Our house doesn't match our cars

[Malloy]

We live in an inner-ring neighborhood that has rapidly gentrified and is now considered highly desirable.  Of course, we've lived there for years and paid way less for our house than it is currently worth.

This week, we bought a new (to us) car with 100k miles for about $5k from someone who lives in the way outer suburbs.  When he delivered it, I told my husband that the guy was going to wonder what people in our neighborhood were doing saving our pennies on a car.  Sure enough, within about 2 minutes, the guy looked at our house and said "uh-so, you guys rent?"  I felt absurdly proud that he thought we couldn't possibly afford to live there because of our car choice.  Also, for the car people: it's a manual transmission station wagon, and they are HARD to find.

[TrMama]

I get this too. I drive a 2006 Corolla, standard transmission, with body damage in two places, and no hubcaps. We live in a newer home in a fancy pants subdivision full of BMWs, huge SUVs, sports cars, etc.

I've been asked before if I'm the maid, parked in the driveway for my weekly visit.

I think it's hilarious.

[Cougar]

 same here, car is 7 years old amongst regularly seen porsches, bmws, vettes.

 I understand buying more or a nicer house than you need because that's where you live, but you're in your car probably a max of an hour a day. the rest of the time it just sits and usually depreciates.

 if you really have to have a Porsche or bmw as a car addict, you can buy one used and save a lot.

 personally, I like the older ones. a/c works great, easy to fix and mine doesn't even have a recurring seatbelt ding, just a dashboard light which is all you need because we're all adults and know its illegal to drive without it and is a greater risk but I think I can make it out of the driveway without A FREAKING MAJOR ACCIDENT !

[Meggslynn]

We will be part of this club shortly. We currently live in a starter home subdivision where cars like ours are the norm. After 6 years of hating our home we are moving. The perfect house for us was found in a well-to-do area of town full of Volvos, Lexus and BMW, etc. Our current cars are both 10+ years old. While still in good shape they are both worth less than 5K. My hubby made this comment about how our cars don't "match" the new house the other day.

[ketchup]

I love parking my rusty beaters next to fancypants cars at work.  More than once someone has seen me getting into one of them and said "Wait, that's YOUR car!?"

My dad until very recently was driving a 1994 Buick LeSabre.  He's an optometrist making six figures.  Everyone was always so shocked he drove an "old dumpy car."  Last week his Buick went to the junkyard due to extreme rust.  Now he's driving a 2007 Nissan.  I'm sure he'll get comments about it in ten years once it's "old."  Oh wait, he'll be retired in 10 years.  Hopefully I will be too.

[acroy]

I'm the other way around. I'll go punch myself now.

[Fodder]

Yep.  I'm in a nice rural 'estate' neighbourhood and our 2005 Matrix is definitely not the norm.  Thankfully my closest neighbours seem to share similar vehicular attitudes (although we are probably the only people in the neighbourhood with one car).

My life's mission is to spend the least amount possible on (reliable, safe!) vehicles.  I see fancypants SUVs and just think it's a stupid decision.

[Bob W]

250k. House,  2.5k  car.   I'm not that impressive when you meet me so why try to fool you with a fancy car.

[Retired To Win]

I live in a small rural town in Virginia.  I've got big farms directly across from me and just down the road. So I'm not sure anybody really thinks anything one way or another when they see me whiz by in my 1996 Dodge Dakota.  I suspect people are much less vehicle conscious around here.

[paddedhat]

I love parking my rusty beaters next to fancypants cars at work.  More than once someone has seen me getting into one of them and said "Wait, that's YOUR car!?"

My dad until very recently was driving a 1994 Buick LeSabre.  He's an optometrist making six figures.  Everyone was always so shocked he drove an "old dumpy car."  Last week his Buick went to the junkyard due to extreme rust.  Now he's driving a 2007 Nissan.  I'm sure he'll get comments about it in ten years once it's "old."  Oh wait, he'll be retired in 10 years.  Hopefully I will be too.

A real good friend of mine just put her father in an elderly apartment/assisted living facility. He retired three or four years back, as head of his own accounting firm. He just turned 91 Y.O.  this guy was an original, "greatest generation" mustashian.  He would drive big Ford sedans until they fell apart underneath him. It was nothing to see him tooling down the street in something with the decades old padded vinyl roof in tatters, and a few hubcaps missing.  He never bought new, and was always irritated that he had to buy a car at all. At one point, one of his best clients gave him a decent, late model loaded Lincoln. The client's rationale was that he was offended by the little bit he was offered for a trade in, so felt that it would be better to gift it to his accountant, before he was stuck buy the side of the freeway, after the wheels fell of his hoopty. As you might imagine, the old guy is worth a metric shit-ton at this point.

[kendallf]

We moved to a fairly low income neighborhood a couple of years ago.  The median household income for our zip code was $34k in the last census.  We have a lot of beaters around us, as you'd expect, but one of my neighbors has a newish Jaguar and there are a bunch of new cars period.

[gimp]

Here's a true story: my friend used to rent a in a very up-scale neighborhood and parked an oldish car on the street. People - and this is no joke - were so embarrassed to have someone park an oldish car on the street next to their shiny mansions that the friend got quite a bit of harassment over it, including having it reported as abandoned when it wasn't moved around for a few days. (Yes, street parking there was 100% legal.)

[GetItRight]

I got another "I didn't figure you for the type to drive a big old truck" today. 30 year old truck, cheap, fast, lifted... and due for another round of replacement metal. I get a kick out of people's reactions when they see me get out of my truck in nice clothes or a suit. I'll never drive a fancy new luxury vehicle with fancy electronics, computers, and power accessories... No thanks, not my style or my budget.

The neighborhood is being taken over by yuppies as home values have risen. Neighbors are all rich appearing types with their new construction cookie cutter rich folk homes and fancy foreign cars. The yuppies don't talk to me.

[Zamboni]

We moved to a fairly low income neighborhood a couple of years ago.  The median household income for our zip code was $34k in the last census.  We have a lot of beaters around us, as you'd expect, but one of my neighbors has a newish Jaguar and there are a bunch of new cars period.

There is an apt complex near here that is like that.  Some nice new cars reside in the lot for no apparent reason.

. . . was always irritated that he had to buy a car at all.

Love that description!  That's how I feel about it also.

[Dicey]

250k. House,  2.5k  car.   I'm not that impressive when you meet me so why try to fool you with a fancy car.

Okay, Frank, I'll play your way.

1.03M House (Zillow), 5.8 my '07 minivan, 4.8 DH's '02 truck (KBB). Here's the thing, our cars look just fine in front of our house because we are buy-maintain-and-hold kind of mustachians. And despite the crazy value, our house is nice but no McMansion. It's just in the Bay Area. Everything's paid for. I never want to own a car that someone else would envy enough to steal.

And Frank, I know that behind your "not that inpressive" facade are some very impressive numbers.

[trailrated]

doesn't even have a recurring seatbelt ding, just a dashboard light which is all you need because we're all adults and know its illegal to drive without it and is a greater risk but I think I can make it out of the driveway without A FREAKING MAJOR ACCIDENT !

R.I.P. Cougar, who sadly passed away this evening after getting into a "FREAKING MAJOR ACCIDENT" whilst attempting to make it out of their driveway

Queue sad music.

Disclaimer: I have had a few beers and I laughed at my own attempt of a joke so decided to post

[vittelx]

Who cares. If a neighbor should make a comment just remind them that until recently Warren Buffet drove a 8 year old Cadillac DTS :-)

[Pooperman]

I live in a designated middle class housing apartment. Must earn at least $45k for the cheapest place, more for the 3 bedroom ones (pushing $70k for those I think). Anyways, our car ('06 accord) has some debts and scrapes. It's not the oldest car on the lot nor is it the worst as far as shape. Whenever we buy a home, it will be in that category... Until we get a newer hatchback of some sort since the coupe ain't great for lugging kids around haha.

[Fastfwd]

I'm the other way around. I'll go punch myself now.

Yes I have a cars problem too.

In my area house prices are average and cars tend to be also. But in the next area where house prices are much higher you will see both extrements; luxury cars or beaters; seems like nobody there buys an average good shape cheap car.

[BlueHouse]

When i used to rent apartments, I used to look at the cars on the street to determine whether it was a "good" or "safe" area. It's not a completely false way of looking at things, but not always accurate either

[alsoknownasDean]

I've actually found that I see newer cars in the lower income suburbs than in many higher-priced areas closer to the city (save the very well to do suburbs).

Where I live I don't see a lot of overly fancy cars parked around the place (most of the cars are fairly mainstream brands, the most expensive would be new versions of those cars), but it's not a low income area. I figure it's because it's closer to the city and has far better public transport than the outer suburbs, people just don't care about cars as much and don't spend as much on them. That or it's not full of as many young families (which is why the SUV count is far lower too).

My 13 year old hatchback tends to blend in rather well.

[LiveLean]

When I was a kid in 1980, we moved into a neighborhood we had no business living in. My very frugal mom refused to have a mortgage, so my folks had a significant down payment from the sale of previous home. My real estate-savvy dad found a place built by a bankrupt builder who built huge homes just as the real estate market crashed and interest rates soared to 18 percent. My dad talked his new company into floating him a 7 percent loan -- which he paid off in a few years -- and we suddenly were in a neighborhood where everyone drove Cadillacs, BMWs and Mercedes. Our next door neighbors were both doctors. So were the folks two doors down. Three doors down was an Army general and his family. A high-powered lobbyist lived four doors down.

We moved in with three cars: my mom's 1964 VW Karmann Gheia (her first car and now a 16-year-old beater), my dad's 1972 brown Oldsmobile (20 feet long and only two-door), and our 1977 yellow Pontiac Le Mans station wagon -- our one newer car we called the Banana Boat! We were a three-car family because Mom refused to part with the Karmann Gheia -- and didn't until the thing died in the late '80s. I'm sure our neighbors were glad it stayed in the garage.

As an 11-year-old, you're oblivious to these things, but years later my parents told me some neighbors looked down at them like they were the Beverly Hillbillies. In 1997, my widowed father sold that house and has since parlayed those proceeds into tenfold real estate profits.

Not surprisingly, my two sisters and I have never owned a car that would turn heads.

[MrsPete]

Mismatched priorities. 

You value your home, which is -- in addition to being your dwelling place -- one of your primary investments.  You don't place much priority on a car, a depreciating asset, which can be lost in an instant. 

I see no problem with that. 

[captainawesome]

I had a similar conversation with my wife the other day.

We live in a beachfront/waterfront area.  Our house is part of an older community (early 90s) while the houses and community right next to us are all new(er). Most of those homes as they get closer to the beach are in the millions. As we were walking the dogs you can't help but notice the number of luxury cars in front of every house. Rarely you will see an older car or practical car. 

My wife is slowly understanding the logic behind low cost living, no car payments etc, and made the comment "I wonder how many of these people have car loans, on top of mortgages that are already 3k or more."  Now the area we live in is also a military town, and we both know that not everyone living in these homes are Flag Officers or CEOs (although some are). The best example is friends of ours who live in the community and their mortgage started at 850k. They maxed out the VA loan, and he ended up using his Sub XO bonus as part of the down payment for the additional amount mortgaged.  Then his wife went and bought a Mercedes S class the same year.  And at the time he was only an O4.

I understand that living in an affluent community can influence you to do dumb things with your money, but I'm glad I'm not in that camp. Which I'm hoping will mean that all this work I'm doing to save 60% of our income will allow us to sit back and ride my beach cruiser around on a Wednesday morning instead of slugging it through traffic to pay for stuff I don't need or care about.

[Giro]

Every single one of my tenants has a more expensive car than my daily driver.  As long as their rent checks don't bounce, they can go ahead and spend the rest of their cash on car payments for all that I care.

I will skip happily to my MODEST paid off car and drive to my MODEST paid off house.

[202009]

I can kind of relate except our house AND cars don't match the neighbourhood.

I bought the oldest and most unkept home 4 years ago in one of the best neighbourhoods in the city (it was the only way to get in there at the time - money wise).  I've been renovating the inside of the house while leaving the outside for last.  When I first moved in the neighbours would walk by and ask me "what are the owners doing?" as if I was the construction worker since I had a big bin outside as I was gutting the inside and my rusty 1996 honda civic sat in the driveway - that was 4 years ago.  The inside is almost done, but the outside is in dire need of attention, the driveway is completely shot, the grass has dried up, the bay window is sagging, etc.  All of these will be addressed next year once the inside is complete.  This is all while we have a household income of just under $250k

[hdatontodo]

We have a small $250K split-level house NW of Baltimore. I have a 2005 Corolla with 40K miles and my wife has a 2010 Civic with 100K miles. I had sold my 2012 Mustang when my mom's Corolla was up for sale when she stopped driving in her mid-80's.

I have noticed a number of white Range Rovers in the general area lately. Was there a sale I missed?

[CommonCents]

Sure, but it just speaks to us buying a non-MMM house (although it's gone up a solid chunk since we've bought it).   As Mrs. Pete noted, houses (in my area at least) tend to appreciate and cars depreciate.

Zillow: $891k
Kelly BB for an 02 Civic manual: $4k

[Pooperman]

Even my parents, who are decidedly not mustachian, have shittier cars than people around them. Step father has a manual 08 Honda Accord he bought new for $19k. House is worth ~$1MM. Mom drives a 2003(?) Infinity G35... that has 27k miles on it because she only drives for groceries on weekends. The neighborhood is a mix of working class with Chevy SUVs and fancy people with BMW SUVs.

[Eric]

I never want to own a car that someone else would envy enough to steal.

My thoughts exactly.  Why yes, I'm happy with my station wagon, thankyouverymuch!

[paddedhat]

I have noticed a number of white Range Rovers in the general area lately. Was there a sale I missed?

You will never make the upper crust talking so silly. One does not BUY a Range Rover, one LEASES a Rover. Truth be told, the country club set might like to look spiffy, but they know better that to purchase these festering piles of unreliable shit. You lease, and make damn sure that the bumper to bumper warranty is very much in effect until the day you turn it back in to the dealer. In reality you are paying rent, and being assured that you will have unlimited access to a prestigious ride, and a dealer who will spend enormous amounts of effort to kiss your ass, and keep you happy, no matter how many weeks your personal POS Rover rides the lift in the dealer's shop.

[chasesfish]

Count me in this group, I rent a small house in the land of raise/rebuilds.  I'll eventually pay 500k-600k for one of these remaining houses sprinkled between $1mil new construction.

For me, its all about a short commute and not dealing with big city traffic. 

[Fodder]

In a reverse situation, I dropped my kid off at a friend's house this weekend.  The house was a modest townhome, but in front were two quite-new, quite expensive vehicles (and one was a jacked up jeep, which indoubtedly pricey to run too).

It just struck me as odd that people would devote a LOT of money to something that just depreciates, while opting to spend a comparatively smaller amount on their home.

[Thegoblinchief]

At least 3 folks within a one block radius own cars worth more than their houses (houses worth ~$60K).

[Cpa Cat]

I have a 2006 Honda Civic in a mid-high end suburban area. The Honda, itself, is on the low-end of the brand-scale here - but the car looks basically identical to new models.

My neighbor drives an Audi that she bought in 05 or 06. Their family got hit hard by the recession and kind of held on for dear life financially. They've bounced back - but she drives that same Audi. It's still a nice looking car. Unless you lined it up next to a brand new Audi, I doubt most people could tell the difference.

Actually, I just Googled pictures of 2015 Audis... even lined up, I'm not sure I could tell the difference.

My husband has a 97 Jaguar XJ8. It's a much larger car than modern XJ8s, but he still gets compliments. Some of those luxury models just age well - despite not being worth a lot due to age. At this point my Honda bluebooks for more than the Jaguar, but ain't nobody complimenting my Honda.

[M2 pilot]

But, but, but, You can live in your car but you can't drive your house.

[I'm a red panda]

I never want to own a car that someone else would envy enough to steal.

Aren't the most commonly stolen cars pretty boring though.

It would be a lot harder to get rid of a Lamborghini on the black market than a Civic.

[Thegoblinchief]

Yeah, last time I saw the statistics, Buick Regals were the #1 most stolen car.

[bmiles62]

Actually my house does match my cars. It is an 80,000 townhome with an 8k Prius and a 1k Acura. Everything is paid for of course but the funny thing is our parking lot is filled with much newer cars than ours. I had a neighbor just buy a 34,000 dollar car and was telling me how excited she was to get to a point to be able to afford the payments. :/

[Mikhial]

I'm definitely part of this club. I live in one of the nicer high rises in my city. The first time up in the garage was crazy. Most cars are either a BMW, Mercedes, or Lexus. There are a few Maseratis, a Tesla (or two), and even a Rolls Royce. I would have the crappiest car in the garage if I didn't park across the street in another garage for $65 less a month.

[Jack]

My inner-city, gentrifying neighborhood has houses that range anywhere from abandoned-and-caving-in 800 sq. ft. cottage to brand-new $500K 3000 sq. ft. neo-Craftsman. My beat-up '96 Ford Ranger fits in just as well as my next-door neighbor's newish BMW does.

[partgypsy]

It's probably the disparity of it, but notice much more very modest homes or rental units, with expensive new cars or trucks parked out front. I then think that the vehicle is probably a significant percentage of what that home is worth.
Neighboring rich neighborhoods, lots of 500K-1mil houses, and of course lots of expensive cars (and I don't know anything about cars). However walking home in front of one of the nicer homes (sure it's worth around a mill) noticed it only had 1 car parked in front of it, an old Volvo (1980's looking).

The vehicle previous to the one we have now, was a Toyota camry station wagon (88, 89?). We purchased it from a couple that lived in a very nice house, who had just replaced the vehicle. I still remember the beautiful hostas on the walkway up to their door.

[Le Barbu]

I think I fit in the club!

350k$ house, 2 cars that worth about 3k$ and 12k$ (about 4% of the house value)

most of the neighbors with same kind of housing got a fleet +/- 50-75k$ for almost 20% of house value.

[Kris]

In a reverse situation, I dropped my kid off at a friend's house this weekend.  The house was a modest townhome, but in front were two quite-new, quite expensive vehicles (and one was a jacked up jeep, which indoubtedly pricey to run too).

It just struck me as odd that people would devote a LOT of money to something that just depreciates, while opting to spend a comparatively smaller amount on their home.

I'm in kind of the opposite situation, as well.  My husband and I pull in a little over 200k per year combined, and we live in a 1200 square foot condo in an area right on the edge between a nice neighborhood and a not-so-nice neighborhood, worth about 200k.  I drive a spiffy Audi convertible.  (However, the convertible is spiffy because I take care of it.  I bought it used and paid cash, so it looks like it's worth more than it is...)

[Gone Fishing]

When I was in college, I lived in the cheapest apartments in town.  A neighbor's guest commented that there sure was a lot of body damage in the parking lot.  He was right, just about every car had a crushed panel, door, or bumper.  I had never noticed before, but I didn't even have a car, so I guess I didn't match either!

[use2betrix]

But, but, but, You can live in your car but you can't drive your house.

I live full time in a 42' 5th wheel travel trailer... I can't drive my house, but I can easily tow it! :)

[HipGnosis]

My house doesn't match my vehicles... the 'other way round', sorta...

I live in a very modest house in a '50s tract neighborhood.  I live alone and basically barely use the 2nd bedroom..  And I suck at landscaping (I killed most of a row of shrubs, a mature grape vine and a small tree).

I drove older cars for years.  Bought for cash at around 100 thousand miles.  Mechanically sound and well maintained. 

I have 2 daughters and 3 granddaughters 1,000 miles away, with a couple health issues between them.  Being able to go to them at a moments notice is a very high priority, so last year I paid twice what I ever had before for a 7 yr old car with 70,000 miles.  It's mechanically and cosmetically perfect.

That's not much different than my neighbors (one has a pretty new, big SUV), but I also have a pickup ('94, 200K miles, mechanically sound) and 3 motorcycles (one's a collectors item).

[RWD]

We moved in with three cars: my mom's 1964 VW Karmann Gheia (her first car and now a 16-year-old beater)

And now the Karmann-Ghia is a collector's car! Not big money collector car, but some are going for more than $20k.