美国的郊区固然不一定单调乏味(注解:因为在主流社会看来,郊区是单调乏味的),但是却一定是昂贵无比的(注解:作者在文章中,在我看来想要表达的是对近年来房地产价格节节上升,而普通老百姓无法承受的一种讽刺),让我们来看一看各位读者最富裕的邻居(注解:近年来,美国社会贫富分化日益严重,富人越富,穷人越穷,作者在这里,其实又是讽刺,因为对于BUSINESS WEEK的普通读者来说,他们的不大可能有如此\"富裕\"的邻居的)究竟是如何居住,如何享乐的.
想离开都市去郊区寻找经济适用的住房,较低的房地产税收,和较便宜的生活支出吗?(注解:近年来,主流文化对于郊区和SPRAWL的不良后果越来越有共识,但是保守派,当然基本上是百万富翁们,总是说,SRPAWL对老百姓是好事情,因为SPRAWL能够保证比较低廉的房价,税收,和总体生活水平,所以,作者其实在这里又是用的比较讽刺的语调--我认为),这些地方,可不是你我所应该看的.
尽管去年美国的住房价格下降，在大都市郊区费用最昂贵的城市的中值住房的价格也超过100万美元，同时不动产税率在10%以上，甚至达到20%。
当然,假定你有手腕,又有胃口可以消化这种夸张的价格的话,你或许能够幸运的期望在这些昂贵的郊区找到物有所值的梦想住房.这里的学校系统,是一流中最好的,这里的犯罪率,则几乎为零.而如果关于郊区是单调乏味的这种传统印象过去让你裹足不前的话,那么如今,这些武装着高山幽径或者是豪华沙滩的富贵社区,可能会赢得你的芳心.
一家调查机构对美国20个大城市郊区的住房价格、生活费用和不动产税进行了调查，得到的结果是各式各样的——中值住房的价格从772,000美元到280万美元，只有最富有的美国家庭才买得起的
这些城市郊区的生活费用指数，至少是196.8点，远远高于美国全国平均生活费用指数100点。在旧金山的希尔斯伯勒镇（Hillsborough）生活费用指数高达535.1，是全国平均数的5倍以上。在纽约长岛的旧西布雷（Old Westbury）生活费用指数为498.1。德克萨斯州“派尼•波因特村”（Piney Point Village）的不动产税率高达26.2%。
令人惊奇的是，不是所有费用昂贵的郊区都以华丽的住房和名人居住为特色。以加利福尼亚的“绵延山庄”（Rolling Hills）为例：这个富人住宅区不到2,000个居民，距离洛杉矶市区仅30分钟车程。
“绵延山庄”位于“帕洛斯•瓦迪斯半岛”（Palos Verdes Peninsula），是一个有大门的管理严格的居住小区。这里有许多白色的农场小屋，又有城市景观。这里的小路比公路更多。居民在周围的小镇工作、购物和上学。
“绵延山庄”的中值住房价格大约为200万美元，去年的住房售价从150万美元到300万美元。虽然这个社区的中值家庭收入是256,944美元，这里没有许多1,000万美元的住宅，也没有豪华的好莱坞住宅。大多数居民是企业家、医生和律师。
那些想住好的但又便宜的房子的富人，可能考虑将家搬到费城的房价昂贵的郊区。这种情况也发生在特拉华州的布兰迪维尼乡（Brandywine Country）。
实际上，特拉华州的由化学工业巨头杜邦公司支持的格林维尔（Greenville），曾经是一个威尔明顿、华盛顿和纽约的工人的社区。在格林维尔的住宅，包括杜邦家族拥有的殖民地不动产、10,000平方英尺的大厦（McMansions）、来自德克萨斯州的石油商人的住宅。现在，这个社区的居民是新老混合，有许多律师、银行家和商人。
在格林维尔，尽管500万美元的住房不是难见到的，这个地区的中价住房仅为805,300美元，不动产税大约为8.17%，生活费用指数不到全国平均数的两倍。，并且没有销售税。
下面介绍一些大城市郊区住房的情况：
（题图）最大的美国城市住房最昂贵的郊区
在全国住房价格、生活费用和不动产税高涨的情况下，美国一些大城市郊区的住房价格、生活费用指数和不动产税达到一个新的高度。
ABBS独家编译自美国《商业周刊》，转载请注明
The Most Expensive Suburbs by City
Suburbia doesn't have to be boring, but it sure can be expensive. Here's where your richest neighbors sleep and play
Want to leave city life behind for a suburb with affordable housing, low taxes, and a cheaper cost of living? Don't look in these places.
Even with last year's home price declines, the most expensive town in your metropolitan area probably has a median house price in excess of $1 million, with a property tax rate well over $10, or even $20, per $1,000 of home value.
But if you have the means and the stomach for such elevated prices, you can, luckily, expect to get your money's worth in a costly suburb. The school systems are best-in-class, the crime rates are nil—and if suburbia's dull, conformist image has deterred you in the past, a wealthy community packed with mountain trails and luxurious beaches may finally win you over.
BusinessWeek.com asked Portland (Ore.) research company Sperling's Best Places to come up with a list of the most expensive suburbs in 20 of the nation's major metropolitan areas using home prices, cost of living, and property taxes as determinants. The results are varied—with median home prices ranging from $772,000 (Dellwood, Minn.) to $2.8 million (Hillsborough, Calif.)—but uniformly unaffordable to all but the richest American families.
Every suburb on our list has a cost-of-living index of at least 196.8 (Greenville, Del., and Dellwood, Minn.), with 100 being the national cost-of-living average. Hillsborough, in the famously expensive San Francisco area, has an index of 535.1, or five times the national average, while Old Westbury, N.Y., on Long Island, has an index of 498.1. Property tax rates run as high as $26.2 (Piney Point Village, Tex.) per $1,000 of home value.
Understated Elegance
Surprisingly, not all ultra-expensive suburbs feature gaudy estates and celebrity neighbors. Take Rolling Hills, Calif., an equestrian-oriented community of less than 2,000 residents just 30 minutes from downtown Los Angeles.
Rolling Hills is a gated, strictly residential community on the Palos Verdes Peninsula featuring white ranch homes with ocean and city views on spacious two-acre lots surrounded by three-rail white fences. There are no traffic lights, and there are more horse trails than roads. Residents work, shop, and go to school in surrounding towns.
"We call ourselves the only gated city in America," says Bill Ruth, a realtor with Keller Williams in the Palos Verdes area. "We've been playing off that one for a while."
The median home price in Rolling Hills is about $2 million, with sales last year ranging from $1.5 million to $3 million. Although the median household income in the community is $256,944, the highest on our list, there aren't many $10 million mansions here. No flashy Hollywood types, either: Most residents are business owners, doctors, or attorneys, and the wildest event you are bound to attend is a children's party or a Little League game.
"It's a unique community where you can still leave your front door unlocked," Ruth says. "There's zero crime. Though a horse was stolen last year."
Brandywine Bargain
Well-off folks who want to live large but still enjoy a good deal (and who doesn't?) may consider relocating to Philadelphia's priciest suburb, which happens to be in the inconspicuous state of Delaware, amid the open spaces and sprawling golf courses of Brandywine Country.
In fact, Greenville, Del., buoyed by Delaware-based chemical giant DuPont (DD), is also a commuter community for workers in Wilmington, Washington, and New York. Houses in Greenville range from DuPont family-owned colonial estates to 10,000-square-foot McMansions to houses commissioned by the Texas oilmen who came to the area when DuPont acquired oil and gas company Conoco in the early 1980s. Today the community's residents are of a mix of old and new money, with many lawyers, bankers, and businesspeople employed by the local industry.
"There are some trust-fund babies around, but the majority are working types," says Wendy Bunch, a local agent with Brandywine Fine Properties Sotheby's International Realty.
While $5 million homes are not at all uncommon in Greenville, the median price in the area is just $805,300. Property taxes run at a rate of $8.17 per $1,000 of home value, and the cost of living is less than twice the national average. And forget about sales tax—there isn't any in Delaware.
"It's a wonderful place to live, and it is still a bargain," Bunch says.
[本帖由來了修改于2007-02-13 17:42:54] |
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发表于 2007-2-13 17:26
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