I used to live next to an interstate. Now my office and kitchen are next to each other, and both are five steps from touching grass. But more than that land is agency. A chance to be your own man.
Indeed it is an aesthetic question. In particular, the aesthetics of the public realm. What is it like to go for a walk? What are the sensory and emotional textures between here and the cafe, or the grocery store? Too often, the context surrounding a single family home is something designed to be punched through as quickly as possible by a car, rather than something to be luxuriated in by a pedestrian.
Apartments also exist in these soulless places, of course, but the housing stock in pleasant public realms is almost all multifamily.
I traded the faux rural idyll of my youth (really just staring at screens, driving between various snowy parking lots, punctuated by 2 months of glorious hikes) for a small old house in a city of ill repute. My parents couldn't believe anyone used to live cramped together in houses so small, only one place for a tv! Yesterday I played Bocce in the park, and other friends happed to pass by and we walked to a pub for a chat after the game. Full, we passed it by for another we liked even better. All day I never crossed more than a one lane road. On the walk home I got ice cream and ate it while I looked at my doomed blueberry bush, which flowers heavily and never produces a single fruit, smoking my pipe in hobbitish delight. Why anyone used to live cramped together in houses so small, only one place for a tv!
‘By contrast when I am excited enough to be willing to overpay, I am almost always grateful for my lapse in frugality.’
This is very perspicacious Simon!
Thanks, it has put a feeling I keep into words.
In 2020 I bought some farmland for what advisers warned me was too much but have never felt the niggle of regret on purchasing the acres. The further intangibles around the edge are so important beyond just the need / would like / want & R. of R. on Capital etc.🙂
I couldn’t agree more. Imagine how more beautiful our built environment would be if “I’ll pay a little more because I value beauty” was the default position among owners of property.
Thank you for another beautiful article, Simon. I, of course, agree that an accomodation cannot be viewed in isolation. It is all about the environment it is enmeshed into. I regularly think about this and I too have grounds to be grateful. My wife and I bought and renovated a house in the medieval old town of our small city, originally dating back to at least 1512, although there is certainly little left of the original substance. While we do not have a patch of grass right out of doors, we have a roof terrace with very nice views over abundant greenery, shops, schools and culture in walking or biking distance and, since it's a small town, the option of being in nature within minutes. I may not appreciate the weather for much of the year, but the location is a true blessing.
An interesting tangential thought here is that contention of some philosophers that a very special kind of "aspirational rationality" is applicable to "big life decisions" like having children, moving abroad etc.. In such cases, they argue we act on "proleptic reasons" and hunches of values we like to acquire down the line instead of "making decisions" such as buying a car or a new TV. Maybe that's what guided you here to opt for the land. It was an implicit glimpse of what you now explicitly value and can articulate.
There's a certain beauty in buying as well in the act of commitment. When our world seems to romanticize freedom and optionality to a near-religious extent, the decision to buy is the decision to plant roots, inhabit your surroundings rather than merely existing in them, and make them more beautiful through love and effort. It's cutting the exit plan and tying yourself to the place.
Yes, it is only the things that are really difficult to undo, like mailing a letter or getting married (or buying a place to live) that it can be truly romantic.
Very nicely said! I read a book about this very topic recently. It's an account of our culture of "infinite browsing" instead of finally committing to something.
There is no land tax; only property tax. For as long as this remains, one should – to maximisize financial advantage – buy land and rent it for the developers. After a land tax exists, buying land and developing it may become the best strategy.
I used to live next to an interstate. Now my office and kitchen are next to each other, and both are five steps from touching grass. But more than that land is agency. A chance to be your own man.
Indeed it is an aesthetic question. In particular, the aesthetics of the public realm. What is it like to go for a walk? What are the sensory and emotional textures between here and the cafe, or the grocery store? Too often, the context surrounding a single family home is something designed to be punched through as quickly as possible by a car, rather than something to be luxuriated in by a pedestrian.
Apartments also exist in these soulless places, of course, but the housing stock in pleasant public realms is almost all multifamily.
I traded the faux rural idyll of my youth (really just staring at screens, driving between various snowy parking lots, punctuated by 2 months of glorious hikes) for a small old house in a city of ill repute. My parents couldn't believe anyone used to live cramped together in houses so small, only one place for a tv! Yesterday I played Bocce in the park, and other friends happed to pass by and we walked to a pub for a chat after the game. Full, we passed it by for another we liked even better. All day I never crossed more than a one lane road. On the walk home I got ice cream and ate it while I looked at my doomed blueberry bush, which flowers heavily and never produces a single fruit, smoking my pipe in hobbitish delight. Why anyone used to live cramped together in houses so small, only one place for a tv!
‘By contrast when I am excited enough to be willing to overpay, I am almost always grateful for my lapse in frugality.’
This is very perspicacious Simon!
Thanks, it has put a feeling I keep into words.
In 2020 I bought some farmland for what advisers warned me was too much but have never felt the niggle of regret on purchasing the acres. The further intangibles around the edge are so important beyond just the need / would like / want & R. of R. on Capital etc.🙂
I couldn’t agree more. Imagine how more beautiful our built environment would be if “I’ll pay a little more because I value beauty” was the default position among owners of property.
Thank you for another beautiful article, Simon. I, of course, agree that an accomodation cannot be viewed in isolation. It is all about the environment it is enmeshed into. I regularly think about this and I too have grounds to be grateful. My wife and I bought and renovated a house in the medieval old town of our small city, originally dating back to at least 1512, although there is certainly little left of the original substance. While we do not have a patch of grass right out of doors, we have a roof terrace with very nice views over abundant greenery, shops, schools and culture in walking or biking distance and, since it's a small town, the option of being in nature within minutes. I may not appreciate the weather for much of the year, but the location is a true blessing.
An interesting tangential thought here is that contention of some philosophers that a very special kind of "aspirational rationality" is applicable to "big life decisions" like having children, moving abroad etc.. In such cases, they argue we act on "proleptic reasons" and hunches of values we like to acquire down the line instead of "making decisions" such as buying a car or a new TV. Maybe that's what guided you here to opt for the land. It was an implicit glimpse of what you now explicitly value and can articulate.
There's a certain beauty in buying as well in the act of commitment. When our world seems to romanticize freedom and optionality to a near-religious extent, the decision to buy is the decision to plant roots, inhabit your surroundings rather than merely existing in them, and make them more beautiful through love and effort. It's cutting the exit plan and tying yourself to the place.
Yes, it is only the things that are really difficult to undo, like mailing a letter or getting married (or buying a place to live) that it can be truly romantic.
Very nicely said! I read a book about this very topic recently. It's an account of our culture of "infinite browsing" instead of finally committing to something.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55711620-dedicated
Having worked all weekend on our beautiful farm, I heartedly agree with your message.
There is no land tax; only property tax. For as long as this remains, one should – to maximisize financial advantage – buy land and rent it for the developers. After a land tax exists, buying land and developing it may become the best strategy.