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America’s Freeway Exit Mentality

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Many Americans are of the belief that if something does not have a named exit off a freeway it must not exist. After all, the logic goes, all the best places must have freeway exits otherwise they wouldn’t exist.

There is a map in many people’s heads of the world that looks like a freeway map with nothing else on it. If there is 30 miles between freeway exits, then their must be nothing for the next 30 miles.

One Car

That logic is faulty. There are many beautiful small communities and great places not serviced by freeways. Freeways are very expensive to build and even very basic rural exits can cost several million dollars to construct. Many good places are far removed from the freeway.

Indeed, especially when your a toll highway with toll collectors at every exit, don’t expect every an exit for every town or place you’d want to neccessarly go. And just because a super-highway “flies” past hundreds of small towns, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Your just bypassing them.

Median Age of Buildings in New York State

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While many cities are quite old in New York, so are many rural areas. Gray areas have no data in YR_BLT field in state tax records. You can't always trust the data though as some town assessor offices will just blank out the form with 1800 or 1850 for old buildings, as the exact year doesn't effect assessed value much.

Here is the Postgres query I used which took a few seconds over the 5.4 million records: SELECT swis, PERCENTILE_CONT(0.5) WITHIN GROUP(ORDER BY yr_blt) FROM nytax_ctr_point GROUP BY swis

Data Source: NYS Statewide Parcel Map Program, gis.ny.gov

Median Age of Buildings in New York State

I often see advertisements promoting buying a home. 🏡

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A lot of friends and colleagues are buying one, and indeed I think it’s a good investment if you have a family and need a larger dwelling that you plan to stay in for a long time. Paying a mortgage is a good way to be forced to build wealth, but it’s certainly not the only way – low-cost index funds, retirement funds and certificates of deposits with automatic deposits are other ways to build wealth.

While rent is an expense that is forever gone, you have to live somewhere. But lower-rent apartments can be quite affordable, allowing you to save and invest elsewhere. Plus a small rented space is going to be cheaper to heat and light, and the benefits to having access to public transit to get to work and walk-able neighborhood rather than having a car. Costs like utilities, transportation, repairs, mortgage fees and interest are non-recoverable even if you own your own house. Indeed, running my own numbers, I can’t find a way I would gain wealth faster owning a home with all the related expenses before renting.

While I concede I’ll probably stick around in New York State for a while longer, maybe a decade or so, I just can’t see setting down roots locally. Albany doesn’t feel like my home, and I’m not interested in community or local politics. I want an opportunity to reboot my life at some point, try a new community on for a change. I’m also not that interested in owning a fancy house, I’d rather have more land and not a fancy house. And I don’t want land for purposes of profit to sell it, but to use it for homesteading, hunting, and wildlife observation — any building should be just ancillary to provide housing but need not be permanent or appreciating in value. 

Winky The Cat.

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The cat is blinking his left eye at you. I think he wants to turn left.