Easy Change

 It has been a while since I talked about my experience in real estate and with the craziness of covid, it seemed like a decent time to talk about this. I have spent some time thinking about this given that I live in a high cost of living part of the United States. What this means in short is that it generally costs me more than average folks to pay for my basic expenses like housing, food and healthcare. While I am fortunate in that I have a degree that pays well , I'm not so naive to think that is the end of the story. What makes sense for me at this stage for my life is different than what seemed reasonable in my 20s. Now, by the zillow zestimate , I have about 40% equity in my home after a little more than 3 years. Looking back briefly, it has been an interesting ride. I bought the property with about 20% down about 4 years ago. Then, I spent about 10k on repairs/painting etc. Next, I went to pay off ahead of schedule, often sending in principle payments of several hundred dol