ShadowFaxSam

You can see a difference in the striations in ridges in the picture on the right. There are more "cracks" suggesting some sort of internal collapse.

Its refreshing to read a hopeful and positive piece about the future of America. So much has been written of the state of the great divide between races, conservatives and liberals, heartland America and the coastal liberal cities, republican vs democrats. At least out of all this turmoil there is a sense of activism and involvement in politics I have not seen in years.

>“If you want to create a great community, you move someplace that needs your help,”

I did buy a used car, just a more recent, nicer model. At the time, I thought I would hold on to this car for years, so I went for a step up in quality as well.

After working low level internships and restaurant jobs, its easy to get a little too ambitious at age 22 when you sign that first contract with an annual salary.

A 3 year term would not have been possible at my then current salary to finance the car. The standard term period (when I was buying) was 5-5.5 years.

In hindsight its easy to look back on what I could have done differently, but I guess that's point. When first graduating, I wouldn't recommend entering into even a medium term financial commitment as things can change so quickly within your first few years in the professional world.

True, but the average term of a lease is only 24-36 months while the length of term for financing a car is 60-84 months. (I had a 72 month plan). So you can get out of a lease much earlier, and if you do exit early, you typically only have to make the next 6 months of payments.

This same principal can be applied to buying or leasing a car. When I first graduated college and had my first "adult" job I wanted to purchase my first car. The general mantra I heard was "Leasing is throwing money away". I ended up financing my first car, (used) thinking I was making the correct financial decision.

The problem with someone fresh out of college buying or financing a car is they really have no idea what they're next 3-5 years have in store (change in cities, jobs, etc).

My friends who went the leasing option were making considerably lower monthly payments and were able to move on to another car at the end of the year with no difficulty, or could move to another city without carrying a multi-year financial obligation.

I ended up moving to Europe before I had even completely paid off the car and had to sell it at a loss.

I wish I could go back and simply lease a car for my first few years out of school before I figured out where my career would take me.

I'm not studying my Masters in Europe, and here the the norm is to enter a Masters Program directly after finishing your bachelors. I have already worked for a few years in America and while I'm still in my 20's, I am one of the oldest students in the class.

The biggest reason I could not enter into a graduate program straight out of university was the college debt I had already taken on for my bachelors. I worked for a couple years making student loan payments and then as I always planned, I began researching Masters Programs. After seeing the price tag, it was very hard to walk away from a comfortable salary.

To avoid this, perhaps it is best to go straight from Undergrad to grad before you start enjoying the the young professional lifestyle and work on paying off a larger debt upon graduation.

This site here backs up what you said, and as you mentioned its really not close. My personal experience was based on short term rentals (<1 year).

https://www.bedssi.com/rental-price-guide-for-australian-cit...

I did find that Sydney had more availability and options (at least during the market period I was searching). Lower Supply and High Demand should drive up Melbourne's price, but as you said, real estate in Sydneys CBD is just more valuable than Melbourne.

I keep hearing how Sydney has the most expensive housing.

In my experience, I found renting to be much more expensive in Melbourne compared to Sydney.

This may be driven by affluent areas such as Rose and Watsons Bay.

So while these new measures could potentially lower pricing in the housing market for buyers, I could see this having negative affects for the renting community.