Can't return a house

Not that I could ever afford to buy a house here in the San Francisco Bay Area. But, if I were hypothetically able to, it’s kind of a crap shoot, isn’t it? I’m talking about one thing you cannot change after you’ve bought a house: bad neighbors.

Buying a house in a supposedly “good neighborhood” is no guarantee of good neighbors either. Sure you may not have to content with the constant loud music and occasional robbery shooting. But maybe your new neighbor next door runs a wood-working shop out of his garage. Good luck concentrating with that ruckus whilst trying to work from home. Because you do work from home, right? Who can afford a house around here without a remote software engineering job anyways.

That’s why I am a fan of renting (and not just because I can’t afford a house). The longest I would be ever stuck with a crappy situation is one year. Heck, if it’s truly unbearable, I’d have no problem paying to break the lease and get out of there. You simply cannot do that with a 30-year mortgage! Call up the bank and be like: “Yeah, I would like to return this house…”

It’s too bad you can’t test-live a home. Move in for a month, and if your neighbors happens to be from hell, you have an escape clause.

I actually like the idea of homeowner associations. There’s a clear set of agreeable rules that every homeowner in that subdivision has to abide by. If Jacob next door likes to practice guitar late into the morning, a polite email to the HOA will take care of that quickly. HOA takes care of any potential bad neighbors anxiety because the rules are typically what a civilized society should be: don’t intrude on others.

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Green greetings.

At least you have one!

I have a coworker who maintains miserly tendencies, even though he makes around the same money as everyone else in the office. His problem? He is what we would call “house poor.” Too much of him and his wife’s income go towards servicing the mortgage. But hey, at least he got in when the interest rates were low, and houses weren’t all above one million dollars around here. Imagine paying 7% on a 30-year loan! You can buy a whole other house in the midwest with the combined interest payments.

And at least the coworker has a house! I on the other hand have zero allusions about home ownership. There’s no way I can afford one on my salary, unless I meet a partner who makes vastly more than I do (and I make above the U.S. median household income already). If the potential partner makes around the same as me, we would be house poor just like my coworker and his wife. Definitely not a situation I want to dig myself into for 30 years.

For my lonesome, renting continuously is absolutely fine with me. I like the flexibility and optionality of not being tied down to the place (not that I plan to move from my current situation anytime soon). Renting prevents me from accumulating too much material things, because moving it all to the next location would be a huge chore. I’ve already made the decision to donate most of my books before I move next time. Everybody knows how much I read, no need to a have shelves full of books to show for vanity points.

While I may not be house poor, but I’m definitely car poor, and have been ever since I started making enough money to buy my own. A huge chunk of my income have always gone towards paying for and servicing the ownership of a car. But unlike my coworker who seem rather miserable in being house poor, I’m absolutely fine with spending money on cars. Because it’s the great passion of mine since I was young.

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친한친구.

Movie rentals

I’ve been an Amazon Prime subscriber probably since inception. Back then they offered discounts for college students, something like 50 bucks a year for free two-day shipping. Obviously nowadays it’s far more expensive - $139 annual - and I’m no longer in college.

With the accompanying Chase Amazon Prime card giving me 5% cash back on purchases at both Amazon and Whole Foods (there’s one a few blocks from where I live), I make back that annual fee in no time. The card also gets you 2% cash back at gas stations, which is lovely. Last year I got back over $300, which is more than comfortable enough to continue my Prime membership.

There are times I really don’t need to receive an item in two days or less. Amazon gives me the option to forgo the standard two-day shipping. In return, it gives me a dollar or two of digital spending credits. What I do with those credits is rent movies on Prime video. Often times that rental comes out to be free. It’s how I’ve been watching movies at home for quite some time now.

I can’t remember the last time I actually bought a movie. With mountain of books taking up shelf space, I don’t have any left for Blu-ray discs and DVDs. Besides, I’m not the type of person to watch movies a second time, so physical copies of movies would literally be decoration after the first watch. This is why I rent digital versions as well, instead of purchasing outright.

Besides, whatever is stored on Amazon servers doesn’t really belong to me, does it? Who do I make a claim with if those servers go down? Do I get mailed a copy of all my digital purchases on a hard-drive?

(Often free) renting movies is the way to go for me.

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On the bow.

The American dream

Yesterday I was chatting with an acquaintance at work. The topic came to the huge amounts of money I’ve spent on cars. The guy’s traditional Chinese sensibilities went straight to: why not buy a house instead? Such a massive waste of money switching cars every few years (especially considering what I’ve bought in recent times). It makes far better financial sense to put it towards a house I can live in, instead of paying rent, which is what I’m doing now.

Well, at least that’s what that acquaintance thinks.

I obviously disagree. Purchasing a home is not for everyone, no matter how much the “American dream” is drilled into us. Renting a place is not throwing money away, or paying another person’s mortgage. Whether buy or rent, the mechanism is no different: exchanging hard earned cash for a roof over the head. To say buying is automatically superior to renting for any individual is kind of absurd.

What about the upkeep of a home that you as the homeowner is responsible for? If the main house drain is clogged up, I just have to call the landlord. It’s the landlord who has to stress about fixing it (rather quickly, too: I’m paying money for a functioning unit, after all). For me, renting is far less stressful, and that is worth any money I’m perceived to be “throwing away”.

Besides, who the heck can afford a house in San Francisco on a public worker’s salary anyways.

I can’t refute that my spending habit on cars is incredibly wasteful. But I love cars; what’s the point of making money if you’re not going to spend some of it on frivolous things that bring you joy (shoutout to Marie Condo)? I said to that acquaintance: the thing about money is, you can always make more.

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The best view of a workday.