Why I'm Leaving Spokane for Portland
I hope the housing market crashes back to reasonable levels so my kids don't have to move away.
— Linus LinusMediaGroup (@linusgsebastian) December 19, 2020
^this really shouldn't be a radical position
I think Linus hits it on the head - why is it that my family thinks it's so radical that I don't want to stay in an
overpriced city large town that thinks it's a city?
Maybe it's because they don't understand that, even having an amazing/stable/very well paying job
that I cannot afford to get the house that they own. The price on it has nearly doubled since they bought it 16
years ago, to the point where I literally can't get financing unless I make an absurdly large down payment.
Now's not the time to buy. I look at it this way - either I'm going to look like a genius for waiting, or I'm going to be renting for the rest of my life. Either one of those outcomes is acceptable to me, so I'm going to wait. I'm certainly never ever ever going to financially screw myself just so I can have a decent house. It's just not going to happen. I don't want to devote resources that would financially tie me to a city that offers so little to someone like myself.
- Portland has a better tech scene.
- Portland is home to some of the largest players in the world (Nike, Intel, Daimler, and Home Depot's QuoteCenter in Vancouver, WA).
- I'm moving to be closer to the ocean.
- Portland has better weather, and better air.
- I grew up listening to stories of my grandparents moving around the country, and I want to experience that at least once.
Long story short, there's too little to do in Spokane for someone who likes to get out and experience new places. There's deaf ears for someone who wants to talk about making the world a better place for the future. There's old Spokane money that still has way too much influence on Spokane today. There's no good career advancement opportunities in the technology scene. There's only my family and some friends for me. I'll miss them dearly and be back to visit often; I am fortunate enough that I have the ability to do so. If I didn't believe that traveling and living in different cities would ultimately benefit me as an individual, I probably wouldn't leave.