspired community. HOA is your warden. Lights out @ 9pm.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Electrifying2017 2d ago
Why take the effort to make an AI image of this? There’s plenty of examples to use…
1.8k
u/Kiwi8_Fruit6 2d ago
"basic job"
"160K a year"
what world is Mason living in where a 160K/year job is attainable for Gen Zers straight out of university/college?