Choose only one to have: house or car

[bagabum]

If I ever have to live  "exist" in a car,  something went seriously wrong in my life. It is something I would do if I was forced into that situation to survive day by day, like some have had to do, but its not lifestyle I set my goal in life to accomplish.

 

[bagabum]

I see more and more of these manufactured "Day Cabins" being delivered around where I live.  

Two of these were delivered down the street a year ago, they chose the plan with the porch inset on the side, they framed it out as 3 bedrooms / 1 bath. One came out very nice, haven't seen the other, they were both 16x50, that s 800 sqft! They put central air and heat in it but I think I would have just gone with a heat pump window unit of about 12000 Btu>>> ( insulation quality) nice input edj!

 

[eDJ_]

I took photos today of a couple of these "Day Cabins"  in my neighborhood.   In the town where I grew up there are still a few of those original   "shotgun houses"   built after WW1 for the returning Vet's.  They are very much like these manufactured  "Day Cabins"  we're talking about here except they were built on site as homes and the interior was finished.

There are images of these online and floor plans too

Elvis Presley grew up in one of these shotgun houses.

I still think these may become popular again as the trend grows with so many people staying single and wanting a more minimal life.   When we are done being Nomads that is.



[img=631x376]https://averyreview.com/content/3-issues/37-37/1-lowliest-type/caldwell-01.jpg[/img]

Elvis Presley's  boyhood home.  He had wanted a .22 caliber rifle but his mom bought him a guitar
instead.


[img=585x390]https://assets.atlasobscura.com/med...SA4MSAtYXV0by1vcmllbnQiXV0/IMG_5578.JPG[/img]

 

[HappyLife1977]

Vehicle over house. Lifetime of bad experience with houses, dreams gone up in smoke, father lost a house he built himself in the mid fifties because he was one day late in paying taxes. One. Day. Maternal uncle worked all his life and died six months into late retirement to finance a 4 bedroom house my cousin almost immediately sold for dope the minute my aunt went into a nursing home. You are either renting from a land lord
who is using you for a cash cow, or renting from the IRS. Lots of people buy land and leave it as is and use it like a pile of gold. The land is worth more than the house. A lot of housing appears to be on hundred year leased land in some places. Who gets the house when the lease runs out, i wonder? Never been bothered to find out. Renting out a house and hitting the road? Unless you've rented to super good people or relatives you can trust, the bills will start and the damage cost the rent. You've also taken on the emotional bs of people falling into debt and begging for one more month to pay the rent, the house bei g seized for criminal activity, etc.
Hubby and I planned from age 18 to hit the road and live the good life when work was done. Back then our dream was a nice RV. Now it's a self converted moving van! When people try to jam us 'into housing' we fight like wildcats.

 

[IGBT]

Sorry but I have to hear more about the story of your father losing a house after being one day late on taxes.   Which state was that so I can avoid it?   Most places you have to be behind in taxes a year or three before they put a tax lien on it and start sending you nasty letters.

 

[bullfrog]

I've said it many times here but even paying taxes won't protect you from having someone take your land if you leave it unattended. Learned this the hard way while trying to help my uncle who had land in Ohio. Courts awarded title to the land to a local development company that neighbored his property when they "absorbed" his property, subdivided it and built a house smack dab in the middle of it. We will probably never even get back all the taxes that he paid for 40 years. Up to the day the court ruled they had been paid by my uncle yearly when the the bill was received and were current.

 

[wayne49]

Housing in a nice pleasant semi urban area with decent public transportation and walk to shopping could work. Weekends with a backpack and a tent on a train or bus to go back home to the woods.

Otherwise, a Class C, or a cargo van, on "off the beaten path" BLM or USFS land.

 

[vanbrat]

It is dependent on each person, and each persons wants and needs.

We are very happy with our home and we worked damn hard to get here. Almost lost it once or twice. But we kept it. Now we are living in it pretty easy as we got a good reverse mortgage. And we can now afford to stay put until we can't take care of it anymore. We will also have enough money to do a few of the things we want. Including cars we want and some traveling. As long as we can keep it up then it is still gaining equity for us at a rate that is bigger then the mortgage is growing. I guess those 12-15 hour days are now behind us. Time for some fun.

If I had to chose, I think I would chose house, cars as we all know need to be kept running too and while I sometimes envy you all just up and moving around where ever and when ever. I like my sewing room and really like my wood stove in winter and I like that my family is around. Not that we are right now seeing them as much as we used to. I still like to be able to at a moments notice go to sons, nieces and etc.
I like 80% of my neighbors, (the other 20% we pretend aren't there). I know we are very fortunate for all this. But still, I do envy all you nomads, specially when the walls are closing in on me mid winter.

I just like my creature comforts to much. Thank god I don't have to chose.

 

[Gypsy108]

I could care less about traveling & adventure... it was once something I loved... but being that my life has been like a gypsy & erratic... leaving relationships and starting over & over & over again... I would be happiest having stability.... is it a stable life living on the road ?   If I had lots of money it would be...I want a peaceful life at my age now... tired of hardships

I have never owned my own home
I’ve owned plenty of cars...

 

[Camper]

I choose land over any vehicle.

 

[Cammalu]

I chose land over house too. I was able to buy a nice house in a town or acreage and a double wide with barn on 14 acres with even a nice pond. (In a very, very cheap area of the country). I couldn’t touch a tiny apartment anywhere for what I paid for this place.

I think I have the best of both worlds because I moved my niece into the double wide some years ago and moved into my RV. I get to travel and not worry about the place. I can come and go and put in a parking slab, septic and elec hookups for when I’m here. I haven’t even been inside the house at all in over a year I guess and then just to look at something or eat with her.

 

[RVTravel]

you're asking that on an rv site?...hehe

 

[LERCA]

Land. A small house. No pool, minimal landscaping, larger lot than the house for my pets and a tiny house/yurt. Houses increase in value where I live. Cars decrease. If I could afford it I’d have a van to travel in but if I had to pick....

 

[AeroNautiCal]

Even if one could afford to build a house which perfectly suited their life, the signature of some government official is all it would take for a compulsory purchase order to be made against the property if it was decided that the land was suitable for redevelopment.

Having read about cases of this happening in the US I would prefer to live in my own vehicle which I could take and keep with me!

The notion that one's home is their castle is just a myth!

 

[bullfrog]

Check out Boxable housing's new transportable housing that can be set up on taken down in a day, comes with everything but a mattress and cost $50,000 at it"s introduction or Green Rino Construction's tiny house offering from last year that was transported on a utility trailer and boomed in on a crane! Wouldn't be surprised if Green Rino's floated as it is made out of coated 10" foam.

 

[MGfromBC]

I'm in limbo right now.  

It would be a good time to be making some plans but I've already passed 60 without doing that.  Why start now?  I have absolutely no idea what the future holds other than at least a few more months dealing with lawyers, insurance, medications and change.  It's been almost 4 years since a car accident involving a head injury that is partially controlled but not going away.

I've gone on road trips of one kind or another all my life; hitch hiking, motorcycle, bicycle, cars and pick-up trucks.  I've only done a few trips since my accident but this year I've been getting my Kia Sportage RV ready to roll.

Kia Sportage RV waiting for Covid restrictions to end (cheaprvliving.com)

The plan for the summer is to see as much of British Columbia as I can, stay at free provincial Rec Sites, read lots on this website and other places and ponder.

At the moment I find I hard not to think of having some non-movable place to call home.  Many of these "homes" are quite modest.  Rented or owned land?  Serviced or un-serviced lot?  What George Carlin would call a place for my stuff.  George Carlin - Stuff - YouTube  Maybe an RV park with good winter rates.  Maybe a storage locker.  Do I emulate my uncle who spent his winters in the southern US and crossed Canada every summer.

Do I just take my small pension, stay in my small apartment, sell my car and ride my bike everywhere on the perfectly flat roads in my area that are connected by transit with bike racks for 100 kilimetres in every direction?

MG

 

[G0ldengirl68]

If you said vehicle, I would definitely say a Van.  For just me, I wouldn't need more than that, and you can do so much more with a Van, as far as room to live.  I wouldn't want to own a home, it would be a huge, ball and chain for me.  A home on wheels is what I dream about

 

[scaredycat72]

Definitely a house.

A car has the same downsides as a house, plus more downsides, and none of the benefits of a house. A car requires more and more maintenance over time, you have to pay taxes on it, it depreciates in value, eventually it's not driveable, it can be stolen, it can be wrecked, it can be towed, you constantly need money to operate it (gas and insurance), you never have any security or stability with it, and eventually your health is going to go which will make having a car impossible.

By the time my home is paid off, I'll probably owe $200 a month in property taxes but by that time I could easily get $1000 or more a month renting out a room to a person or $2000 or more a month renting a room on Airbnb. Plus my home has appreciated in value and I have security, stability, safety, community, a place to recuperate when I'm sick and rest un-bothered when I'm tired, etc.

I really liked traveling in my car and I'm hoping to love living out of my SUV for years to come but vanlife, by it's very nature, is not permanent. Even Bob says eventually he'll be old and need to be in someone's RV or mobile home in one location.

 

[rruff]

Using 3 criterias: 1) affordability, 2) sleepable, 3) drivable, a house meets only the sleepable criteria, but the car meets all 3 criterias since it is affordable, sleepable, and drivable. So I would choose a car over a house. What do all of you think? Look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on this subject.

This was exactly my process many years ago, when I decided I needed to drastically reduce expenses if I wanted to take an extended "sabbatical". The car or house needed to go. Yep, the car wins!

Once I got started and found that I loved it so much, I couldn't imagine ever living in a house again. Yet here I am... in a house.

 

[rruff]

I really liked traveling in my car and I'm hoping to love living out of my SUV for years to come but vanlife, by it's very nature, is not permanent. Even Bob says eventually he'll be old and need to be in someone's RV or mobile home in one location.

Life ain't permanent neither... by its very nature.