Does this make sense?

[pflyers85]

Not to pile on but those saying "absolutely not" are 100% correct. I would also think the fact that you came to an online finance/budgeting forum like SA to pose your question that you already had some idea that the vehicle and condo you want are out of reach financially at this point. Even if you were to buy the car and continue to live at home you would make it impossible to significantly save money to be able to move out. Stay where you are at, live on way less than you make and save the rest, and work on getting your income up. Your pay may increase by $4-$6 per hour next year but is there anything you can do now to bolster your skills to command a higher salary? At your age and your circumstance that is where your efforts need to be channeled. Just because you don't have debt and bills right now does not mean it is permissible to accrue debt that you do not have the income to expediently service.

[TexasHusker]

Two simple rules:

1. Never buy a house with a lover.

2. Never forget rule number 1.



I'll throw in rule number 3 as a bonus: I would only drive a beater until you are rock solid financially. I lease high end cars these days, but only because I like a new car fairly often, and the $1000 payment is inconsequential to me. I don't lease them for gas savings, reliability, resale value, or because they are a "good deal". Cars are rotten through in through as any sort of investment except for collector cars.

But I drove beaters until I was roughy 35.

[dawnwes]

Just to give you a comparison, I earn more than 4 times more than you. I paid $16,000 for my car. There's no way I would even dream of spending 38K on a car on my income.

My daughter just bought her first car last week. She paid $5,000, and that was with some help from us and from her grandmother (although she had the money to do it on her own if necessary). That's the market you need to be in.

Not to mention the condo with the huge HOA fees. We make more than 4 times the OP's amount as well, and we were stressed over a $225K loan/mortgage with no HOA fees!

We did buy a more expensive car recently though ($25K roughly)

[ESMonitor]

If you are planning on starting a family of your own, I would suggest getting married and start baby steppin' with Dave Ramsey -

https://www.daveramsey.com/baby-steps/

Not sure if a car is feasible in Toronto with snow but I would get a used car in the interim and save up on the side for a few years on the ride you want.

[FLA]

agree with all of the above

have you started saving 10% at least of your income for retirement?

I would stay with the 'rents as long as possible, buy a beater car, start retirement and house downpayment saving and live extremely frugally so these things can actually happen some day.

I'm not clear on why it's so bad to buy a house with a lover as long as lawyers are involved for both of you, costs are 50/50 and either of you can decide to sell at anytime with so many days notice. It seems easier than doing it during a divorce but my experience was only through a divorce, I've never owned property with anyone besides a spouse.

[disneysteve]

I'm not clear on why it's so bad to buy a house with a lover as long as lawyers are involved for both of you, costs are 50/50 and either of you can decide to sell at anytime with so many days notice.

Spouses have legal rights and protections.
Roommates do not.
That's pretty much the bottom line.

If roommates decide to stop living together, it can get messy very quickly if there is jointly owned property involved.

[Nutria]

Spouses have legal rights and protections.
Roommates do not.
That's pretty much the bottom line.

If roommates decide to stop living together, it can get messy very quickly if there is jointly owned property involved.

"You didn't pay half the mortgage! Why should I give you half the equity!!!" Whatever happened to palimony?

[Nutria]

4 Tips for Avoiding Palimony, and Keeping Your Assets Safe, in a Cohabitating Relationship

Don’t co-mingle property and assets

While this may be along the same lines and #2, above, this is the advice most overlooked by unmarried couples who wish to have an unencumbered break up.

Joint bank accounts, buying houses together and making investments together are some of the biggest mistakes people make while not married, thinking that they will not be effected in the event of a break-up.
...
After cohabitation, co-mingling property and assets is the second most important factor looked at by courts when determining if divorce remedies apply to a parties’ situation.

The easiest way to avoid running into this problem is to simply keep each other’s bank accounts and real estate holdings in each other’s name. In the event you do decide to get married, it is very simple to transmute such property to joint ownership interests

[FLA]

makes sense. I don't want to marry ever again but I would co-habitate. Guess we'd have to rent because I have no intention of mingling assets ever again

[dawnwes]

makes sense. I don't want to marry ever again but I would co-habitate. Guess we'd have to rent because I have no intention of mingling assets ever again

My husband's brother lives with his girlfriend. The girlfriend owns the house and he pays her rent.

The point is to not buy it jointly, not to never buy if you aren't married.

[TexasHusker]

I'm not clear on why it's so bad to buy a house with a lover as long as lawyers are involved for both of you, costs are 50/50 and either of you can decide to sell at anytime with so many days notice.

While the divorce rate among marrieds is about 50%, the divorce rate in shack-ups is extremely high. It is a rare shack-up that goes past a couple of years.

I won't rent a house to shack-ups because of this. I've done it 3 times in 10 years, and in all three cases, there was a break-up and the party who was left at the house couldn't pay the rent.

My mother, who just recently started with the rental house investing, thought I was being judgmental and closed-minded in my approach. She told me "everyone lives together now", etc., and I said "fine Mom, you rent to who you want."

Fast forward two years, she's come around.

[disneysteve]

While the divorce rate among marrieds is about 50%

OT but this is not, and has never been, true. It was due to faulty interpretation of data one year a couple of decades ago and somehow became ingrained as everlasting truth. The actual divorce rate is considerably lower than that and also varies widely by demographic (socioeconomic status, educational background, etc.).

[Nutria]

I won't rent a house to shack-ups because of this.

I didn't think that was legal.