Well, it finally happened. But like a lot of things in life, how it happened was a complete surprise. Of all the reasons I suspected that I would settle down again, such as getting tired of traveling or wanting to create ‘roots’, FOMO was no where on that listπ€£. But let me explain.
In the last year my Partner’s entire family moved within the same 15 minute radius in Upstate New York. Previously, part of our travels included seeing his family and our niblings around the country, but now they’re all together and they’re having fun without usπ€£!
We’re all on a group chat and for the last year, we’ve had to read about all of the awesome impromptu fun they’ve been having while we’re traveling. That combined with our niblings growing so fast and being at different life stages each time we see them every 6 months, led us to start talking about getting a homebase near family in the future.
I mentioned this as a FOMO possibility in my January Monthly Recap below, but the price would have to be right in rural NY for us to make this transition and still travel 1/3-1/2 of each year. And the price was right π .
So now we’ve started renting a 1 bedroom apartment in Upstate NY for $800/month total or $400/month per person. That rent includes Heat (which is a steal given frigid NY winters) as well as Water, Sewer, Gas and Garbage.
The apartment is a top floor, corner unit with a river view, giant windows on 3-sides of the apartment and only two neighbors down the hall. It’s downtown and walking distance to all shops, including a grocery store and my Partner’s family. It checked all of my dream boxes, which I wasn’t expecting, so I had to have itπ€£!
When I told my Mom about this apartment, this was her reaction:
Me: It’s $800 a month.
Mom: Each?
Me: Lol – no. Total.
Mom: π²
Now she gets it π .
THE ORIGINAL TIMELINE
Originally we were just playing with the idea of getting a homebase near family. We hadn’t decided if we would definitely do it or not, but we wanted to know what the rental market looked like in the rural NY town my Partner’s parents live in.
So I started browsing to see what was in the area and wasn’t surprised to see… Nothing π . Small towns understandably have less rental inventory than the metropolises we’re used to on account of their much smaller populations, but also it seemed like the rentals were rarely listed online.
We asked around and heard that in typical small town fashion, the way to usually get an apartment is to know people. We then reached out to family members that had rented in the area and asked for their landlords’ phone numbers. We contacted the landlords and they said that they didn’t know of any rentals that were opening in the next year. Alrighty then.
However, just in case something did come up, we wanted to be prepared and make decisions based on facts instead of emotions, so we made a list of our ideal criteria for this new apartment:
- $1,250/month total for rent and utilities
- Located walking distance to a grocery store and my Partner’s family
- Few neighbors
- Little noise
- Lots of light
Originally, if we were going to rent, we planned to do so starting in 2026, so we put the thought on the back burner with the knowledge that few apartments might be available, especially ones that fit our criteria.
THE REMIXED PLAN
But then, we were in Japan exploring Osaka when we heard through the landlord grapevine that an apartment fitting our sky high criteria was about to become available. So we contacted that landlord and they sent us a video of the space.
It was just what we were looking for and it was below our budget, so our curiosity was heightened. We quickly contacted a family member and asked if they would be willing to view the apartment for us. And they were! A few family members volunteered actually so we had a bit of a contest on our hands π .
In the end, my sister-un-law checked it out for any red flags, took a million pictures for us and gave the apartment a thumbs up. Despite this place coming along before our proposed schedule, it matched what we wanted so perfectly that we snapped it up!
We decided to officially become renters again and did it about half a year earlier than planned because we realized how rare a place like this is and we had to have it π .
A CAR CATCH
After living in NYC and Seattle for my entire adult life, it shocks me how cheap rent is in the rural US. However, there’s always a catch π .
A rural location means we need a car to get around comfortably in the winter because public transit out here is non-existent (thanks America). And adding a car to the budget with our apartment might equal about the rent we paid in Seattle when we didn’t need a car given all of the public transit and pedestrian options there.
So that’s next on my list – buying a car for the first time in my life. I try to never say never, but I did about buying a car, so that serves me right π :
However, in that post I was talking about avoiding long commutes on Atlanta’s huge and ugly highways. Driving through rolling green hills on country roads with no traffic in sight is a completely different experience π . So different in fact that tourists actually come to this part of the world just to drive through the changing fall leaves because it’s so beautiful.
But still, I never should have said never. Life likes to throw a few curveballs so here I am about to become a car person. And since I’ve never bought a car before I’m finding it a bit daunting so if you have any tips for that process, feel free to leave them below.
All of this change also means I’ll be transferring my residency from Washington State back to New York where I started my career. So cyclical π . Car buying is going to be another interesting process I imagine, but luckily I have time to figure it out (yay retirement π ).
THE RENTING PROCESS
For those curious about the process of renting in a rural area, here are all the details of my experience.
THE APPLICATION
After only living in NYC and Seattle for my adult life, I was prepared for the apartment application process to require lots of paperwork like it did with my previous experiences. I had to provide a million pieces of proof about my financial status, my job, my previous apartments and my identity. I would have to cough up enough money to cover first, last and an additional month’s rent as a security deposit and at times, a broker fee. It was a whole thing π .
But I should have realized that small towns, where everyone knows everyone, are different because we needed exactly…none of that stuff π . This had been a concern of mine – that if we ended up getting an apartment down the line when my Partner was also retired, that it would be difficult because we wouldn’t be able to provide a W-2 like all my applications required in the past.
But none of that was necessary here. In fact, the entire process was shockingly easy. The landlord didn’t ask for anything besides our names and email addresses to put on the lease agreement and that we provide first month’s rent and a deposit when we sign the lease. Easy π .
And that’s not the only way this experience was completely different from my previous ones in a big city. Unlike most of my NYC landlords, this small town one is super responsive – they respond in literal minutes to any question or concern I have.
It’s absolutely wild when compared to my first NYC landlord who completely ignored my calls for weeks when our heat went out in the coldest NYC winter on record at the time. And that was after we had spotted ants, roaches and rats in the apartment, but they didn’t care or ignored all of our concerns.
Though I guess in a small town if you’re uncommunicative and uncaring word gets around and you wouldn’t be a successful landlord for long. So small town life is winning in the lack of paperwork and the gain of a great landlord.
THE LEASE
We had been texting the landlord throughout the month and she sent the lease to us for review a week before it was set to start. The paperwork looked great except for one thing. The lease had a clause that said if we’re gone for 14 consecutive days, the place may be considered abandoned unless we’ve told the landlord about us leaving in writing.
Since we are often gone for that long, I asked the landlord to remove or edit that clause and she did. She just asked that we text her when we’re leaving for long periods so she can check on the place and make sure it’s good to go.
Apparently this clause was added because last winter she had a tenant who left for a few days with the heat in the apartment turned off and the pipes burst. Yikes! So she wants to stay on top of that kind of thing.
I’m not sure why that tenant did that especially since the heat is included (and unlimited) in the rent. So it’s not a big deal to just keep it at 60F while we’re gone, which is what the landlord asked us to do going forward in the winter. Sounds good to me!
RENTERS INSURANCE
A requirement of getting the apartment was understandably having renters insurance so like with all things, I did some research. I found this website listing the renters insurance options in New York helpful and went down the list to explore what each was offering.
And it’s never been more obvious to me how much I value my time and convenience over most other things because here is how those interactions went:
- NYCM said I have to contact a specific insurance broker for a quote – NOPE!
- All State’s website glitched out – NOPE!
- Travelers said they couldn’t help me online – NOPE!
State Farm was the only company at that point on the list that didn’t have an issue, and they insured our Seattle apartment back before we were nomads. So we had our renters insurance provider and it will cost $10.42/month.
ELECTRIC
Next on my to-do list was to set up electricity to our apartment. That service is provided by National Grid and my landlord sent me a phone number to call, but hilariously the number was actually for the Pennsylvania Chief Of Police’s Office.
Luckily I always Google random phone numbers before calling them so I knew that, but I still called just to check. And yep, that’s what it was π . I let the landlord know in case it’s a common copy/paste mistake.
I then used my beloved website GetHuman to find the correct number for National Grid. I went through their prompts and then was placed on hold.
Hilariously while I was on hold, the recording kept saying that their website might be able to do whatever I’m on hold for. So I went to the website while still on the phone and they did have a section about starting service. I went through all the forms and filled them out only to receive this message:
Unable to process your service request.
Please contact us to complete your request.
Wow π . Well I guess it’s good I trust no one and stayed on the line the whole time while going through the online steps. However, the original message said I would be on hold for 10 minutes and it took 30 minutes until someone picked up.
I was going to give praise for providing a wait time estimate at all, but somehow an estimate that was 1/3 of the actual wait time felt worse at the end of this. I should have selected the call back option π . Lesson learned!
Anyway, after I was finally connected to a human person, my contact Sarah was extremely helpful and set up my electricity without a hiccup so that was a great end to this saga. Now I have:
WI-FI
Next I was prepared to go to battle…and by that I mean fight for a fair price with an internet provider – so it’s more like a war π . When we left Seattle I (not at all lovingly) said “Goodbye Satan!” when talking about Comcast/Xfinity.
Well luckily, I didn’t have to deal with any of that this time because of the power of small town community, which is not something I’m used to. It turns out that the previous tenant in our apartment and one of the two other neighbors, shared their internet and split the bill. What a concept.
So I didn’t have to call anyone or set up any internet. I just met my new (super friendly) neighbor, sent them our share of the bill, and got a Wi-Fi user name and password. How lovely – another bullet dodged.
EMOTIONS
So those are all of the steps I went through to get an apartment in rural New York, but now let’s talk about the mushy stuff π . I like to record how I feel during transitions in my life and in general because I find it helpful to look back on and I’ve heard that it can help others prepare for similar situations they may face.
In general my feelings about this change have been extremely positive. I’m excited to be closer to a lot of my loved ones and still be able to travel. However, I suspect this move to having a homebase will make me weak in the travel packing arena because it’s a skill that I’ve improved over time as a nomad.
Maybe I’ll call it “the fear of travel muscle atrophy” π . I also have a few small fears which include silly things like, “Do I even remember how to accumulate stuff?” to less silly ones like, “Will I be happy in small town America?” or “Will I become a homebody who is so comfortable I want to travel less than the 1/3+ of the year we’ve planned?”
So we shall see what happens with all of the above. Worst case scenario, our lease is up on May 1, 2026 and our landlord even mentioned we can get out of it early if we want to. But I doubt we will. Maybe after this year we’ll decide to become full-time nomads again or maybe we’ll settle into small town life or maybe something in between π . We shall see.
CONCLUSION
So that’s how I stopped being a full-time nomad (for now anyway π ) after 5 years of non-stop traveling – the FOMO got to me and I had to give in. We’re basically going to act like stereotypical traditional aged retirees and become snowbirds by traveling to warmer places when it’s cold at home and staying home when the weather is nice. We’ll see if that equals the 1/3+ of the year we’ve estimated.
Next up, I need to change my residence to NY again and also buy a car for the first time in my life. So much adulting π . And after that, we still have a packed travel schedule this year! It looks like we’ll be in the new apartment for 3.5 months total and traveling for the remaining 3.5 months in 2025. So let’s see if this lifestyle change breaks the bank π. I’ll keep you posted!
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Congratulations on becoming a snowbird. Looking forward to reading about your new lifestyle as my long term goal is to become one myself. And $800/month??? Wow.
Thank you! I’m happy to hear you’re looking forward to reading about it and that’s awesome snowbirding is your goal as well π .
Can’t wait to read about the car, furnishing the apartment and how you find small town life. I hope you are there in autumn, as I’d love to see the tree change pictures π
Yay! I’m happy to hear it π . And I will be there in the fall and I’ll make a note to take leaf changing pictures.
So excited to have you as a neighbor in Upstate! Hopefully you will have a meet up for your followers. We were nomad travelers for only a year before spending time in Upstate for the first time, fell in LOVE with beautiful, rural rolling hills and the friendly people and easy cost of living. Bought a home and it was the greatest life change we ever made! Moved from coastal Texas to Upstate NY knowing literally no one here. Itβs been amazing.
Haha hi neighbor! If you want to email me at purple@apurplelife.com we can set up a time/place to grab a coffee.
It’s awesome to hear you love Upstate and I’m surprised to hear you love the COL compared to Texas. I had assumed it was more expensive up here, but yeah the natural beauty is absolutely wonderful.
good luck! living in a rural upstate village is a different animal for sure. our friends have a house in the little hamlet of melrose (Part of schagfticoke). you will likely find a decent car for under 10k but insurance has gotten pretty costly. i think ours is about 170/mo for 2 cars but yours should be cheaper than 85 due to lower car theft rates than buffalo. that mobility will be awesome i think you will find, though. there is so much regional fun to be had within an hour drive.
oddly, we have finally been talking seriously about retiring to a similar nearby village. we are mostly centered around the towns of greenwich or schuylerville but are also considering the small city of glens falls, which i know well.
i hope y’all enjoy yourselves. see you in summer. we will have a new puppy by then.
Haha thank you! And thanks so much for the car info – I appreciate it.
Do you still go to Saratoga regularly? Let me know and we can finally meet up when I have wheels!
And that’s very cool about maybe moving to a nearby village/city. Congrats on your new puppy!
Congrats on finding such a great place!!
In terms of buying a car, Trip of a Lifestyle has a few posts on buying used cards. They account for depreciation in a really smart way when they think about car purchases.
In general, Subaru/Honda/Toyota are more reliable and easier to maintain than Ford/Chevy in my experience. Don’t be afraid of “high” mileage on the Japanese brands, those cars reliably get up to 300k miles in their lifetime. It sounds like you have the flexibility of schedule and local family to help you in a pinch, so an older cheaper car won’t be a problem!
I agree with Andrea, a used, Toyota or Honda are great choices! The one caveat to that is: what resource there is in the small town to maintain/repair that model of vehicle. I would also look into storage options for the 1/3 year you are traveling – probably winter, which is hard on un-driven vehicles. Having owned at least one car or another for 60+ years, I can say taking care of your car saves twice what it costs to do so. Also, older cars (used!) cost less for insurance, taxes, etc.
Great tips – thank you!
Thank you! And cool – I’ll check them out. Thanks so much for the tips!
You guys have chosen to become semi-nomadic for great reasons. I do read about nomads having to work hard to find a community when moving around, thus the popularity of the Go With Less/Eat.Walk.Learn Facebook groups and meetups. We are not yet launched, but we will be semi-nomadic when we do as we like to have roots near family too. Yes, the carving is the only downside, but as long as you have a garage, it will be fine. Enjoy making your new pad a home!
Than you π . We’ve been lucky to have found community during our travels (partially thanks to this blog!), but yeah it’ll be nice to be around family more. We don’t have a garage, but will be letting family use our car at their house while we’re gone.
I look forward to hearing about your more-settled adventures!
Yay – I’m happy to hear it!
Oh I am selfishly very excited to know you will be a drive away from us for a better part of the year for the foreseeable future lady!!!! Congrats on this big change that seems to be quite in alignment what with checking all your dream boxes for the apartment and the generally extremely positive emotions surrounding the change. I am so happy for you!!
Yes!!! And with a car it’ll be much easier to pop over the border compared to the drama we’ve had with planes, trains and buses trying to get there in the past haha. Thank you!!
Hi Purple,
I’m so glad the process went smoothly for you and your partner. Yes, over the years, I’ve also learned to “Never say never”.
Do you think that you and your partner will ultimately decide to get married and have a little purple one day?….(Never say never…lol)
Hi There – Thank you. I’ve learned to never say never on silly things like buying a car, but on life changing things like having kids it’s a hard no for both of us. That’s never happening for the reasons I wrote a whole post about. And we don’t want to get married, but if something horrible happens that requires it we would talk about it. But obviously that would be a sad instead of happy occasion.Β
Congratulations on getting a place of your own! This must be a big change after that glamorous jetsetting life.
Upstate New York is a great region. The Adirondacks, the Catskills, the Finger Lakes and the Hudson Valley are all super nice. Lots of restaurants, breweries and wineries, and gorgeous hiking trails.
Kingston, Rhinebeck, Beacon, Tarrytown, Hudson and Lake Placid are some of my favorite towns. I’d be happy to make recommendations if you haven’t been and you’re planning to visit any of them.
What are you going to do for health insurance? My original FIRE strategy was to get on the NY Essential Plan, although I haven’t had to try it out yet because my wife is still working.
Thank you! It surprisingly doesn’t feel like that big of a change since we’ll still be traveling for half of the rest of the year.
Yeah it’s awesome up here. And I would love recommendations to all of those places! I haven’t been to anywhere listed but Hudson for a hot second and Catskill and I want to explore it all!
Yeah – I’m going on NY ACA insurance, which looks like it’ll be the Essential Plan up to like $40K/person/year in income. It looks really nice with no deductible or monthly premium and it seems to cover everything I need. I’ll look into it further, but I was surprised at how nice it looked at a glance. I thought WA’s offerings would be better, but that might not be the case π .
Such a fun development!
Haha indeed it is π .
I wish you the best! I’m not over my small town PTSD, having grown up in one, so I’m forever biased on that; however I think upstate New York would be a different animal.
Sometimes I think I could try it again but then an old friend will come up and either want to drive a block or want to confine the food menu to “upscale pub” as exotic and I just think “nope.”
Thank you and that’s all fair π . I’ve never lived in a small town so it’s still a fun thing for me to run into my neighbor at a coffee shop or see someone on the street that I know. Maybe it will get old, but luckily I can change it up if that happens.
One of the things I love about this area is that there’s an abundance of international food nearby that goes beyond “upscale pub” lol. Also at least the people I hang out with are always down for a block or more of a walk π .
Congrats on this new stage of your life! and on finding such a deal of an apartment π Thank you for sharing learnings along the way, too.
Travelling for 1/2 or 1/3 of the year from a homebase is what I want for retirement, so I’m very excited along with your transition to see how it goes! Would love a comparison between Seattle/NYC/living in big cities as a nomad vs. small town upstate NY when you feel you’ve settled in enough to share about it π
Thank you! And of course. As for a comparison, are you talking about like an observations comparison, cost comparison, or both? That’s a good idea and I’ll add it to my list!
Ooo I was thinking mainly of lifestyle observations, but I’d love your notes on cost differences, too! So why not both π
I’m not based in upstate NY but am on the East Coast — will shoot you an email if I ever come to upstate NY!
I second the cost comparison! I’ve lived in a small town (2000), a medium town (75,000), small city (250000) and a giant city.
I respect your cost comparison because you are accounting for the car costs.
Most comparisons frustrate me because they ignore the cost and wear and tear of a car, or the fact that, in my experience, rural utilities and internet costs are vastly higher than urban utilities.
I’ve been in a big city for 25 years now and still have never gotten an electric bill higher than my small town one of 30 years ago.
Do you have to pay water and sewer when you rent up there? Or the trash fee?
All good to know! Everything (heat, water, sewer, trash, gas) is included in the $800 rent except internet and electric. Currently my electric is looking higher than in Seattle and internet is looking about the same, but I’ll see how it all shakes out.
So cool! I’m happy that you post “after FI” updates at all, unlike some bloggers, and your travels have always been interesting. But what I find most interesting in general is when people take a bit of a left turn in terms of deciding how and where to spend their time and energy. (Maybe that’s why I started reading about FIRE in the first place! It’s definitely off the beaten path…) Life involves lots of change and I appreciate you sharing this change with your readers.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying my updates π ! And yeah it’s definitely interesting how plans change as people and their lives change. That is a great way to explain FIRE too – nice.
Congrats on this new chapter in your journey! I’m about 2 years away from FIREing and I’m envisioning a similar homebase+travel lifestyle. Renting definitely gives you the flexibility to try it out with little pressure too!
Thank you! That’s awesome and yeah renting is definitely a nice way to try out a location without a lot of risk.
If you’re looking for an inexpensive car, look at 2017 and older Nissan Leafs. We have one and absolutely love it. Very inexpensive to buy and maintain. Perfect car for quick trips to the grocery store, running around town, etc.
That’s awesome – thank you!
sounds like the perfect homebase. close to family, but relatively affordable? π love that your neighbors wanted to split the internet. it just MAKES SENSE.
Yeah it’s great π .
Very happy for you and thought this might be coming reading some of your posts. Itβs been so amazing following along with the monthly updates from each countries. I canβt even believe it has already been five years and you have done so much. Even as Iβve tried, Iβve never found a blog more inspiring than yours, year after year. I know it will be different but excited for this next chapter!
Thank you Andrew! And haha I’m glad you saw the hints π . I can’t believe it’s been 5 years either and oh wow – thank you so much for telling me that! That’s really nice to hear π .
Love this post ! Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to continue cultivating this blog as you continue on your early retirement journey. Of all the FI/ER content out there two creators transcend above it all, inspiring me every step of the way- JL Collins and A Purple Life. I know youβre gonna do great and have continued success on this next chapter of your life !
Of course Daniel – thank you for reading π ! And that is some wildly high praise so thank you so much for that!! JL Collins is amazing.
A classic FIRE clichΓ©, but a used Prius can make a fantastic, cheap, and reliable car. Highly recommend, congrats on the apartment!
It’s a clichΓ© for a reason π – I love Priuses. And thank you!
When it comes to cars, the important consideration, I think, would be whether you see yourself taking long trips or just trips to get around locally.
I chose the combo of an old reasonably reliable car for around town, with renting a newer model for long road trips. I prefer to have the latest bells and whistles if I’m going on a long highway journey, however keeping a later model car all the time is an expense I don’t want.
I wouldn’t trust the beater on a long trip, but it’s cheap and perfectly ok for around here. And you both have the advantage of never “having” to be anywhere which makes a cheap car workable. In my old life, I couldn’t afford the risk as I had to drive to work.
However, if you are planning to really spend a lot of time on roadtrips, something in the middle of bright shiny/beater might be the best bet.
I’d check the numbers of renting vs. owning for long road trips.
All fair points. We’re planning to use it for long road trips and given my Partner’s height we wanted a bigger car for him to use in general.
This sounds like a wonderful and serendipitous move! I wish you and Mr Purple all the best in your new homebase. Sounds like everything’s aligning and it’ll be great to spend time with your family.
Thank you! It’s been lovely so far.
What a wonderful development! I’m honestly surprised you lasted that long as a nomad. Most people will give it up after a year. I lasted two months haha!
I realized I prefer a home base too and traveling 2-3 months out of the year. And I don’t do it all once, I’ll do 6 weeks in spring some in summer and the rest in winter.
I recently visited a friend in rural Texas and I was surprised at how there was almost no traffic! I even thought that I wouldn’t mind driving there. I also hate driving but I think you might be fine and might even enjoy it in a rural town.
I also want to say you inspire me to cut down my hours with a leaner fire number. Most people act like I’m crazy for thinking my expenses will be around $30k. But I’ve kept track for 8 years now and unless I develop a taste for luxury I don’t see it changing! lol. Its nice to see other people with a similar budget making it work.
Haha thank you! I originally thought I would only travel full-time for a year, but here we are 5 years later π . That sounds like a lovely schedule you have.
Since we got our car a few weeks ago I’ve been really enjoying driving because yeah – there’s no traffic! And the views are spectacular in Upstate NY.
And oh wow – that’s awesome you’ve tracked your expenses for that long. I’m glad I could provide an example of a lower FIRE number.
When your retirement is going to be so long, it makes sense that you’ll have some unexpected changes and different ‘phases’! It’s so great you have the freedom to change your circumstances and take advantage of those opportunities!
Will you really need a car, or could you take Ubers as needed, or even arrange to borrow family members’ underused cars? Just something to think about, although you probably already have! There are just so many expenses that pop up with cars it can be such a drain.
Looking forward to seeing your updates from your new small town!
Exactly π . I never promised to do any one thing forever. Originally I was only going to travel full-time for a year, but somehow that became 5 lol. And yeah I feel very grateful that I can make these changes without a lot of thoughts to my financial situation.
Those are all good suggestions, but there are no Ubers around here and no underused cars in my family. It’s usually the opposite with them needing more cars so I’ve offered mine up when we’re gone. Sadly I do need one if I want to leave this small town, which I definitely want to – to explore the area and do road trips etc. I’m sure the car will have a lot of expenses, but I’m ready to take them on for now π . And I’m glad you’re looking forward to my small town updates!
Congratulations!!! This is insane, and I had just asked you a question about this a couple of weeks ago. What’s next? You’re going to get a part-time job? π
Wish you both the best and hope you enjoy this phase of your journey!
Haha yeah it was wild. And that’s a hard pass on the part-time job for me π . And thank you! We’re really enjoying it so far.
I loved everything about this post, Purple, and I’m very happy for you that you and your partner found just the right apartment ($800 per month?!?! WTH???) that will give you more time to spend with your niblings and family members. That FOMO is real. You wrote early on how becoming FIRE would allow you to spend more time with those that you love and you’re doing exactly that. Bravo! Congrats!
When I used to have a frugality blog called Super Frug, I wrote a post about how to buy a used car. Don’t know if you’re planning on buying used or new, but thought I’d include it here in case there are some tips that might help you. Good luck with finding just the right set of wheels!
https://superfrug.com/how-to-buy-used-cars/
Thank you Peg! You get it π . And thank you for sharing that post – it was very helpful!
Congratulations on finding an apartment that met your criteria while being such a relatively good price!
Regarding cars: even as a kid, I was a car guy, but I always said I’d never buy a new car. Well, when my car broke down in fall 2022 (front axle and transmission replacement), I started looking at 3-5 year-old used cars, just like I always planned…and they wound up being more expensive than a new car! So Mr. “I’m-never-buying-a-new-car” bought a new car π
If you’re wondering, I test-drove a 2011 Camry, 2021 Corolla, 2019 Civic, 2020 Civic, 2016 Accord, and 2020 Impreza hatchback. All recommended by Consumer Reports, the type of car I was looking for, all have good reliability history and low repair costs.
Wound up with my favorite-driving car of the bunch – a 2023 Civic Sport, which I special ordered. Paid MSRP of just over $26k, and with tax/tags/title and all that fun stuff, the total was a little over $28k.
The asking price for the older Civics I test drove at the time were around $28/29k – excluding the tax/tags/title!!!
Even now, low-mileage Civics like mine are selling for close to what I paid in early 2023! *insert head-exploding emoji*
And, for what it’s worth, the old car that had broken down was a 2007 Accord EX-L. Leather, sunroof – still a nice car after all these years, and 240,000+ miles. When it broke down, I paid to get it fixed because I still needed to get to work before my new car arrived. [No problems since then, knock on wood] It’s still in such nice shape that couldn’t bear to sell it for only a couple thousand, so I still own it too π
Not necessarily saying you all should go with Honda. But they’re worth checking out. There’s a reason Honda sells so many cars every year!
I’m currently in south central Pennsylvania (I actually cross the Susquehanna twice every day), and so far I’ve fared just fine with front-wheel-drive in the winter. Some people prefer the confidence and security of all-wheel-drive or 4WD, especially for living in a more rural area – I won’t argue against that, either. But I’ve found FWD is fine for most driving conditions (and if the conditions are bad enough, that’s what PTO is for!). So you don’t need to talk yourself into an SUV or truck unless that’s what one of you really wants, especially given that you’re retired and your partner has the ability to work from home.
Thank you so much for sharing all of this! I posted in my latest monthly recap that I did indeed buy a used Honda π . Also great to know about FWD – my new-to-me car has AWD that I didn’t pay extra for so I’ll take it lol.
Congratulations! I’m reading that post now – sounds like your new vehicle is fancy π
FWIW, the CR-V is based on the same platform as the Civic – obviously an SUV is different, but it should have some of the same excellent driving characteristics π And hopefully it lasts a long time and accumulates many miles, like my 07 Accord!
If a Chevy Bolt meets your needs you can get some killer deals on them after $4,000 tax credit and with brand new battery. Think 2019 with 30,000 miles for ~$11,000.
That’s very good to know – thank you! Unfortunately my small town and nearby ones don’t seem to have the charging infrastructure for easily owning an EV here. Hopefully that improves in the coming years.
I love that you’ve decided to put down some roots near family. I know it comes at a cost, but the value of being near loved ones is more than worth, it in my opinion.
This post is a good reminder that money decisions can be very emotional. As much as we want to do what’s best based on the spreadsheet, we are human and can’t totally ignore our emotions when it comes to spending money.
I completely agree π . Money decisions can definitely be emotional and I’m just happy I got to a financial place where most decisions I make with my heart won’t negatively affect my retirement success.
More games to be played? More books to be read? Love the new rental price. What a great score. That will be fun to have the community of family around more often.
Haha – exactly. And yes – it’s been lovely so far!
Congrats on finding a home base when you’re not traveling! I’m over in Syracuse and looking forward to seeing you post about local travels in the Adirondacks, Catskills and Finger Lakes.
Thank you! That’s awesome and I’m excited to explore those places more π .