Location is Obsolete

It’s down to this. Location (for me anyway) is now obsolete. Why then, should I live in one of the most expensive areas in the world? Yea, sure I could go more expensive, like Tokyo or New York, but by all measures Boston hits the top ten most expensive places to live.

Give me a computer and a fast internet connection and I can run my business from anywhere. Heck, I’m even starting to use virtual employees. So, I’m doing some calculating. If I sell my house, I’d have enough cash to buy a house outright and have enough left over to buy a vacation house, to live for a few years wherever I’m moving, and pump some money into my business.

What would I miss? Well, the biggest reason for staying in Boston is because my wife likes her job at Harvard, and that’s where my son is going to school. The museums and other cultural attractions are great too, but is it all worth the cost of living here?

We want to buy a new house, with something for a back yard. A half-acre would be great, but even a quarter acre would do. There’s nothing under $800,000 within a half-hour drive of Harvard that even comes close. If we accept a forty-five minute commute, there’s some nice places in Acton, but that’s a hell of a commute.

So, where should we move? My wife almost got violent with me when I mentioned India. I think it would be fun to live in Bangalore, or New Delhi for a few years. She thinks I’m crazy now. Europe? Are there places in Europe safe for Americans anymore? Certainly not France or Germany. The UK? Well, London wouldn’t really be a good choice if I’m looking for something LESS expensive, lol. So, we’re actually looking at Warsaw. Now, part of the EU, and real estate and labor are comparitively less expensive there, and there are less trade-offs culturally compared with moving to some cheap place in the USA like Texas (where there seems to be no culture).