Chaim Shulem. I do not live near a metro area. Neither my husband nor I wanted to live near a metro area. I live on the edge of city limits in an area that will not be developed any further (The town has about 16K fulltime residents,) The PDX and Seattle metro areas may be cheaper than Bklyn but the suburbs are nothing close to small town living. Houses are built on top of eachother, poorly constructed, traffic sucks, property taxes are high and every house looks the same.
Thanks Mod 29!