We've been incredibly lucky with our three homes -- starting with a refurbished crack apartment in Seattle back in the early 90s. That went up enough that we were able to eventually buy a somewhat better place in the more affordable Tacoma area. And that in turn allowed us to finally buy a much nicer house in a much nicer neighborhood in Seattle, which we sold six years ago when we became nomads.
We're finally talking about maybe buying a place, but it will definitely be in an affordable part of Spain or Italy. Have no intention of being house rich/life poor.
I appreciate the comment. Definitely was a different time for buying a house when you first started. Next month we'll be in this affordable parts of Spain and Italy. I'll put in an offer for you!
I look forward to seeing what you find. And in terms of home buying -- and college -- I feel terrible for our younger friends and nomad friends. I don't know how they end up financially secure, at least not without leaving the U.S.
Exactly. I could have bought a place in Buffalo in 2006-ish. I could have stretched to buy a place in San Francisco in 1999-2000. Fast forward to today and the neighborhood I considered in Buffalo would be close to a stretch and, obviously, San Francisco has become impossible.
Resetting expectations and seriously considering a big move are really the two main themes for many people now. Thus this newsletter!
Which has a lot of good advice. I especially like the part about moving somewhere affordable to get started. We've got some younger family who want to live in the heart of Seattle NOW in a place they REALLY like.
They don't like hearing me talk about living in our first very crappy ground floor condo unit with a bus stop right outside for almost five years.
But most do get it. And like I said, with school costs on top of everything, it's also much harder for many of them now.
Exactly. It can be done. The thing is it is much easier to do it in Buffalo over Seattle or Pittsburgh over Los Angeles. But are you willing to - or should you even - move to these places just to become a homeowner? Big question. No one answer. Then there's Spain (or wherever) over the U.S. and all that that entails.
Life behind the paywall here is great. Really looking forward to the coming posts from abroad.
Thank you so much. Really appreciate it, Vicki.
We've been incredibly lucky with our three homes -- starting with a refurbished crack apartment in Seattle back in the early 90s. That went up enough that we were able to eventually buy a somewhat better place in the more affordable Tacoma area. And that in turn allowed us to finally buy a much nicer house in a much nicer neighborhood in Seattle, which we sold six years ago when we became nomads.
We're finally talking about maybe buying a place, but it will definitely be in an affordable part of Spain or Italy. Have no intention of being house rich/life poor.
I appreciate the comment. Definitely was a different time for buying a house when you first started. Next month we'll be in this affordable parts of Spain and Italy. I'll put in an offer for you!
I look forward to seeing what you find. And in terms of home buying -- and college -- I feel terrible for our younger friends and nomad friends. I don't know how they end up financially secure, at least not without leaving the U.S.
Exactly. I could have bought a place in Buffalo in 2006-ish. I could have stretched to buy a place in San Francisco in 1999-2000. Fast forward to today and the neighborhood I considered in Buffalo would be close to a stretch and, obviously, San Francisco has become impossible.
Resetting expectations and seriously considering a big move are really the two main themes for many people now. Thus this newsletter!
Which has a lot of good advice. I especially like the part about moving somewhere affordable to get started. We've got some younger family who want to live in the heart of Seattle NOW in a place they REALLY like.
They don't like hearing me talk about living in our first very crappy ground floor condo unit with a bus stop right outside for almost five years.
But most do get it. And like I said, with school costs on top of everything, it's also much harder for many of them now.
Exactly. It can be done. The thing is it is much easier to do it in Buffalo over Seattle or Pittsburgh over Los Angeles. But are you willing to - or should you even - move to these places just to become a homeowner? Big question. No one answer. Then there's Spain (or wherever) over the U.S. and all that that entails.
Different times. Which is actually fine by me.