Man Living In Van With Fiancée & Dog Gets A Job That Offers Him A Place To Live, But He Has To Go Alone
It's quite the dilemma, and people did not agree with the advice he ended up receiving.
photoschmidt / Shutterstock Today's housing market is so wild that it forces many of us to make incredibly difficult decisions, even when we have enough money to navigate the astonishing cost of living.
A man who called into an advice show has found himself in this sort of dilemma after getting a new job, but the advice he received on what to do next stirred quite a bit of controversy online.
The man has been living in a van with his fiancée and dog, but his new job is causing as many problems as it's solving.
Like many young people nowadays, the 19-year-old man addressed today's incredibly unaffordable housing market by joining the "van life" trend, living in a large RV-style van with his fiancée and their large dog.
But recently, he's had a major stroke of luck. He landed an amazing new job that pays him six figures. Most of us would think that solved all of his problems, but it's left him facing a major dilemma.
The job includes housing, but only for him, not his fiancée and dog, and he's not sure what to do.
The man called into financial guru Dave Ramsey's online talk show for some advice on what to do now that he's come into a high income that will allow him to compete in today's housing market.
But he wants to make sure he makes the best possible decision for everyone involved, as well as for his financial future. "I'm kind of trying to figure out if I should put down 3.5% and get her out of the van, or if I should wait and put down 20%" on a house.
The nature of his job means he'll travel frequently for two weeks at a time and be sharing space with a co-worker, so he can't bring his fiancée and dog along. But buying a house seems like a bit too big a financial leap for him right out the gate.
Ramsey and his co-host, George Kamel, wondered why he didn't just go get an apartment. "You've given us two extremes," Ramsey said. "I feel like going from a van to buying your first house — congratulations on the income — but why is renting on your own not a part of this equation?"
The problem, the young man responded, was two-fold.
One, rent in his area is exorbitant, with a basic apartment running about $2,000 a month, which seemed to him like an unwise financial move. Two, his dog is too big to live in most apartments. That left him feeling like he had only two viable options — buying a house or staying in his RV.
Ramsey's blunt advice was that he was thinking way too much about his dog, but many people found it really off-base.
"We've been living in the van now for almost two years, so we're kind of comfortable in it," the young man told Ramsey, "so [my fiancée] would be all right waiting until [I have a 20% down payment]."
Ramsey was having none of it. "Sir, I'm an old man, and so I'm going to give you old man advice: Don't make decisions about where you live based on a dog, ever. "Don't make decisions about where you make your fiancée live in a van, ever."
Instead, Ramsey recommended he "set a [wedding] date, get married and go rent an apartment, or go find a place in the country and rent it for the big dog."
That seems reasonable enough, but many on TikTok felt like it was totally out of touch to take the dog out of the equation. "If my dog can’t go I’m not going," one person wrote. "Dogs are the new kids, just get used to it!" another sniped.
But the core of Ramsey's advice still resonated. Many saw his point that Jayden was worrying way too much about finding the "perfect" solution instead of just doing what was best for him, his fiancée, and his beloved pet. And they saw it as an ultimately easy decision.
"If my fiancé made me continue to live in a van while he slept in a room in a house," one woman wrote, "he wouldn't be my fiancé anymore." Another added, "Is his dog not worth the $2k for housing since he loves it so much?"
Harsh, but fair. All too often when we make big decisions we fall into the trap of "letting 'perfect' be the enemy of 'good,'" as the saying goes.
Sure, neither paying $2,000 in rent nor putting down 3.5% instead of 20% on a house is ideal, but given his income, they're not catastrophic either. Hopefully, by stepping back a bit he can find a solution that works for everyone involved — dog included.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.