I rent in California, just outside of San Francisco (about 45 mins north)...so, yes and no?
It's expensive, $2750 for a three-bed, two-bath home that I share with two other people. And that's actually somewhat affordable, if you can believe it.
But I like the area, and the home owner I rent from leaves us alone and hasn't increased rent on us every year. I've actually been here for like 10 years at this point.
Still...I'd love to own my own place at some point. Hopefully sooner rather than later. All my family is in the area, and renting just seems like such a drain. But they don't really sell studios to live in, and a modest, older home around here would set me back about $750k and I'm not affording that on a single man's salary of 80k a year.
My goal at some point is to find an affordable three-bed, two-bath home and then rent it out to the point where the two roommates essentially pay my mortgage which, with a large enough of a down payment, is mostly realistic. The issue is I'd have to dip into my retirement (it's one of the few things you can take money out of your 401k for without penalty) to do that down payment.
Also, I'm single...no kids, don't want any...do I really need to own a home? Actually what you folks think of that? Genuinely curious.
Log in to comment