Do you live the "American dream"?

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Do you live in a suburban house? If so, with your family or by yourself? Who owns the house? Is the house close to being sold? (for whatever reason)

If you live in an city apartment, do you dream about a suburban home in "suburbia"? (also known as the "american dream")

Last edited by grain-and-field on 27 Mar 2008, 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

For the people here that never seen a suburb in real life, here is an visual example.



This is a residential area south of Portland, USA.

Looks relatively pleasant, but I find myself altering between wanting to live in a suburban area and a chaotic centre.

I live in a suburban house, 1/2 acre lot, lots of fruit trees and a creek runs through the back of the lot. We had a large alligator in our yard a few years ago.

Not for sale, not planning on selling.

i live in a house until the 31st with my mom. then after that i'll be living in a dorm and will only get my own room and will have to share the kitchen and living room. thankfully i get my own bathroom

the american dream does not exist, everybodies dream is different.

True. Although the most common version of the dream involves working hard, having a place of your own, and seeing your children have an even better life. That ended around 1980.

The American Dream was destroyed by Chevy Chase and the Griswald family Christmas tree.

If the American Dream involves living from paycheck to paycheck, commuting 45 miles to work, eating Spam and macaroni and cheese 5 nights a week and living under crushing debt... then yes, I'm living large.

The American Dream Life:

Grain-and-Field, interesting post, but that picture is the worst looking suburb I've ever seen. I wouldn't want to live there...that close to people and no land to speak of. I like a decent piece of property and room for a pool.

I am a homeowner. I own more than one home. I'm not selling. I think I live my dream because I can afford to spend lots of time with my family and help out with my Autistic son. That's the best dream I could ever live.

You have to define the American Dream. It includes more than just living in the suburbs. I am happy, on my way to living my dream. Whether or not that is the American Dream, perhaps is yet to be decided.

My parents live in a lake-side dream house within drivable distances of their places of work, and most of their neighbors like them. Just two years ago, it was their turn to host the annual "Mayfly Festival," which is an informal community event held in celebration of the annual flight of the mayflies. They have plenty of time for themselves, they have excellent retirement plans, their kids are in college and making good grades, the only child they had who did any kind of illicit drugs took his own initiative in putting them down without need for entanglements with the law, their daughter is on her way to being engaged to a slightly dull-witted but morally upright man of her age, and, just to be modern, the gay one is safety conscious and holding down a steady relationship. My mother drives a Mustang Cobra, my father drives a colossal pickup truck that guzzles diesel like Bud Lite, they have a boat in the back yard, and they have a big screen television. Want more? They own a hobby farm out in the woodlands, and they half-jokingly/half-seriously speculate about turning it into a back woods hunting lodge one day. They have a loyal and well-behaved labrador retriever who is always eager to go out birding with my father, and their cat leaves at least one half-gnawed mouse tail at their bedroom door per week. On top of that, my maternal grandmother is in very good health, and, every now and then, she invites her grandchildren to work her yard for a much higher sum of money than the labor is actually worth. Oh, and, by the way, the lady is loaded up the wazoo with land and valuables to pass on to her children and grandchildren for when she finally kicks the old bucket.

I could go on, but here's me: I'm attending a fine university, and I'm well on my way to receiving my first bachelor. I'm planning on going for another one before I take my MCAT to enter medical school, but I can't make any promises about my patience. The mental illness that I suffered for a while during adolescence has gone into remission, and I'm slowly turning into a very bright, kind-hearted person. I am living off-campus in a very clean apartment, and I am close enough to the university that I can ride my bicycle to class every day that the weather holds. Furthermore, I am on extremely good terms with my room-mates, and they are generally pretty quiet. I'm also living within walking distance of one of the few beach areas left that haven't either become overpopulated or been taken over by rich snobs, and it's one of those places where people from all walks of life can relax and feel at home. I could go on.

American dream? I dunno. I'm one lucky bastard, though. That much is clear.

Oh, and one more thing: my beard and moustache are finally starting to come in right, and I look pretty hot when I let them grow out just a tad. Okay, now I'm just being a jerk.

umm....It does? Ok, I must have been misinformed by someone....




Really? Well, perhaps. You want more space, I feel you. Its nice that you own all these houses also. Thats always a good thing.

Technically yes I am. Owning a home has got to be the most overated thing there is. Now that the real estate market has collapsed I am stuck with something I can't even give away. The only reason I have one is for my son. Once he is done with school I am getting rid of the damn house because I have better things to do than spend all of my time and money fixing it. I wuld be much happier living in a small aprtment. I own very few posessions and really don't need a house. Plus that makes it easier for me to pick up and move if I find a better job somewhere else.

I'd rather live here:



Or slightly more realistically:



But for sake of curb appeal and insurance risk, I'd rather not be next to this:

the suburban home i grew up in looked nothing like that. that looks more like a relic from the suburban homing planned immediately after WWII for the baby boom...that very .....pre-fabricated look to it.

where i grew up the houses all looked different but you could tell which ones were built in the 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s. they weren't so tightly packed together and you had much more of a lawn than that. also, the streets weren't so...convoluted?

i dunno, that looks like it's a cali suburb...which...cali sucks at most everything that deals with planning and housing. i know...i live here now. live in an apartment. i'd love to eventually own a home or a condo. i'd rather not live in that kind of a vanilla suburban hell but i have no idea where my path'll end up taking me.