Reply to Validate my view that long-term renting is a valid lifestyle choice

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[quote=Anonymous]I spent my late 20s and early 30s living in an expensive apartment downtown. I loved it for that era of my life, but it wasn't sustainable. The rent kept going up. I couldn't afford to leave a job that largely kept me away from home. The place was flashy and great for parties. Everyone was super impressed, but I eventually concluded that I was throwing money away and that it was not worth living on a treadmill. I had spent a long time paying more than 35% of my salary on rent and in the end had little to show for it, other than some memories of awesome parties.

My spouse and I bought a modest house 10 years ago (for about $400K) in an area not known for being a good school district (but with a reasonable commute to our workplaces in downtown DC) and paid it off a couple of years ago. We had a kid. We have a big backyard for DC to play in and we live in a close-knit community, surrounded by other families with kids. We make about $300K combined, for perspective (I'd guess that most of the families in the neighborhood that we socialize with make about half to 2/3rds of that). Although our house isn't as large and fancy as many of our colleagues' houses and I occasionally wish we had a better space to host political fundraisers, those are fine tradeoffs for having all our other financial goals within reach (early and well-funded retirement, private school and robust 529 for our kid, international vacations, newish cars, ability to switch jobs and/or take time off if we wanted to, etc.). I know we're not rich by DC standards, but we "feel" rich.

Obviously continuing to rent is a valid lifestyle choice, depending on what you prioritize in life, but the prospect of spending the 15-20 years of not paying a mortgage or rent before retirement fills me with joy. My friends who still rent (but also, my friends who are house poor), complain about the things they can't afford and often seem to feel squeezed in a way that I remember once feeling. The private school forum is filled with people complaining about how the middle class and even the upper middle class is priced out of private schools.

You do you, but I'm really glad I no longer rent.[/quote]

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