I woke up in my friend’s $2.5 million house in Brookline, Maskachusetts in which the warmest room was 60 degrees (April 11) and stepped out into the slightly-above-freezing overcast weather to see powerlines and a 32-year-old Volvo (note the cheap chain-link fence in the background, which would never be able to get HOA approval in Florida!).
My epiphany for the day: rich people in Massachusetts share many lifestyle aspects with poor people in Florida. A partial list:
- live in dilapidated substandard old poorly-insulated housing
- drive cars more than five years old
- sit on old worn-out furniture
- probably don’t have cleaners
- can’t afford to get repairs made to their houses (high costs relative to income)
- no HOA to answer to
- suffer from climate-induced discomfort due to (a) unwillingness or inability to pay for heating to 72 in the winter, (b) an entire lack of AC or unwillingness or inability to pay for cooling down to 74 in the summer
- regular power interruptions due to above-ground powerlines
- walking distance to marijuana store (medical-only in Florida, typically in grungy neighborhoods)
- shop in a CVS or Target where everyday items are locked up and security guards roam the store
- likely to vote Democrat
- wait on lines
Note that poor people in Massachusetts often, at least in some ways, live more like rich people in Florida:
- enjoy modern well-insulated buildings (built or gut-rehabbed recently with taxpayer money)
- heat and cool to comfortable temps all year (heat included in the free rent and A/C affordable due to compact apartment size and good insulation (also, a lot of stuff is affordable when one doesn’t pay rent))
- reliable underground power
- perfect condition plumbing, electricity, and HVAC (public housing is professionally maintained and there is no cost for services)
Here’s a CVS nestled among the $2-4 million houses:
Even the $2.89 Suave shampoo is too precious to be left in the open.
A mini-Target next to Boston University ($100,000/year):
The streetscape:
Within a few steps of my friend’s expensive house, a marijuana store and ads for marijuana delivery:
After the kids have learned about the importance of marijuana, they can do a longer walk to the TimeOut Market and learn that Spring is Queer and also one should wear a mask while ordering:
Wait on lines? Here are the self-described smartest people in the U.S. waiting 1.5-2 hours because they apparently can’t figure out how to brew coffee at home:
How about the “Vote Democrat” part? On a $3 million house around the corner:
And my last photos from Boston, an outdoor masker riding a bicycle, an airport masker of uncertainty gender ID, and the airport shop reminding 60-year-old married females (a group with an unfortunate tendency to vote Republican) that they can have great sex (“romance”) by suing their husbands and becoming divorced females (reliable voters for Democrats; see also Valentine’s Day Post #3 for the sexual adventures available to AARP members with the courage to sue):
Blue states have us by the balls. You have a choice to be in FL but you have to regularly travel to MA & CA or else.
Last time I visited Harvard Square it was 2013. It was depressive already.
Those 100-150 year old, $2-$3 MM, MA houses are also extremely limited in closet space and bathrooms. Wood-framed, and rock-foundations. Often the basement is dirt floor and less than 6-feet ceiling height.
No HOA? FREEDOM! only sheeple subject themselves to HOAs.
I enjoy living in my HOA neighborhood, free of tacky and junky neighbors. Just call me sheeple, I’ll take it!
Anon, according to recommended use of this blog, change your avatar to more descriptive “sheeple”, otherwise following your suggestion to call you sheeple is going to be interpreted as fighting words.
Walking the dog in our neighborhood is like walking around a botanical garden. That’s partly thanks to the HOA having some landscaping standards, but mostly because the HOA fee includes weekly landscaping of everything visible from the sidewalk. Our driveways aren’t big enough to store boats so I’m not sure what practical advantage we would get from disbanding the HOA.
Philip, many of the properties in my neighborhood are too heavily landscaped and reflect landscapes from around the world. Some of them even have greenhouses. Some have chicken coups, to like of many magnificent read foxes that started to pop-up on my property. Honestly, even though the landscaped properties in bloom look beautiful now, I and my dog like natural woods which are still plenty, with natural wildflowers and small streams. My dog heels without a leash and sometimes chases an occasional squirrel or something else. Does your HOA allows dog walking without a leash? If yes good for your HOA. Or do you have to bring Mindy the Crippler to a dog park for her to relax?
I’d take FL over MA anytime, HOAs just not my thing.
Your dog could be off leash legally in Jupiter, Florida, I think. The dog has to be close to the handler and respond to voice commands. The beaches are dog-friendly as well. Our streets and sidewalks belong to the Town of Jupiter so I don’t think that the HOA has a dog in the leash fight, so to speak. (Abacoa is a planned, but not gated, community.)
I love Jupiter.
In a solidly blue state like Maskachu$etts, I have never quite understood the point of putting up signs to promote a Democratic presidential candidate.
It’s about wearing the team colors.