Monday lunch break - West Virginia elitism
T had sold our trip to WV to me as a way for me to start collecting some data about retirement options. I would’ve gone anyway, just to get away from the house with T (and without B) for the first time in years.
I had a relaxing time, enjoyed the people we stayed with and the people we met. I expected that we would go hiking but our social calendar was too full for that, so now I’m feeling fat today LOL. All that free food and alcohol with no exercise!
I was struck by the essential elitism of the community we were visiting, however. Not quite a “gated” community, but a homeowners’ association community out in the middle of nowhere, with some communal amenities - pool, restaurant, spa - and well-maintained roads, plus private security.
There are initiation fees of about $3,000 and then annual fees of about $5,000. Comparable to the association fees from living in a condo.
All this is fine, but as our hosts were driving us around, they pointed out to me the “real” West Virginia houses that did not belong to the community. These houses looked poor or even abandoned, and were often surrounded by junkyards. West Virginia is a relatively poor and uneducated state, but there was a carefully delineated border between the residents of the community, and everybody else.
I’ve observed this phenomenon from afar while researching potential retirement locations - that affluent people in the US have been colonizing rural areas, not to join any sort of authentic rural lifestyle, but to bring their affluent urban/suburban lifestyle with them to less crowded and more picturesque locations.
It’s a type of gentrification, rural gentrification - gentrification is not limited to the big & expensive cities anymore. I heard nobody mention anything while I was there about getting involved in local politics - for many people these are second homes and they’re more focused on the DC area with respect to their jobs and social lives.
The houses are not as expensive as in my suburban neighborhood, but they’re not cheap either. They run about half the cost of my neighborhood, with the median house listed for $249K, but they also run smaller than my neighborhood, because few people have kids - these are second homes and retirement homes.
There’s one I would buy for myself if I were interested in living in the community, listed at $240K. Looks perfect for what I’d want for myself. But do I really want to take part in this kind of rural gentrification? I suspect I could find a similar place at a significantly lower price outside of such a community. But then my neighbors would be real West Virginians, not a bunch of wealthy retirees from DC.
Well, I’m glad for the data point, and glad for having made new friends, glad for having enjoyed a vacation. But even if I weren’t contemplating my Global Green Communism game proceeding into retirement, I’m not sure this sort of community is for me. I’d rather organize the real West Virginians to unionize and vote for higher taxes to reduce poverty and greenhouse emissions.
I had a relaxing time, enjoyed the people we stayed with and the people we met. I expected that we would go hiking but our social calendar was too full for that, so now I’m feeling fat today LOL. All that free food and alcohol with no exercise!
I was struck by the essential elitism of the community we were visiting, however. Not quite a “gated” community, but a homeowners’ association community out in the middle of nowhere, with some communal amenities - pool, restaurant, spa - and well-maintained roads, plus private security.
There are initiation fees of about $3,000 and then annual fees of about $5,000. Comparable to the association fees from living in a condo.
All this is fine, but as our hosts were driving us around, they pointed out to me the “real” West Virginia houses that did not belong to the community. These houses looked poor or even abandoned, and were often surrounded by junkyards. West Virginia is a relatively poor and uneducated state, but there was a carefully delineated border between the residents of the community, and everybody else.
I’ve observed this phenomenon from afar while researching potential retirement locations - that affluent people in the US have been colonizing rural areas, not to join any sort of authentic rural lifestyle, but to bring their affluent urban/suburban lifestyle with them to less crowded and more picturesque locations.
It’s a type of gentrification, rural gentrification - gentrification is not limited to the big & expensive cities anymore. I heard nobody mention anything while I was there about getting involved in local politics - for many people these are second homes and they’re more focused on the DC area with respect to their jobs and social lives.
The houses are not as expensive as in my suburban neighborhood, but they’re not cheap either. They run about half the cost of my neighborhood, with the median house listed for $249K, but they also run smaller than my neighborhood, because few people have kids - these are second homes and retirement homes.
There’s one I would buy for myself if I were interested in living in the community, listed at $240K. Looks perfect for what I’d want for myself. But do I really want to take part in this kind of rural gentrification? I suspect I could find a similar place at a significantly lower price outside of such a community. But then my neighbors would be real West Virginians, not a bunch of wealthy retirees from DC.
Well, I’m glad for the data point, and glad for having made new friends, glad for having enjoyed a vacation. But even if I weren’t contemplating my Global Green Communism game proceeding into retirement, I’m not sure this sort of community is for me. I’d rather organize the real West Virginians to unionize and vote for higher taxes to reduce poverty and greenhouse emissions.