We are NIMBYs. And make no apologies about it.

We did not just buy 4 walls with a roof over them. Instead, in large part we bought a “neighborhood.”

Before we even saw our home, while driving to it with the realtor, what was salient to us was the neighborhood. Were streets lined with parked cars? How much “space” was there in the neighborhood? How quiet was the neighborhood? Did the other homes look well kept? Were drivers exceeding the speed limit? Were people sitting on their front porches? Were there sidewalks for walking? How “crowded” did it appear? Were there places for children to play or could they only “play” in their locked back yards? Were there dogs and more dogs barking and barking…..running loose in fenced-in front yards?

After assessing all of these neighborhood factors, then we got to the house we were going to look to buy, and only then we started caring about whether the home had matching appliances, etc. Some terrific homes were off the market for us because the neighborhoods are not what we wanted to live in and invest in.

Importantly, we also knew that we could fix up our own home and get those all-important matching appliances (important to some people, but irrelevant to us), but we could NEVER “fix up” a neighborhood. The neighborhood was set. Unchangeable. Except along one dimension: It could be made worse. And they would by those YIYBY (Yes In YOUR Back Yard) people (the same people who if OUR homes becomes worth less are not going to take up a collection to pay us, and our neighbors, to make up the difference).

There are huge differences in neighborhoods, and neighborhoods are key to one’s satisfaction with their home.

Many proposals (at least that we have seen) for “solving” the housing crisis are to build smaller homes, multi-family dwellings. Crowding things, changing the character of the neighborhoods, noisier, more cars, fewer “backyards.”

We’re firmly middle class, not anywhere near rich. We don’t travel to Europe on a whim. Our homes are “it.” They are our worlds and our primary investments. And those homes exist in an atmosphere/neighborhood we chose when buying them. They partially created the financial value of our homes

Trying to change those neighborhoods is going to meet with tons of resistance. And that resistance makes sense, psychologically and financially.

And if people are upset with us, we’d like to ask why? How many YIMBYs live in places where their own neighborhoods actually would be subject to massive changes? Why is this the only solution? We have 6 kids. 3 live in large, expensive cities. 3 live in inexpensive places. They all own homes.

People do not have a constitutional right to live in large cities. There is plenty of inexpensive housing in other places. But you may not be able to have the job you want, but that was a decision you made. YOU chose a profession that exists only in large cities, and then expect the rest of us to accommodate that. You wanted fancy restaurants, coffee shops, entertainment, and expect the rest of us to provide for that.

Quit feeling so entitled. If you are an immigrant, there’s plenty of non-college jobs elsewhere. We know….we live in one of those areas and hire them all of the time, manyof whom can't speak English, and pay them what they are asking......a fine salary, by the way (we're not into exploiting anyone, imagine that?) They’re GREAT! We love them.

And they can afford homes.