Hey guys. I’m 24, make good money. Live in a big city.

As far as SMV goes I feel like having a badass apartment gives more status than an ok house in the suburbs. What do you guys think?

I pay $1,200 for rent. A decent house I could get for $250k near a large engineering company and university. Roughly $1,600 a month with my down payment.

This is in the suburbs. Houses near where my apartment is are ridiculous. Typically +$650k. Way out of my budget.

So I guess my question boils down to would living in the suburbs paying for a decent house stunt my SMV? As opposed to spending a lot of money on rent for a really badass apartment? Or is it the opposite? Guy who has own house badass?

I’m thinking of house hacking. Potentially I could rent out a room for $750 all bills paid. So then I could house hack and also have someone help with mortgage and reduce my monthly expenses.