I read about a Google employee that bought a large truck, outfitted the back of it with some amenities, and parked in the Google parking lot. There was the initial outlay for the truck, and whatever he put in it, but then he lived for almost free.
i saw that to…he bought a used box truck…think 6 wheels and lived in it…
You Tube is full of people living i vans, motor homes and cars…
check out Creativity RV, and Nikki Delventhal for examples…
PSUEngineer analyzes,
<<To repeat: I’m not suggesting that anyone buy a smaller, less luxurious home than they’d like. Just that it makes to do a “rent vs buy calculation” to inform your real estate decisions.>>
I have lived in apartments and hated that lifestyle. Therefore, for me, running a rent vs buy analysis is a useless task. My calculation is buy small, buy older, buy larger, or combination of those factors. Also good school district or not and distance of commute to work. Renting is never part of the housing calculation.
Who says you need to live in an apartment? In every city I’ve ever lived in there are single-family homes on lots of various sizes available for rent.
The real estate and banking industry has trained you well.
intercst
A mortgage (if you do it sensibly) is long term, fixed rate, tax advantaged, and non-callable. Give me those terms and I absolutely would borrow to buy an S&P 500 index fund.
Then you should be doing a cash out refinance and investing the proceeds.
Except that the interest on the cash-out portion of a cash-out refinance is not deductible under current tax law.
Ira
HOA fees, and maintenance inside the condo which would be covered by the landlord in a rental apartment.
Depends on where you live. When we had a short less than 5 year stop in N NJ, we rented. Rentals were so in demand that the tenant paid not only the HOA, but the one month Realtor fee.
IP
Who says you need to live in an apartment? In every city I’ve ever lived in there are single-family homes on lots of various sizes available for rent.
The real estate and banking industry has trained you well.
Because moving sucks. For a single guy who can probably put all his belongings in the trunk of his car, you may not understand this. How many rental homes are long term rentals? I just moved from my previous house of 23 years. Chances are slim I would have found a rental that long. Also I had control over the house, not a landlord.
I always find it funny that if someone doesn’t agree with you, they are trained well by some industry. You are quite full of yourself who thinks anyone who lives differently is brainwashed by some external entity. Your lifestyle is the only correct one.
PSU
“Who says you need to live in an apartment? In every city I’ve ever lived in there are single-family homes on lots of various sizes available for rent.”
Around here, a one bedroom might go for $1100-1700 a month. Houses now rent for $3500 and up, plus you’ll pay the much bigger utility bills for the house and likely have to cut the grass, shovel the snow, etc.
All that done at an apartment - and your utility bills will typically be smaller.
There’s nothing to say you can stay in that home more than a year or two - it might change hands
t.
I always find it funny that if someone doesn’t agree with you, they are trained well by some industry.
I’m not talking about “you” specifically.
If you’ve read anything on Behavioral Economics, you’ll find that Americans have been taught from birth (from parents and savvy marketers) to do all kinds of things that don’t make financial sense.
And then there’s the stuff that’s hardwired into our brains. Like the rat video I posted a few day’s ago. (i.e., the rats quickly discerned that pushing button #2 would give them the most food over time and had an 80% success rate. Humans kept pushing button #1 like it was a slot machine ready to pay out and netted a 68% success rate.)
Rat test is 10 minutes into the video.
https://youtu.be/5eW6Eagr9XA
It takes deliberate practice to overcome these behavioral biases, but the result is an easier, more profitable life.
Think Fast, Think Slow
by Danial Kahneman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow
intercst
I’m not talking about “you” specifically.
Really? Even though you replied to my post and said “trained you well”.
PSU