My partner and I live on the west coast and both work high paying jobs, which will forever now be virtual.
3 years ago we moved into a decent townhouse where the rent is about 6% of our overall combined pre-tax income. Now over the last 3 years, the area around us has grown considerably - more townhouses right on top of us and a huge apartment building. I'd guess at least 30 more families live within 100ft radius. Now this would be fine, except we have had consistent issues with our neighbors not respecting our personal space, being loud, and just generally people being scum bags. I think this was compounded by COVID since many of these folks were out of work and just staying at home.
In a stroke of luck, I found a beautiful condo renting in a different part of town which is much, much nicer. It is top floor and there are no shared walls; the interior and appliances were recently updated; we could each have a designated office space that is not our personal bedroom or living room; there are TWO GARAGE spaces included with rent. This rent and estimated utilities would be ~15% our combined pre-tax income. It's updated and overall would be a major lifestyle boost compared to our current rental.
My partner does not want to move to a new apartment due to how cheap our current rent is, but would consider buying a house after 1 more year in our current apartment. While I think that's great, we just couldn't get into a nice house for 15% of our pre-tax income. While the dollar amount seems large on paper, the housing market in our city is ridiculous right now.
Is it stupid to increase rent costs solely for mental health?
General info:
We are both heavy, heavy savers. We probably each save 55-65% of our respective incomes per year and have made wise investments.
No car loans, student debt, or other outstanding debts.
We are not married.
We have no children or pets.
Submitted May 23, 2021 at 06:21PM by GalvanicCouple https://ift.tt/3unol5f
