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Comment by pelagicAustral | Hacker News Reader

I was on the verge of buying pre-Covid era. I was going to end up paying mortgage for 20/25 years. My plan was a small 2-bedroom bungalow, I was still considering then, that I was going to pay quite a lot for what I wanted... Covid happened, prices went to the roof and beyond... I'm not buying squat right now, no way... Prices remain just the same, it's funny when they go up they go all the way up as high as they can push it, when then come down you can't even feel they did.

I'm scratching 40s and I think my new plan is to go somewhere else... save for the next decade and move to Northern Africa, which I love and have ties to... Retire there and work remotely, or teach or a combo of those... I hope it works, even if it doesn't beats the crap out of grinding my whole life for a small pod in the west.

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I think there's a few ways to think about this.

1) You're competing in an auction for the house so if you make 75th percentile income and only willing to spend 20% of your income on a house than anybody in the 50th percentile and higher whose willing to spend say 40-50% of their income will out bid you.

2) Interest rates do make a big deal when buying a house. A 250k house @8% is a 1.8k monthly payment (21.8k/yr) while that 250k house @4% is ~1.2k and @2% is ~900. So if you can afford spending 1k/month on a house then @2% that house is 270k, @4% that house is 210k, and @8% that house is ~140k.

2a) So you could buy a 270k house @8% and be paying ~2k/month in hopes of the interest rates to drop to 2% and then refinance to pay ~1k/month but I'm risk-adverse so I don't condone that idea unless you can stomach 2k/month.

I'm guessing without rising interest rates we wouldn't actually see the housing market cool down.

Oh nice, where are these 250K houses?

I took a quick look, and Indianapolis (my old home town, and first place I looked) is rife with ‘em. Nicer than my much more expensive house in Redmond, too.

So if you’re not seeing them, I’ll bet you’re not looking very hard. Or you’re looking on the coasts.

Pretty much everywhere that isn't a big city

Usually in places where there aren't great jobs, but they're around.

And those 2% interest rates?

Truthfully if you can stand the sweating buying at an 8% rate is the way to go. If rates ever go down (and history suggests at some point they will) you can re-finance, once you've agreed on a price you can't go back a re-negotiate to a lower one.

You’re close to the age where the realization sinks in that access to world-class health care, both emergency and otherwise, is near the top of your priorities.

I have a place overseas I want to escape to but I think about what would happen if I had x or y entirely probably health emergency. I have family there so I dont’t have to use my imagination.

I have mixed feelings about this.

Most health care can be had more affordably outside the US. There are places where it is relatively cheap and relatively high quality. In fact, life expectancy is lower in the US than it is in, even the UK, at every income level. So for some level of medical care you may actually do better outside. Granted, if you get cancer you probably want to return to the US.

And you do trade time, life, sedentary time at a desk, for the money that pays for the location. What happens if you work less, go someplace cheaper, and use your decreased stress and increased time to look after your health more?

I'm not sure about any of this.

> In fact, life expectancy is lower in the US than it is in, even the UK, at every income level. So for some level of medical care you may actually do better outside.

This only makes sense if one assumes a society’s medical care is the main driver of its population’s life expectancy rating.

If the lettered variable were really bad, you'd go to a local (within several states) trauma hospital.

You don't worry too much about PCP-in-network at that point.

We could, of course, have very different notions of "health emergency."

> I'm not buying squat right now, no way... Prices remain just the same, it's funny when they go up they go all the way up as high as they can push it, when then come down you can't even feel they did.

HNomics tried to convince me that inflation didn't matter and rent/sale prices actually go down when you consider your salary beats inflation. Your salary beats inflation, right ?

There are some areas where it doesn't make any financial sense to own real estate in comparison to renting for the purposes of having a place to live. If you owned a few years back that would be different since you might have a 3% mortgage and have bought for 50% less than today's prices.

Many people compare a mortgage to rent but that's not a fair comparison. Homeowners should calculate an additional 10-20% of their mortgage to save for maintenance, repairs, etc. At some point major systems of the house will fail - HVAC, roof and windows are big ticket items. When you're renting you just call the landlord and say "the upstairs bathroom or the water heater or something is leaking water into the ceiling" - you are inconvenienced. If you own the place, you are acting as the general contractor attempting to triage the problem find a plumber or maybe an HVAC person, maybe they are flakey and don't show up, maybe they do good work, maybe their quotes are outrageous, etc.

Then there is just general maintenance and upkeep on top of the redecorating that most people like to do like paining rooms different colors and having more space, typically, that gets filled with stuff. You go from 3 rooms in an apartment to 7 rooms in a house and you'll definitely spend more money on filling the 4 extra rooms, maybe with stuff, maybe with people (kids) or both.

The price will always go up in most long terms. It's going to require massive population decrease within an area to actually drop prices. If you are going to live somewhere for about 5 years buying is worth it financially.

I’d like to check out North Africa. Any suggestions on good cities (safe, clean, fast internet) with ocean access?

Not going to lie here. It was shocking at first, the cultural clash was intense at first, and I was like a scared child wandering about... But afterwards I felt much more at home than at any other place I've lived before (including where I live now). People are very nice, they are gentle, sincere, humble and welcoming (in general). Just this is enough of a reason for me to move, really...

I recommend Morocco or Tunisia. They have some amazing cities, and you will miss none of the fun you get in western countries, the vibe is different but it is far safer, people don't drink to nuke their brains out, and yes, there are pubs, mainly in tourist hubs...

In Tunisia you will love Tunis, Nabeul, Djerba, Monastir... All places are living postcards. Cost of living is extremely good. Nice house near the coast is about $300/400 US for rent. Food is amazing.

Thank you, out of those in Tunisia - what are the most walkable and safe with a young child?

Monastir and Nabeul are both good options. The other good thing about Tunisia is that you have so many nice places you can go and it's all right there. I would want to point out that the other things that takes time to get used to is the driving culture, this can be tough to adapt to. Bare that in mind, since I know not everybody is up for the thrill

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