Hi, so I'm 25, don't make a ton of money (~30k$/year) but through a series of fortunate events (inheritance + crazy luck in stocks) I currently have ~80k$. I have no debt and the only monthly expense I have is rent and utilities for my stupid overpriced studio in a trendy area that's running me about 1500$/month. In the past year, building wealth has become the most important thing to me, so I'll be moving out of my studio next month, finally asked my boss for a raise(still waiting on a response), and will be starting a local master's program in engineering in the fall.
I've been stressing about what my new living situation should be. My girlfriend wants us to move into a bigger apartment for roughly the same price, which simply seems like a waste of money. We need a place to live for the next three years while we finish school, and three years of rent at 1500$/month comes to over 50k in rent that would be flushed down the drain. I've been looking into small condos so I could at least start building equity instead of setting my money on fire with rent, but that would tie up a huge portion of my money due to the high cost of living of my area. Down payment aside, the mortgage payments on the cheapest condo I could find would eat up the majority of my current paycheck. I would really like to leave a lot of money in the VT index fund and make large monthly contributions to it so I can really let compound interest start working for me.
While looking for places to live I came across a mobile home in a trailer park that's only 20 minutes from my work and 15 minutes from the school I'd be attending. It's like a third of the cost of a condo, so the down payment on it would be hardly anything, and the mortgage payments would be an easy 850$/month. I brushed the idea off as being ridiculous, but I looked at photos of the place and it honestly seems...pretty nice. Marble counter tops, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, one with a double sink. A comfortable living room and the kitchen even has an island. The trailer was actually just built last year. I looked at photos of the surrounding area and yea it's in a trailer park which is obviously not the trendiest place to be, but the more I think about it, the more the idea is growing on me. I mean I could have, for all intents and purposes, a two bedroom two bathroom house with a driveway and I'd be paying a fraction of the cost in living expenses compared to an apartment AND I'd be able to sell it in a few years once I'm done with school and have a better job. The only arguments I've read against it is that mobile homes don't appreciate in value the way that homes do because mobile homes deteriorate in ways regular houses do not. But, again, if I only live there for a few years then the trailer would still be only a few years old when I sell it, so I feel like I'd have a good shot at getting back what I put into it. Thoughts on all this?
Submitted June 07, 2021 at 01:09AM by Shamamblers https://ift.tt/3z8Tf4z
