...If it's only about the numbers (i.e. if it's cheaper to live in an apartment, and you don't need the benefits of a house...), run the NYT Calculator and compare the buying a house to renting the apartment. Likely renting will come out better, but you are giving up things (size/space, for example) -- if you don't care about those things, just the cheapest option, then the calculator will tell you that...
This calculator does not allow for 2 base numbers. The cost of the house cannot be dissociated from the cost of the apartment?
Maybe I am just missing your point.
But as you commonly talk about emotional choices, I would figure this kind of comparison would be important to you in particular.
We all need to be able to evaluate the full cost of a each option. Apartment, trailer, condo, house, whatever.
Then after the costs are analysed, you can make a decision.
You talk is if the decision comes first without the cost analysis.
You dont need a hot tub, lawn, extra bathrooms, basement, garage, etc. Those are things you want that you pay for.
I am seeking a way to quantitatively find an expense number for each option that hopefully can then be combined into one nice calculation to figure out expenses for 'shelter'.
That calculator wants to specifically compare renting a house to buying a house on mortgage.
- it does not really give you a way to say "this apartment's year cost is x" And "this house's yearly cost is x" And it seems to ignore the option of buying the house outright.
Edit:
Even these individual decisions that seem all emotional can come down to analysis of Time vs Money.
We are all here with the idea that our time is worth money or we would not looking to FIRE at all. You would just keep working your 40 hours for the money.
- Thus you must assume your time is worth more than the hourly rate of whatever job you are quitting.
$50k a year is reasonable, but it would change from person to person. That is $25 per hour.
- Thus you have to look at things like owning a house vs renting an apartment in a light in which your time to maintain, paint, mow the lawn, etc your house has a price.
I am not trying to compare apples to oranges; I am trying to covert all these options to just apples by figuring out a way to fully compare all the costs.