My rent for a 3 bedroom apartment in Sunset Park Brooklyn was hovering 700-825 bucks from about 2008-2021 (Rent stabilized apartment my grandmother had, passed and I kept the lease). Anyway, I stacked my bread entire time, closed on a 687,000 property (with my wife) back in October.
While I must say it was wonderful paying such cheap rent there was definitely big drawbacks. Main one being landlord was NOT trying to renovate shyt or repair anything that wasn't an absolute necessity and even then he moved at snail's pace. I took it as the cost of doing business.
If anyone is fortunate enough to pay make-believe rent like I was, I strongly advise fiscal discipline and putting off the instant gratification.
Yes, I didn't get to go on nearly as many trips as my homies, nor did I get to upgrade my whip as I would have liked BUT I'm sooo glad I didn't. A lot of my homies spent so much money living a "fun" lifestyle but they my age, still renting. Not judging, just saying I'm glad I didn't go that route.