Comment on "You'll end up in a van down by the river" if you do drugs, don't go to college, etc. advice never includes the warning: "Don't suffer major Depression that gives you complete apathy for existence."

frickineh@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• fern@lemmy.autism.place ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  “On purpose” here means “Buying a house isn’t an option anymore”

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  • JoMiran@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The most popular of these vans costs as much as a house.

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    • fern@lemmy.autism.place ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      That’s if you buy one new, which is only gentrified relabelling of RVs. I just converted a bus myself for 25k, which is what most people who actually live in them full time do. Anyone buying one is likely using it as a “second home” aka RV.

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    • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      That’s a cheap house.

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      • JoMiran@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Depends where you look. ~$260k still gets you a decent house in most places. The problem is that the same house was under $150k in 2019.

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    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You can probably get an old delivery can, fix it up, tune it, and modify it to be a GREAT rolling residence for like a fifth of that.

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      • JoMiran@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Absolutely. In 2020 (early days of the lockdown) I picked up a “new old stock” 2019 4x4 Sprinter Passenger van for $46k. I spent $5k Minimally converting it, and it has been my travel vehicle ever since (my wife and I do not fly).

        The point of my response was that assuming that someone choosing to live in a van is because they can’t afford a house (as the previous comment implied) is incorrect. There are a tone of those Revel vans out there. Some people are choosing to live the van life because they want to, not because they have to.

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