A Nation of Hunkered-Down Homebodies

[elleng]

Why are Americans becoming less nomadic? Greater labor mobility helps the economy, but are there other kinds of effects — negative or positive — related to a more rooted population? Is there an upside to more Americans staying closer to their hometowns?

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/a-nation-of-hunkered-down-homebodies/?th&emc=th

[frog92969]

1. Less fuel consumption and emissions for a start

I go months without leaving my yard.
After I got an electric lawn mower I felt like I was sticking my thumb in their eye.
It feels good to get away from oil.

[fasttense]

2. Part of the problem is the housing bubble pop.

If you are lucky enough NOT to be upside down on your mortgage, who is going to buy your house? We have a very beautiful piece of land and a nice house, but we would sell it if we could find a buyer. But no one is willing to buy our house for what we have put into it. There are buyers, but they are all bargain shopping and want you to come down even when you offer a good deal. Why buy your house when they can get one cheaper out of a foreclosure?

If you can't sell your home for the money you have invested in it, you might as well stay put.

[Syntheto]

3. Yep...

...Lost 28 grand on the worth of the house... my dad and her dad assure me that it's cyclic...hope so... anyway, I couldn't have as much space for the family, including and especially all my menagerie of animals for the monthly note I have here, plus our big above ground pool is exclusively for our use. Biggest tragedy is that I am not the handiest guy around... that's the big secret to getting by, as we all know... I'm like Pa Kettle: "I'm a-gonna have to fix that one of these daysss."