Cost of living increases aren’t unique to PVD or even RI. You’d be hard pressed to find a place you’d want to live that you can afford to move to that isn’t doing something similar.

I do have a realtor, I get the MLS listings sent to me each day. Filter hide pending/contingent, filter no 55+ communities, filter FHA/VA friendly there’s no where close to 100. Then consider how many of the ones that are listed don’t need to be completely rehabbed

I don't know where you're only finding 17 houses for sale under 300k. I just checked Zillow 200-300k range for houses only, and came up with about 100 listings. I do agree that real estate is incredibly high, which is tempting me to sell mine for something bigger, but that means a bigger payment as well.

Try a different method of searching, or reach out to a realtor to help you find something in your price range.

We're just lucky Providence is livable with out a car. If we were still paying for car, gas, etc on top of everything else idk if we could keep up.

One reason why I came back from San Francisco is because I didn't want to live with roommates anymore. Now I still can't afford my own place but I have shitty weather, less social safety net and I have to drive 3 hours to go to Boston or take an overnight amtrak trip to NYC to see my favorite bands play.

I moved to Providence during the pandemic and the cost of everything going up so much here kinda baffles me a little. Like don't get me wrong, I love Providence. I do not regret moving here but it often feels like Providence is trying to price itself into being more important and grand of a city than it really is. You could make an argument for cities in CA or like Austin or NYC or Boston but Providence seems dead set on following them when it comes to pricing people back but the only real selling points are "we're small and gay and oh Brown exists and we're a few hours to bigger cities."

If you're getting divorced are you at least getting income from the sale of your old residence? Maybe check out a condo (but they're still up massively over a year ago).

As gross as the $2300 house payment is, that's around the average list price for a 2 bedroom these days (2200ish) which is why that mortgage seems more appealing.

My numbers are prob a bit different than yours because I’d be using a VA loan $0 down. That puts your payment around $2300 for 275k loan plus closing costs which are about another $8,000 out of pocket at closing.

$1200 rent is a steal right now so at least you have that going for you. I’m stuck paying close to $1800 for a 1 bedroom in riverside.

I’ve had my window smashed just to steal my change from the ashtray🙃

The problem with LCOL areas is the jobs are usually even lower paying than they are here.

Having the same problem. Spouse and I make a little under $100k together, pre approved for $305k house, which the banks said would put our house monthly cost around $2k, no down payment. We’re currently looking under the $250k mark for a house, they need work, but we’re thankfully we are okay with that. We’ve seen at least 4 under $280k, that are move in ready, minor repairs, or cosmetic only.

I think your numbers seem a little off, but I still get your point. Housing prices are coming down, if you look at what they were 3,2 and 1 year ago you’ll see that we’re past the hump, working our way back down to cheaper. Ones were looking at were about $100k cheaper 3 years ago.

But our rent is $1200, so paying the extra for a house assuming you only pay for he next 30 years is better than an ever increasing rent, and paying for the rest of your life.

Places in CT are cheaper, but you pay for it in other ways (commute, amenities, car tax, etc)

It was frustrating for sure. Friends back there are saying one bedrooms are going for $2500 in our old neighborhood there now but we would have been locked in with rent control (10% increase max a year) - something I very much wish this state had 😂

Specifically, it's the Boston commuters that are driving the current spike in rent prices (you know, most people's biggest expense?)

I do like the idea of loft living however I did do it once in undergrad for a summer and I do understand the $$$ that is heating and cooling a loft. It never quite gets to the temp you want in extreme temps, despite paying a crap load for it. I've also learned that many loft buildings are poorly managed overall. I will be looking in Pawtucket nonetheless.

The most damning part for me is that I don’t feel like, if I’m going to pay this much money, the rest of the state matches the request. Crumbling infrastructure really puts a damper on the idea of really investing in a piece of property, and frankly, my proximity to any beach or outdoors activity RI and environs have to offer isn’t enough to offset it, either.

To each their own of course, but the value proposition is waning to me.

Hey OP, you said you've been hunting early are you finding many leads currently out there meeting your criteria? That's probably your best gauge, but rent went up like 17% y.o.y. so plan accordingly.

The last time I saw $1500 being typical for a 2 bedroom was around 2017. I did see this on occasion a year ago (1600ish listing) and the small landlords tended to be aware it was below market and either filled it the first viewing or were open to multiple viewings and ended up having a line of 30 people on the weekend and it was more of a lottery to get. I do know people paying way below market like a 3 bedroom for $800, but those people tend to have a relationship with the owners and have just stayed at the place for a decade at decade ago prices. The vast majority of places go on the market near market rate, which according to zillow is around 2200 for the entire city. Also keep in mind that utilities have been running very high. Before the rate hikes last year, a 2 bedroom could run you close to $200 just for gas and electric in the winter (with gas heat). I had oil heat in 2014 and our 2 bedroom heating was something like 2k way back then, so I was thrilled to be splitting costs at those rates. Also budget commuting costs to get an idea of the full picture because all of those ancillary costs like gas or the train can rack up quickly.

1 bedrooms will be more manageable, but are still clocking in at more like 1700. I actually glanced for a friend recently and at just a cursory glance I was pretty horrified to see even Warwick and Cranston area looking for around 1700+ for nothing special.

Are you willing to do a studio or a loft? I understand the desire of a flex space in your home, but you may have to give somewhere on your desire to live alone so I would think about whether you'd increase the budget or decrease the space if it comes to it-- it's good you're looking into less desirable towns like Johnston. If you're willing to overlap leases for a good space you will have more options, but that can be costly.

Life in general is becoming grossly unaffordable

Wow, that is shocking but also doesn’t surprise me. I would be livid San Diego seems like such a nice city. I knew it was getting bad when I saw the new apartments next to TJ go up for $4200/mo.

We moved here from San Diego in 3ish years ago and now our rent is nearly the same we were paying there. We left to save money lol

At least we are all suffering together

It's just you. And everybody else. And also you.

There’s a series of these going on. I work security downtown, we had a few of our guys’ windows broken. Purses stolen. Just last night one of my boys had his window smashed. Took a few valuables from there

Reason #3626168 I won’t upgrade my paid off car. She’s missing two hub caps and has a little damage but nobody breaks into her

rubber lofts is horrible, do not live there lol

My sister once left a box of granola bars in her car and a hobo went in and ate them all and left the wrappers.