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This is actually a question I get have tried to answer for myself only in a more extreme way.One day when the real estate market was still in absolute chaos in Florida we decided we were sick of our ($669/mo.)rent. Looking back, I would happily rent that place today for that as it’s probably $1,400+/month now.So we took every penny we had and paid cash for our house in an online auction. We were pretty much flat broke and fixed it up just enough to actually be able to live in it like animals. We then used most of our paychecks for things like plumbing, a/c, fans, lights, cupboards & countertops, flooring, paint, etc. After a few years it was truly stunning!We could now begin saving nearly all of our income without having to come up with rent each month! Yes, the property taxes that go up every single year still come yearly, and so do the utilities and other random bills. We thought, well we almost have enough we could buy another cheap home to fix up that was a little better than this one. Then we could rent this current one out and let the renters pay the taxes and utilities and our car payment, etc.The plan actually worked well! The rents pay more than the taxes on both homes, they definitely pay enough for upkeep on both homes and utilities on ours, and some to spare. But what about my newly acquired taste in: boating, Rolex watches, large mercedes, and international vacations….? No problem, we have been there before… Let’s find a little rental pay cash and fix it up, and rent it out.Fast forward a few years…. I now know several guys who have between 20–200 completely paid off rental houses who all say the same thing… “maybe I should keep an eye out for another little rental house, condo, duplex, apartment building, etc. to help cover some of my bills!”You can definitely get to where you have no rent or mortgage with a little effort and financial common sense. If you are willing to really bust your tail, you can make YOUR homes pay ALL your bills with minimal effort in a short timeframe given the right timing.You will find that it does however become a job with many stresses and complications. For some people it is worth it, typically very frugal people who are not shy. For some people (usually people who are not frugal and finance the property and hire out the labor) it is not the right path. These landlords are often in name only, as the bank truly owns the property. I hope someone learns something from this.And now back to your original question… I have no idea how free rent would really benefit you long term. Short term, I am sure it looks great. You May be surprised to see how fast your spending catches up and you are broke again.Immediate advice… you don’t need cable, you do not need to eat out ever, you should not be able to afford a car payment, no Christmas, No gifts, no name brand clothes, you cannot afford movies, no going to bars, etc! You need 6 hours of sleep, and a few hours for eating, showering, etc. Anyone should be able to work 80+ hours per week until they have a home PAID for. Get two or three jobs if necessary. This is the reality of every real landlord I have ever met by the way!Again, I am not talking about the debt straddling landlord, who owes the bank most of the rent, and the rest goes to maintenance, property management, insurance, etc. Okay, maybe they manage the property themselves and deal with every single repair and net an average or a few hundred a month. That is not a landlord, they are just paying themselves to be a property manager and you don’t need to OWN property to do that.

All other answers here are estimates and anecdotes. What's better than estimates and anecdotes? DATA. I can provide that, at least for rent.There is a site, mns.com , that via monthly survey maintains a damn good record of what average rents have been in every neighborhood, for doorman vs non-doorman buildings, for studios, 1BRs and 2BRs. Here's the link:Manhattan Rental Market ReportIn your particular case, you're looking for this'un:So, in a non-doorman building, your 1BRs in SoHo are going for about $3700/m. Want a doorman? That'll be another $2500/m on top please. Want some context? Take a look at the image on that page titled "A Quick Look 1Beds", it'll show you the summary numbers for every neighborhood in manhattan.OK, so that's rent - $3700/m. But you're a baller, probably working in Tech or Finance, so that number isn't scary to you. Great. How does the rest of the cost-of-living break down? I don't have the time to gather actual data - happy to edit it in here if you've got a source you can put in a comment - but let me add some experience from living here 13 years:Personal Monthly Budget - 1 adult in a 1BR aptRent: $3700Food: $800 (are you going out to the burbs to get to Costco? Hitting Westside Market? Probably not. At these levels, you're going to a restaurant ~3x/week, getting delivery 1-2x/week, maybe cooking once on average. If you're smart you'll get Blue Apron and a significant other and cook 3x/week, but that's still $60/week for you, and less than half your dinners, nevermind meals. Oh, and lunch? If you're in the office all day, your lunch is a $10-15 take-out-and-eat-at-desk affair, 5x/week. Adds up!)Subway: $100 ($120 pre-tax, sure, if you're employed and they do TransitCheck. If not, $120 post-tax. Let's split the difference and say $100)Cabs: $50 (for those of us who are young and single; I know lots of people who take way more than this, but plenty who never take them on principle)Health Insurance: $300 (net after taxes; your share based on what your company won't pay for you, or if you're on your own, it'll be double that on a place like Oscar, and with after-tax money. Ugh.)Cable: $100 (what, you're not going to have Cable? Suuuuure. OK, substitute Hulu, Netflix, HBOGo, and a great internet service that costs $60/m all by itself... you're basically at the same price)Utilities: $150 (less than that in the winter, well more than that in the summer with all that A/C you're probably running all day because who wants to come home to a sweaty apartment?)Merchandise: $500 (that includes clothes, electronics, gifts, other objects of your affection). Probably a little less if you're a guy and a little more if you're a girl, just because of the cost and longevity of clothes and the expectations of your wardrobe.Entertainment: $200 (movies, drinks at bars, broadway shows, concerts, yadda yadda - you can easily get way above $200 but that's kinda a bare minimum for the lifestyle people will expect of you with an apartment in SoHo)Misc Services: $50 (shipping, haircut, dry cleaners, etc.)Misc Other: $50 (let's say this is household necessities - you know, the odd lightbulb, cold medication, etc - plus charitable donations, fees to banks or gov't, etc)Travel: $??? (This could be anything. But don't try to tell me you're not going to go visit your parents sometimes, take a vacation, go to weddings or bachelor/ette parties, go to the hamptons or the jersey shore or florida to see your Bubby or yadda yadda yadda. Let's not get into what the average travel budget is for someone paying market rate in SoHo)Total after-tax without any Travel: $6000/month. Meaning you need to be bringing in $10k/month gross just to break even, nevermind saving anything. With a realistic travel and entertainment budget, probably $12-14k/month.How could you best cut this down?- Well, rent obviously. A single individual does not need a 1BR in this city, unless money is no object (and why ask the question if it's not?). So look at studios. Without doormen. In other, less-glitzy neighborhoods.- Cook a lot, only go out to eat when it's a social occasion. Keep lots of food in the house. And/or get a job where you can expense a lot of meals or they provide them for you, gratis.- Cut the cord on Cable. My wife and I pay $15/m for 3/1 mbit Internet, which lets me stream just about anything.- Merchandise. If you can show up to work and happy hours and restaurants looking like you get dressed by standing in a corner and having someone throw clothes at you, then hey, easy savings to be had here.But yeah, live in a less-expensive neighborhood. If rent is more than 50% of your take-home (and here, it is), you're doing it very wrong. For SoHo, TriBeCa and the Village, nevermind the UES west of Lexington Ave, if you have to ask what it'll cost, you can't afford it.

Mobile homes have undergone many changes in the past 30 years, from being tin and aluminum boxes to full-fledged homes with shingle roofs and wood siding. From my home, in the Florida panhandle, I can find 14 newer mobile homes set up in the past 20 years, and only 7 conventional houses within one mile of me. There are three mobile home sales lots in the two small cities close by, and their lots are full. People do live in mobile homes, a lot of people do. They are built to southern building code requirements, have long warranties, and have many floor plans and exterior designs that look great. They are easier to finance than a conventional home since the mobile home dealers offer easy terms and good interest rates to land owners, so they are often the home of choice to first time home buyers.Other answers point to the “stigma” of living in a mobile home… yes, we still have trailer lots where old mobile homes are parked closely together and rented for less than 1/3 of regular housing rentals, some are very well kept, some, not so much, but grownups with an open mind and functioning intelligence shouldn’t judge the residents of a mobile home park based on where a person lives, and if they do, that is their problem, not the mobile home resident’s.There are reasons more people don’t live in mobile homes, these may be because not everyone can afford them, new models still start out at over $30,000 for basic models, and the buyer usually needs to own the land they are set up on. Many subdivisions do not permit them, and some regions may not have manufacturers that offer them. Owning and living in a mobile home is still a challenge, especially compared to renting a home where a down payment and initial investment isn’t affordable to the would-be home buyer.