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Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

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Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#371

Post by jrockway »

finance_astroid wrote: post #327
marvinkennis wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm missing something here, and I just read the Wikipedia article you linked. If the landlord takes the cash and buys the property, then the cash is gone and there is no cash to get interest on. Does the landlord just pocket the property appreciation?

In a way yes. But its also using leverage to amplify your gains. Say I get $90,000 to go buy a house, I spend the $90,000 and have 1 door. I get a tenant in it and they make a $90,000 down payment. I then go buy another house and get another tenant in it and they make a $90,000 down payment. I now have two houses and still have the same amount of money I started with, I can continue this cycle and as long as property…

> Say I get $90,000 to go buy a house, I spend the $90,000 and have 1 door. I get a tenant in it and they make a $90,000 down payment.

Why wouldn't the tenant spend $90,000 on the house themselves, cutting out the middleman?

Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#372

Post by theodric »

If you buy a house outright and don't blow tons of money every month on stupid crap you don't actually need like eating out and cinema and clubbing, you can add large swathes of the United States and Western Europe to the list. Ireland, for example-- perfectly feasible, just not in Dublin.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#373

Post by pvaldes »

paxys wrote: post #60

Rather than looking at entire countries as a whole you should consider the urban vs rural split. Major cities in Eastern Europe or Korea or even third world countries are still going to be a lot more expensive than, say, some random town 200 miles outside of San Francisco or New York. First decide what kind of lifestyle you are looking for.

But very rural and fast internet are often incompatible terms

Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#374

Post by wil421 »

donnythecroc wrote: post #313
freediver wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would disagree. What is important to know is that in this region of the world discrimination (if at all present) is in general not based on the race/color of the skin - and this is in general true for the rest of Europe too. In Europe, discrimination, when it happens, is usually based on national or religious differences. All wars Europeans ever fought were over national or religious reasons. In Serbia generally ra…

The USA might not treat Muslims well, but there have not been mass killings (in country - obviously there have been abroad). Anyone who wants to know more should google Srebrenica genocide, was the July 1995 genocide of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys in and around the town of Srebrenica, during the Bosnian War. Those individuals who during the 1990s were the most ardent supporters of the ultranationalist…

Don’t even get me started on Serbs and Turks. 500 years.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#376

Post by brokencode »

theodric wrote: post #372

If you buy a house outright and don't blow tons of money every month on stupid crap you don't actually need like eating out and cinema and clubbing, you can add large swathes of the United States and Western Europe to the list. Ireland, for example-- perfectly feasible, just not in Dublin.

If your primary concern is runway with the cash you have, I would not recommend tying up a massive amount in buying a house.

A $200,000 house would be 200 months of runway at $1,000 a month. And it’s not like you can actually live there for free. You still have property tax, utilities, maybe repairs, maybe HOA.

Then you also have less flexibility to move or scale down if you decide to go for a cheaper place. Every home transaction has a 6% fee just for the real estate agents on top of any other fees, and your house could also lose value.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#377

Post by wheels »

keiferski wrote: post #17

I recommend the Balkans, in particular the less touristic countries. Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, Bulgaria are all very inexpensive, safe, have reliable internet, and an abundance of cafes and co-working spaces. Most also have favorable visa conditions for Americans (e.g. Albania lets Americans stay up to a year on a tourist visa.) In terms of cities, I recommend Belgrade and Sarajevo the most. Going further east, Tbilis…

I'd largely agree on the Balkans, though the trick would either to be in one of the large cities, or in the real countryside. A lot of the smaller cities are pretty depressing. I've been to every country in the Balkans except for Romania (which barely qualifies), and in terms of bang-for-your-buck, Tirana is probably one of the more interesting cities. It has less gritty big-city feeling (if that's your thing) than Sofia or Belgrade, but still a surprisingly nice central district (for Europe's second poorest country). I have even recommended it specifically for cases like this: it's a cheap place to hang out in Europe that feels genuinely European, but where the cost of living is more on par with Latin America.

Parts of Greece can also be surprisingly affordable (with much better infrastructure than Albania), particularly if you hit a place that's a summer hot-spot in the off-season.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#378

Post by anm89 »

codethief wrote: post #366
anm89 wrote: post #356

Hands down. Come to Medellin. Send me an email if you want some advice on specifics. Ive been doing the nomad thing for almost 5 years now and the quality of life / $ is unbeatable.

+1 I lived in Medellín for four months a few years back. I'm dying to go back! To add some numbers: Back in 2016, - a basic but delicious lunch at the restaurant at the corner used to be ~7,000-8,000 COP (~2-3€ back then) - rooms in shared apartments could easily be found for ~300,000 COP (~100€) per month (or even less if you're fine with very basic accomodation) - a nice spacious apartment in one of the high rises…

Surprise surprise, I do software consulting.

Most of the prices you list are still roughly correct in 2021. It is getting easier to spend more here but the deals are still around.

I arrived back here for my fourth trip about a week ago with no plans to ever leave. My goal is to do a startup in the tourism sector here.

If you are in town write me an email

Re: Ask HN: Where can I live off 1k USD per month?

#380

Post by danenania »

wsc981 wrote: post #47

With my girlfriend and daughter I live in Thailand (Thai countryside) and we have a budget of about 50.000 THB per month, or about 1.300 USD. We own our house, so we don't pay rent and we don't have any loans. This budget doesn't include costs for health insurance, which I pay separately. I think a single guy could live on quite a bit less, but has to pay some rent. For about 250-300 USD per month you can get a decen…

Can I ask how old your daughter is? Doing the nomad thing in cheaper, less developed countries seems a lot tougher to manage with kids, and even more so in the countryside. Gotta think about schools, pediatricians, dentists, finding play-mates for them, kid-friendly things to do, and so on. I'd be curious to hear about how you balance all that.
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