Escapevelocity
Dryer sheet aficionado
Based on the numbers above, it is going to cost more to rent an apartment/condo than what you are spending now.
2 things come to mind.
1. Do you really want to not own a home? Rental prices can continue to spiral up with inflation. If I want to be closer to "stuff", I would look to buy something closer to where the action is. You could be priced out of buying a home later down the line if you decide to stop renting.
2. Are you absolutely sure that you want to live in a condo/apartment/high density housing? We had always lived in single family homes and we decided to buy a luxurious penthouse condo for our retirement - 3000 sq ft home with amazing views. After living in it for a few years, I started to feel "trapped". I started to resent having to park in my 2 deeded parking space, sharing an entire lower floor space with other homeowners under the condo building. I was not thrilled having to ride an elevator up to our floor. It was a huge / hospital size elevator but still, I had to get into the elevator. Then when I got home, I felt like I was confined to our home, even though we had 2 huge private patios on each side and a french balcony in our living room. We are now back in a single family home and it finally feels like home again.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm really not 100% sure we will like it, but we're 100% sure we want to experience it for a while and see how it works. We've lived in the burbs for so long, it's time to try something new and a little bit more exciting I think. The part about shared space in the building actually seems great to me because I want to meet new people and I like the energy of seeing people milling around. Let's see how we like it in day to day living though. Who knows.