Quote:
Originally Posted by W///
Lessons learned so far:
- While there's a gap of only $300 a month, there are other expenses of course that push that gap to a quite a bit more than I expected. Nothing insane, but still worth noting (ie heating and cooling 2050 vs 1100 sq ft)
- Yard work takes a long time, and sucks during South Carolina heat
- Luckily no big repairs yet, but I know it's an older house and that's always in the back of your mind
- Rightly or wrongly, I don't look at the house as an investment. This is a place where I belong, having moved around a lot most of my childhood life. So I didn't plan it to buy it to sell it in 8 years to move to a bigger house. I think it has everything I need to be here for years to come
- It takes me forever to start and finish a project (same with my cars actually). For example, if I start painting a room, it'll take me a few weeks because I only feel like working on it during weekends. And that's ok.
Do I have any regrets with the move? Not at all. I love the privacy I have, my dogs are much happier since we went went from an apartment on the 3rd floor to a house with a big back yard and the garage situation is pretty damn amazing. While I completely get the flexibility of renting and moving around, for me, it was the exact opposite for me.
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I like your list of things learned.
AC goes out? There's $15k. Need a new roof? $20-30k. Want to remodel it to something other than the home equivalent of a mullet and jean shorts? There's $150k.
Have I gotten to $200k yet? Oh maybe if you want to actually have hardscaping, haha.
People need different things in life. Some people like the freedom of movement and don't need space so a studio payment with a nice car satisfies them.
Some people want a yard and space.
As much as I want to be an outdoor kitchen kind of guy, I don't ever care to sit outside and eat.
I think I need more money so I can get a studio in a nice area and live their when my personality flips to that "downsize" life.
Seems like day by day I want something different.