My rent is currently $675 for the apartment in suburbs I’ve lived in for almost 12 years now. That’s $8,100 a year which sounds like a lot of money going to waste (if you consider shelter a waste, which is probably better than being homeless) when I could buy a home but I actually think I come out ahead renting.

While it’s true that I’ll never get back the money I spent on rent, I’ll never get back a lot of money buying a house, especially with a mortgage and the high property taxes that are the norm of living in New York. Buying land and a property has all kinds of other sunk costs that I would never recover either – motor vehicle commutes, consumables like lawn mowers, water bills or even common repairs that add no actual value to the home. I’m quite happy living in the modest apartment I’ve had since I moved to Delmar, I don’t need more.

At some point I do want to move back to the country and have an off grid cabin but not in New York. It’s just too expensive with the taxes, the restrictions on open burning, the gun laws, all the taxes, fees and regulations. People across the country live in places far cheaper and freer than New York. But moving out to the country in a freer state means giving up my job, my family and even my community and the consistency of the suburb life served by public transportation.

As long as I live in New York, I’m quite content with a small apartment in the city on public transportation and saving the money I’m making with a low rent for a better tomorrow. While I doubt I’d want a larger building when I’m a landowner – smaller is cheaper to heat and clean – land is important so I can hobby farm, hunt, trap, have fires and burn whatever I want on my land.

Those days will come eventually even if for now I live modestly in my rented building, saving for a better tomorrow.