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This is a fine argument for simplifying your life, but it is not a good economic argument. Hotels are expensive. Rental cars and Uber are expensive. If you e

This is a fine argument for simplifying your life, but it is not a good economic argument. Hotels are expensive. Rental cars and Uber are expensive. If you even take a few Uber trips a month, you're probably better off owning an affordable car. If you have visitors regularly, you should probably buy a house with that extra bedroom. It's an asset that you can sell and recoup virtually 100% of your investment later on. You can't sell all the hotel rooms you've previously rented. Having a yard turned out to be a fantastic thing to own this year since parks were all forced closed. Trust that you will always have access to that local green space (and that it will be safe and accessible) turned out to be misplaced.

boojing 6y ago
Parking can be expensive
leetcrew 6y ago
> If you have visitors regularly, you should probably buy a house with that extra bedroom. It's an asset that you can sell and recoup virtually 100% of your investment later on. You can't sell all the hotel rooms you've previously rented. if you're buying a house, it probably makes sense to get one more room than you typically need. like you say, it's likely that you recoup the cost at the end anyway. if you're renting, it's a little different. a decent hotel room is $100-200 a night in most cities. that's not cheap, but having one extra bedroom probably adds at least that much to your monthly rent. I argued in a different post that a hotel room isn't necessarily a substitute for a spare room. it's a much less intimate way to entertain visitors. depending on the guest, that could be a pro or a con.
- topkai22 6y ago
  A hotel room also isn’t a substitute because it can’t be used as flex space. The pandemic has many of us wishing for dedicated home office space, an extra room serves that purpose. It can also serve as a home gym and hobby project space, sometimes all at once.
albedoa 6y ago
> If you even take a few Uber trips a month, you're probably better off owning an affordable car. My wife and I live in the city and downsized from two cars to zero after doing the math last year. Granted your definition of "a few" might be different from mine, but it takes way more than my definition of a few rides to break even. If you ask someone to itemize the costs of car ownership, they tend to miss or underestimate a few. The big ones are insurance and depreciation. I am confident that my total rideshare costs over the past year are less than just the difference between my city insurance premium and my suburb premium on the same used car, and my record is spotless. The math is surprising. (Any cost of ownership estimate or calculator I share here can be reasonably challenged, so try it with your own numbers.) This isn't to speak of the other costs and risks of non-ownership. Every situation is different. We are lucky to have subsidized public transportation passes, corporate discounts on rentals, walkable commutes, grocery stores in every direction, etc.
- BeetleB 6y ago
  > If you ask someone to itemize the costs of car ownership, they tend to miss or underestimate a few. The big ones are insurance and depreciation. I am confident that my total rideshare costs over the past year are less than just the difference between my city insurance premium and my suburb premium on the same used car, and my record is spotless. The math is surprising. I did this exact analysis on my car some years ago, after 5 years of ownership. I took into account all repairs/maintenance, purchase price, depreciation, insurance, gas, city fees and parking (yes, I keep track of all those expenses). It came out to $288.77/month. In reality, it was a bit less, given that 2 years later someone wrecked my car and their insurance paid more than it was worth (with no major repairs in those 2 years). I then bought a much, much cheaper used car (about same value as my old one when it was wrecked), so the cost would be significantly less what I show above ($100 out of that $288.77 was just depreciation). Depreciation seems to be the major cost, and my car was fairly used (8 years old when I bought it, but low on miles). Don't buy a used car for more than $10K - mine was less and you can still see the amount of depreciation! A lot of people think they're beating the game by buying a 2-3 year old used car, but the depreciation will still be really high. Of course, you can get good cars for under $4K, but it may be risky to go long distance in those. Of course, the other trick is to get a reliable car. Pick only models with good histories (buy the Consumer Reports guide as one reference for this), and do a buyer's check before buying it. If you go to a used car lot and they don't let you do that check, then refuse to buy it.

boojing 6y ago

Parking can be expensive

leetcrew 6y ago

> If you have visitors regularly, you should probably buy a house with that extra bedroom. It's an asset that you can sell and recoup virtually 100% of your investment later on. You can't sell all the hotel rooms you've previously rented. if you're buying a house, it probably makes sense to get one more room than you typically need. like you say, it's likely that you recoup the cost at the end anyway. if you're renting, it's a little different. a decent hotel room is $100-200 a night in most cities. that's not cheap, but having one extra bedroom probably adds at least that much to your monthly rent. I argued in a different post that a hotel room isn't necessarily a substitute for a spare room. it's a much less intimate way to entertain visitors. depending on the guest, that could be a pro or a con.

topkai22 6y ago
A hotel room also isn’t a substitute because it can’t be used as flex space. The pandemic has many of us wishing for dedicated home office space, an extra room serves that purpose. It can also serve as a home gym and hobby project space, sometimes all at once.

albedoa 6y ago

> If you even take a few Uber trips a month, you're probably better off owning an affordable car. My wife and I live in the city and downsized from two cars to zero after doing the math last year. Granted your definition of "a few" might be different from mine, but it takes way more than my definition of a few rides to break even. If you ask someone to itemize the costs of car ownership, they tend to miss or underestimate a few. The big ones are insurance and depreciation. I am confident that my total rideshare costs over the past year are less than just the difference between my city insurance premium and my suburb premium on the same used car, and my record is spotless. The math is surprising. (Any cost of ownership estimate or calculator I share here can be reasonably challenged, so try it with your own numbers.) This isn't to speak of the other costs and risks of non-ownership. Every situation is different. We are lucky to have subsidized public transportation passes, corporate discounts on rentals, walkable commutes, grocery stores in every direction, etc.

BeetleB 6y ago
> If you ask someone to itemize the costs of car ownership, they tend to miss or underestimate a few. The big ones are insurance and depreciation. I am confident that my total rideshare costs over the past year are less than just the difference between my city insurance premium and my suburb premium on the same used car, and my record is spotless. The math is surprising. I did this exact analysis on my car some years ago, after 5 years of ownership. I took into account all repairs/maintenance, purchase price, depreciation, insurance, gas, city fees and parking (yes, I keep track of all those expenses). It came out to $288.77/month. In reality, it was a bit less, given that 2 years later someone wrecked my car and their insurance paid more than it was worth (with no major repairs in those 2 years). I then bought a much, much cheaper used car (about same value as my old one when it was wrecked), so the cost would be significantly less what I show above ($100 out of that $288.77 was just depreciation). Depreciation seems to be the major cost, and my car was fairly used (8 years old when I bought it, but low on miles). Don't buy a used car for more than $10K - mine was less and you can still see the amount of depreciation! A lot of people think they're beating the game by buying a 2-3 year old used car, but the depreciation will still be really high. Of course, you can get good cars for under $4K, but it may be risky to go long distance in those. Of course, the other trick is to get a reliable car. Pick only models with good histories (buy the Consumer Reports guide as one reference for this), and do a buyer's check before buying it. If you go to a used car lot and they don't let you do that check, then refuse to buy it.