# who else has noticed people moving closer to town?



## manfred (Dec 21, 2005)

Since gas prices went up to painfull levels I have seen fewer people living more than 10 miles from town and moving closer. 
It is a slow process but fewer people starting new places, not rebuilding after a fire, and empty houses. Plus places staying on the market for a long time.
Will this trend expand? Is it just my particular area?


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## wharton (Oct 9, 2011)

Nope. nothing unusual, and it's been predicted and widely reported on over the last few years. I live in an exurb (extreme distance suburb of NYC) we had a population boom that lasted exactly twenty years from '86 to 06'. The boom tripled our census count. Now some school districts are down in enrollment by 20%, new construction is roughly 90% less than peak, and the migration back to the city is glaringly obvious. Were it not for a massive amout of upside down homeowners and others that are financially trapped, many more would of done the common sense thing, and moved closer to their employment, families and friends. Hopefully we will finally wake up to the fact that long distance commuting is a really poor way to live your life and raise a family.


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## Dusky Beauty (Jan 4, 2012)

wharton said:


> Hopefully we will finally wake up to the fact that long distance commuting is a really poor way to live your life and raise a family.


Unless of course it's the only way to get space enough to have a little farm in your back yard! Even taking a commute in mind it's still better for the soul than a lifeless condo.


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## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

Yes, however, for a lot of these people, it isn't about having a farm, it's about a McMansion with an acre of lawn. And of course, letting their dogs "run free" and "play with the animals".


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## manfred (Dec 21, 2005)

It can only get worse unless a cheap form of transportation is developed. 
If that is done there will likely be a crowd moving out of the cities again.


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## wharton (Oct 9, 2011)

chamoisee said:


> Yes, however, for a lot of these people, it isn't about having a farm, it's about a McMansion with an acre of lawn. And of course, letting their dogs "run free" and "play with the animals".


 Exactly what I was thinking when I read the reply after mine. Having aquired an extra hundred thousand neighbors in the last two decades, I can assure you that many couldn't tell a chicken from a duck and only moved for the cheap McMansions and the lovely mountain environment, that they pretty much destroyed.


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## Dusky Beauty (Jan 4, 2012)

manfred said:


> It can only get worse unless a cheap form of transportation is developed.
> If that is done there will likely be a crowd moving out of the cities again.


Yeah, we really need a good rail system in this country-- it seems to work quite well for Europe and japan. 

But NOOOOOO people won't give up their own personal car long enough to support such a system.... :bash:


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## D Lynn (May 26, 2008)

Just last week I sat in the lunchroom and listened to a lady moan and complain about how much gas costs and that she lives ALL the WAY on the other side of town and HAVING to drive ALL that way to get to work. So I asked her how long it takes? She said _*"I timed it once, it takes me 13 minutes!"*_
I almost fainted. I'm moving out to my property where my drive will be 40 mins. All for ideally living off of real food, security and sanity. Small price IMO.

Back to the OP. Yes, I think a lot of people are gravitating towards the cities. It seems to be the way humans flock together when troubles are on the horizon. 

I'm okay with that.


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## silverseeds (Apr 28, 2012)

There is nothing like this happening in my area. The opposite really, although its slow. I do notice the progression out of the city used to be about 15 miles out of the city, and this area is now growing much slower then it once was. The areas about 2-3 miles out were slowly growing and they are growing faster then ever now. a LOT more people have animals then used to as well, we now have three booming feed stores in our small town where once there was a single struggling one. the population is even a bit lower in the area overall.


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## NorthCountryWd (Oct 17, 2008)

It's cyclical. Seems to be a push to the suburbs when the economy is good and then a retraction towards the population centers when the economy is bad. Right now the housing market is keeping many people from moving at all.


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## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

No worries bout the people moving back to the city - most don't understand country life anyway..... what's killings us are the ones moving out of the state.........


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## Chickadee_42us (Jan 24, 2003)

Yes, we keep noticing more and more homes/land for sale. We are about 50 miles from a large city. I do believe the price of gas is effecting those who have to drive miles to work.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

I'm only 11 miles from a decent sized town (20,000 people) and I'm not seeing anyone move back to town. In fact, in the last decade, land all over here has quadrupled in price.


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## Plowpoint (May 2, 2012)

It is not happening here.

It really is sad, in my towns "village district" I would say 75% of the homes are up for sale. It really is sad because my town is 25 square miles in size and has 750 people...at 30 people per square mile, you get an idea of how small this very rural Maine town is.

The sad part is, we have the best soil in the state with soil maps stating "vital to the State of Maine Agriculture" yet this village district, despite having houses that have access too, and acres in a vast set of rolling fields; people move here out in the country, buy two acres and plant a house in what was once a massive field and subdivide a nice big field once used by the large dairy farms that proliferate here. I say this is sad because they could have the same thing in our village district, but instead the fields in the village district are growing up into trees, while the big fields out of town are being subdivided. At the same time our quaint village district is dying a very fast, cruel death. At one time we had 3 stores, 2 grainmills and a working railroad. Now only a garage is left, and it does not even sell gasoline.

I guess that is the way life is, but it sure is sad.

BTW: My commute to work is insane, it is 84 miles one way! That is an hour and a half ride per trip, (3 hrs per day) but moving is out of the question. This is a 9th generational sheep farm, having been established in 1746...


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## Scott SW Ohio (Sep 20, 2003)

Plowpoint said:


> It is not happening here.
> 
> It really is sad, in my towns "village district" I would say 75% of the homes are up for sale. It really is sad because my town is 25 square miles in size and has 750 people...at 30 people per square mile, you get an idea of how small this very rural Maine town is.
> 
> ...


Plowpoint, sorry things are not going so well where you are but - wow, ninth generation farm! That is amazing. I can't imagine there are more than a handful of farms in the whole country that have been held that long in one family - quite an accomplishment.


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## unregistered168043 (Sep 9, 2011)

I think its about the economy and people looking for jobs closer to the cities and towns.


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## Plowpoint (May 2, 2012)

Scott SW Ohio said:


> Plowpoint, sorry things are not going so well where you are but - wow, ninth generation farm! That is amazing. I can't imagine there are more than a handful of farms in the whole country that have been held that long in one family - quite an accomplishment.


Thanks...we actually go back to the Mayflower, but moved from Cambridge MA to Maine at some point. We actually do not know when we settled here in Maine, Harvard had 157 fireplaces to keep stoked with wood and they had their own sailing ship that sailed to modern day Belfast Maine in order to cut the hardwood along the shore here. At some point between 1620-1746 a Plowpoint jumped ship to cut wood and never returned.

The reason we put the date at 1746 was that was the year my Great Grandfather umpteen times removed, fought for the King of England in the French and Indian War, drove the French out of this area (who ultimately settled the French Quarter of New Orleans). Because of his heroics and high ranking status in the Kings Army, we were granted a massive land claim here in Maine.

We were traitors though during the American Revolution, had no intention of kissing the Kings hiney, and thus fought in the Continental Army and rose in officer rank there. Because of that we were allowed to keep our land given to us by the King of England here in Maine. We have been here ever since.

But we have paid the price as a family, we have lost five members in active duty; The French and Indian War at the siege of Luisburg, The American Revolution at Bunker Hill and Valley Forge, the Civil War in Louisianan and World War Two in a B-29 over the skies of Germany. Today my brother is over in Afghanistan serving our country. 

We are still here after all this time, we are still farming and we are still free. There is a little pride in this family for all that!


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

People who can afford to buy a place out of town with a couple of acres can afford to buy gas.

But I sure see it in the tenants. A rental out of town will go begging because the tenants can't afford the gas to get to work. Lots if tenants who did live further out have moved into town.


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## pumpkin (May 8, 2012)

I have. There are quite a few neighbors who have left the area over the past 2 years just to move closer to town. Some of it has to do with the price of gas but some also has to do with kids who just don't want to live in the country and the parents not wanting to drive 80 miles round trip for a game or dance lesson. There are a lot of for sale signs on properties on the way to town but not many in town.


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## tarbe (Apr 7, 2007)

That's quite a history Plowpoint. Thanks for sharing it!


Tim


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