For between $8,000 and $10,000 you can build your own 500 square-foot home. Land is the kicker. In America, cost of land ranges between $12 per square foot to $600+.

I’m hooked on small houses and can’t pass up Pinterest posts that share adorable, small homes, which is how I came across Hobbitat Spaces. A small house company based out of Maryland, they’ve built 13 cabins around Deep Creek Lake which are all available for rent through BlueMoonRising.org.

Should I buy? Should I continue renting? If I lived in a city where there was a clear choice, this wouldn’t be such a dilemma. However, living in a suburb of Los Angeles makes it a distressing, hair-pulling decision.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. We’ve all heard that one before, and strange enough it’s often true. As things in my life shift, making it difficult to figure out where I’ll grow roots for many decades to come, I keep one goal in mind: to own a home of my own.