high or low Cost of Living area, whats your preference?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Houses go up a lot more than that 10-15% if you bought and timed the market in HCOLA. And it's really a lot of equity considering how many people in HCOLA buy with 0% DP and make every crazy ridiculous sacrifice. Why? Because at least for me when we did it our rent was the same as the AWFUL expensive mortgage. So we sucked it up and would have been paying it anyway. I mean seriously when I have friends renting a townhouse for $4k, then yes there is a big difference between wasting the money traveling and paying down equity in a home.

You have a house to show for it. Paying $4k instead of $2k on a house and $2k on traveling fun you have a very pricey house owned after say 30 years. Do I think that it's the way to wealth? It can be one way to wealth.

Will you be wealthier living in LCOLA? I think the LCOLA allows someone usually to retire earlier and with less costs. But in a HCOLA you can still retire early depending on circumstances. And in HCOLA if you are a middle wage earner sometimes the housing bet can pay off big.

[Mercury1989]

I live in a low-cost living area, but I would have chosen the high-cost area if I had had the possibility to afford it. However, it's almost impossible to afford all the expenses without a well-paid job. However, I have lived for a while in Venezuela and I can say that living there is pretty cheap. I found on costoflivingreports.com all the information regarding the prices and living costs, which were very useful. As I remember, I paid for a great apartment for one month around 300$, and I spend on food 100$ per month. Anyway, even there it's important to have a well-paid job for affording a better life.