Marcia wrote:
Thelibrarian wrote:
I have a friend who bought a ten acre farm outside of Edinburgh this Spring, and he spent right at a million pounds. I've got 130 acres with a new house I would be very lucky to get half that amount for. He has to take his girlfriend very seriously, as they bought it together, and neither could afford it alone. And while I am single and own my place outright, I must say my girlfriend was involved in every step of building my new house, although I was under no obligation to. What I'm getting at is that traditional men aren't necessarily dictatorial, and especially not with making big decisions. It's part of the emphasis we place on family--the chivalry thing.
I'm guessing cost of living has a lot to do with this, particularly what Steve Sailer has termed affordable family formation. Here is how it works: You can buy a house in the small town I work in for well under a hundred grand. In the egalitarian parts of California, you would be very lucky to touch the same house for less than a half million dollars. Plus, the houses out here have decent schools; in California it's either private school or moving to a very expensive area with decent schools. (Nor am I trying to be snide; California schools are now the worst in the nation)
Factor that in, and a young couple out here can get even a modest job, buy a house, and start families young. Young people in California need to have at least a million, and probably much more, to get a house in a decent school district. Think about starting out life, with a lot of college debt, and then have to face this daunting situation.
This is why egalitarian types tend to have so few children, and so many of them remain bohemians; they just can't afford to do anything else. I would also guess that like my Scottish friend, the wife's decision is more that of a partner, since both parents have to have extremely high-paying jobs even to think about having a family.
I wouldn't call 10 acres a farm to be honest. A small-holding maybe. Or somewhere for the city folks to keep their horses. Edinburgh,and area, house prices are expensive, so the bulk of their investment will be in the house rather than the land. Having said that, land prices are on the up, and their 10 acres are likely a prudent investment, even if there is no potential for it to be built on in the future.
I agree with you that "traditional" does not mean dictatorial. I didn't mean to give that impression, and I apologise if I did.
My cousin lives in Edinburgh and paid £1.5 million for her house. I suppose her family set-up is "traditional with a twist". She is the sole earner, and although I have no idea how much she earns I do know that she didn't have to borrow money to buy that house. When she and her partner met they both worked for the same international company and they decided that he would give up work so that she could pursue her career. At that time she had been offered a position in South America and there was no job there for him.
There is no need to apologize; I'm not easily offended.
Where I live at, a fifth of a section isn't much of a ranch either. There are ranches in my area that are hundreds of sections--or square miles. A twelve thousand acre ranch recently sold for thirty million dollars to one of the heiresses of the Maytag line of household appliances.
I've never been to Scotland, though I'm planning on visiting next summer. The closest I've been is southern England back in the mid-eighties. It was very pretty, but I recall thinking at the time that there wasn't forty acres of undeveloped land in the entire country. And I understand it is far more crowded now. So, I'm guessing ten acres there is a lot bigger than ten acres here. Anyway, they got it primarily for elbow room, and to keep a couple of horses.
His girlfriend is from Oxford, and had never been out of Europe. On his last visit, he brought her here, and she was stunned about the amount of land here. You can drive many miles without seeing much of anything. What I'm getting at is that it seems to me that what constitutes a farm is all relative.
Your cousin must be one sharp lady to make that kind of money. As for me, I'm one traditionalist who is not willing to work that hard. I'm happy with what I have, and think that once you get the material things you need from life, it is time to turn to other pursuits.
29 Oct 2013, 12:39 am
