how much is privacy really worth?

alyssalowe · June 2010

so this weekend we are packing up and moving. to where i do not know. lol. we have to wait till sunday to find out if the couple we are interested in renting the home from will accept 1/2 the deposit this month and 1/2 next month on top of our rent. in our area it is typical to pay 1000 a month for a home to rent and anywhere from 550-750 to rent an apt. we found a home for 700 a month with average utility bills matching the apartment. it basically boils down to us spending 200 more a month to live in a home rather then an apartment.

so ladies, do you think i will get over spending an extra 2,400 in a year for the privacy of our own home then sharing walls with neighbors? is the privacy worth it? im so cheap (ill admit it) its a very hard decision to me... please let me know if you think its worth it or if we should suck it up and live in an apt another year...

psuxray07 · June 2010

Well it's really if you can afford it...but to me, it is so worth it. Apartments around here are about what you said, and even more! We were looking a couple yrs ago when we moved into the area, and it was like $800+ for an apt. the size of our kitchen and living room combined.

We have a cat and a dog, so tiny place is a NO. Do you have pets? We got really lucky, a house out in the country, with 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom a huge kitchen, nice living room, full basement (not finished), nice yard, close to all surrounding towns, for only $750/mo!!! Again, to me, it's really worth it...we love it here. Only thing is we're looking to buy a house soon and we feel we can't "downsize" from it, and houses this size are usually a "nice" price.

So again, it falls on will it hurt you, or will you be ok with it?

alyssalowe · June 2010

We can afford both ways, I guess I forgot to add in additional costs in an apt for our cats. So it does make the difference a little less. The apts that are in the 550 range are all one bedroom and small. We could get used to it but would have to get rid or store our second bedoom set and some other furniture to fit. The house has 3 smaller bedrooms HUGE living room, seperate dining room and redone kitching and very large unfinished basement and a sorta tiny single bathroom. I think we are gunna try for the house I wish we had longer to look for a great deal though. 700 isnt bad but there is always better. lol. thats just how i am. just wondering how others feel about the privacy cost...

cschuma2 · June 2010

Have you looked into purchasing a home? I thought it was totally out of the question until BIL bought a house and we realized that we could afford one too. We have a 3 bedroom house that was move-in ready. There are updates we would like to do in the future, but nothing urgent. It is still within the city limits, but we are not in the city school system and are in a different (and much better) school system. Our house payment, taxes, and insurance are only about $100 more per month than we were paying for a 1 bedroom apartment.

Obviously this will vary from area to area, but this may be something to look into also?

alyssalowe · June 2010

Yea we are planning on doing that next year after we have straightened out some previous debt/credit scores. I want to finish paying off both our cars and school debt and such before we do that, plus after the wedding we are thinking we should be out of all debt and have some good savings and then we would have a down payment. In the area we live homes are sorta expensive as we live by a lot of lakes and turisty areas so we are keeping an eye out, the awesome thing is the home people would let us out of a lease as long as they find an approved person to move in.

debdebdol · June 2010

OMG...we just rented a studio out in the country for $950 incl utilities and that is a bargain. On average apartments here are at least $1,000 not including utilities. I like our studio, it is out in the country and very quiet compared to living in the city.

If you can afford it I would opt for the house rather than the apt.

psuxray07 · June 2010

Well 700 is an awesome deal for a house, if you ask me lol. And yes, the privacy is very worth it. We barely see neighbors (not that there are many that close by lol). And not that we're loud or anything, but you don't have to worry about complaining, etc...

My aunt lived in an apartment and the guy below her complained that he could hear the cat running around upstairs...seriously?? lol It can save you a bunch of stress.

alyssalowe · June 2010

we were apt managers this last year so we had NO privacy, people would come get us at 2am if they were upset about their neighbors or whatever they wanted. we thought if we werent managers we would feel like we had more privacy even if it was an apt but we havent lived in apts other then being the managers. so idk even how an typical apt was. no one said anything about us but im sure it was because of our position. i know all to well about stupid complaints though. hmmm. im leaning more and more to a home. all our friends are in apts or condos so none of them could give an opinion...

soontobeschooley · June 2010

I would definately want the house. More room, more privacy. And the fact that you can afford it is great.

glam70s · June 2010

It was totally worth it for us. We lived in a townhouse and had people below us (basement apt), behind us, and on both sides. We weren't allowed to do anything with our yard and the condo board and neighbours drove us nuts. I also had a large dog and a parrot, neither of which are quiet, so I felt bad about what I was doing to my neighbours as well.

Apartments/townhouses here are very expensive as well - 1 bdrm apts go for $1000 and up plus utilities, and we were paying $1500+ for the townhouse (even though we didn't get the basement!).. $700 for a house would be amazing!

I was SO ecstatic when we bought our house.. It's actually slightly cheaper than the townhouse and there's just no comparison in terms of privacy, freedom, and control..

jenn.daniel · June 2010

It sounds like the the cost difference would be even smaller than you indicated since you'd have to rent storage space for your extra stuff if you went with a cheaper apt. So I'd probably go with the house, assuming it has a washer and drier. IMO that's a must!

aummer1987 · June 2010

At the moment I live in a less than 400 square foot apartment with neighbors on every side - we pay almost 700 a month for our apartment, and this is the best deal in town! Where we live is provided and subsidised by the company we both work for as rent here is ASTRINOMICAL 1200 a month for an apartment not much bigger than mine not including any utilities. anyway where i was going with that was if we could afford to move into a house with privacy, less neighbors and more space I would jump at it and as the PP said don't forget to factor in the cost of the storage unit for your other things as well those can get very expensive good luck and happy moving(if there is such a thing)

vegasgroom · June 2010

Just an opinion, but spending more on 'rent' does not make sense unless you are just not able to comfortably live with the lower cost less room option. The less you spend on rent, the less money you're effectively throwing in the garbage. I'd do everything possible to tolerate the less optimal apartment, put the money you save towards either existing debt or preferably saving for a down payment on owning a house, then execute that as soon as you can. Keep in mind if you don't have 20% down you usually get screwed into paying some ridiculous mortgage insurance that often includes a clause that you can't get rid of it for several years even if you do pay your loan down to below 80%, so starting out with a 20% down payment may be quite important, you move in, now your money may be going towards interest but it's your house and you're paying down a loan on something you own rather than giving someone else your hard earned money.

how much is privacy really worth?

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