Native-Chicagoans are trying to gatekeep Chicago from a stirring influx of big city influencers. Why? It’s evident that LA and NYC are getting even more unaffordable even as inflation cools. According to recent CPI data, inflation might even tick higher.
Using social media, one can observe aggregate trends in the world as people share their takes on how tastes and preferences evolve in different age groups. Since the rise of the “day in my life” style influencer, glamorous upper middle-class quality of life has proven itself to have a niche in the content creation niche. For most influencers, LA, NYC, and Miami have been typical destinations that make idealizing city life possible.
There has been a recent uptick in content of native-Chicagoans expressing their frustration with influencer inflow which captures the significance. Influencer migration is important because influencers create content, they influence content consumers and cause a cascading effect in preferences.
I don’t have a down payment for a house yet, but thanks to Parcl, I can go long the Chicago real estate market. Here’s why I’m bullish on Chicago:
Chicago is a world-class city. Birthplace of the skyscraper, many people have never even seen the beautiful skyline, clean streets, and river and lake views. As the third-largest city in the United States, it is also one of the most walkable cities I’ve personally lived in. World class museums, research labs, and universities cement Chicago as an vanguard for progress.
Chicago is a financial hub, home of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, O’Hare International Airport (ORD), manufacturing, the Chicago Bulls, Kanye West, and more. The U.S. Government recently designated the city a national quantum hub, investing in the bleeding-edge industry.
Chicago is also home to a thriving foodie scene, another favorite influencer niche. The Chinatown has food superior to SF Chinatown in my opinion. Additionally, there are two three-star Michelin restaurants, Alinea and just last year, Smyth. In the Summer, Chicago transforms into possibly the most beautiful place with an abundance of rooftop bars, street festivals, and events.
Land o’ Lakes
On an environmental level, Chicago has many advantages. Known as being on America’s Third Coast, Chicago is situated by Lake Michigan, one of the three Great Lakes and a truly impressive body of freshwater. Winters are getting milder each year, while cities like Miami are battered by hurricanes due to wetter weather patterns. California gets hit by rain in massive waves that it cannot capitalize on, leaving it in perpetual drought, and has a bankrupt energy infrastructure due to wildfires and earthquakes. Being next to water is a common condition for people when looking for places to settle.
Lake Michigan affords the advantages of being a large body of water without the flood risk of the coastal cities due to rising sea levels. Sea levels are at risk of rising not primarily due to ice melting, but due to the slight increased volume that warm water occupies relative to cooler water. For those that doubt the size of the world’s largest freshwater system, the Great Lakes hold enough water to submerge the continental United States up to 10ft, and as much to continuously supply the entire world’s freshwater demand.
Chicago is a truly underrated city and has many tailwinds that could result in an increased migratory inflow this decade. As work becomes increasingly personal, remote, and decentralized, people will see the cost of living and quality of life advantages to moving to a city like Chicago, which has long been underestimated as a destination big city where people can experience big-city amenities and culture for an affordable price.
Winter is Cancelled
Chicagoans know that the biggest criticism is that the winters are terrible, and that was true for the better part of the city’s history. However, it’s exactly the reasons why global warming and rising sea-levels are happening that median temperatures in Winter are on the rise, with the warmest February on record to be recorded this year in 2024.
As Winter gets cancelled, the beauty of Chicago becomes unlocked for more of the year, making it an increasingly attractive location even for people who don’t love the cold.
Enter Parcl
Using Parcl to open a long position is extremely simple. Simply connect your wallet and send USDC to your newly created account to get started. Parcl currently has 10 active markets that are available for live trading.
Parcl’s risk protocol balances the longs and shorts by using an inverse skew model, providing incentives that balance out long/shorts and disincentivizes skew-additive trades.
Markets are balanced by taxing the majority side and paying the minority side using a funding rate. As real estate indexes are not very volatile, Parcl includes a margin system that allows users to add leverage to their positions. Margin accounts are allowed up to 12 positions. Parcl’s protocol also involves price impact which is scaled linearly to disincentivize skew-increasing trades by adding a price premium to skew-increasing trades while giving a discount to skew-reducing trades.
Real estate investing is something that few young people have exposure to in their portfolios. Additionally, even if some people have views on the real estate market, there are few products other than REITs to express views on the market. Parcl brings real estate investing to everyone and makes it easy to express your opinions on global housing markets.
My trade is long the Chicago market with max leverage, which has a higher efficiency in earnings Parcl rewards points for their upcoming airdrop of the $PRCL token than providing LP. To multiply your earnings rates, Parcl also has the HOA NFT collection, which boosts points earned by 20% for the first, and 5% for each after that.
Conclusion
In the realm of real world assets, Parcl expands the pie by introducing a seamless and accessible way to gain exposure to real estate markets.
Through the index based protocol, Parcl works around awkwardness of fractional home ownership and provides consistent and reliable beta to real estate markets on the blockchain.
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