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Van’s Housing Market: Rent or Buy? Let’s Have a Caffeine-Fueled Debate

@Ava Morales2/9/2026blog

so think of van like that one friend who always shows up late with a half-baked plan. you sit down for a beer and they drop a life decision on you: rent or buy? honestly, i didn’t know i wanted a life decision until last week. last friday, i tripped over a Raisin Bran box in a 7-eleven parking lot and ended up on a chat thread about van’s housing market. people were talking like it was the stock market crash of ‘08. except instead of money, they were crying over square footage.

i checked the average rent last night on forums and it’s $1,200. that’s for a studio? i almost quit. but then i remembered i’m a digital nomad. i don’t want a studio. i want a place with a desk that doesn’t scream ‘i’m trapped in a.startup_bro_trap.’ so i started looking at houses. $300k for a starter home? i almost bought a blender. that’s how cheap this feels. but then i read a post on the van subreddit that said, ‘buying here is like dating someone who says they’ll never cheat… until they do, and then you’re stuck paying alimony.’

now, the data. according to the van city council’s latest report, safety isn’t great. 6.2% crime rate? that’s worse than my ex’s sobriety. but the job market? remote work is booming. 45% of new jobs here are in tech or creative fields. that’s good if you’re me, because i freelance photography. but bad if you’re not? rent is skyrocketing because everyone’s fleeing [insert expensive city] to work from a van outside sainsbury’s.

my landlord tried to upsell me a garage. ‘it’s like a storage unit but you can cook in it,’ he said. i asked if it had a wifi signal. he didn’t know what that was. i almost took him up on it. until i remembered i’m allergic to dust. and that it’s illegal to convert a garage into a studio in van. anyway, the weather here is a dealbreaker. -30° in december? this isn’t a home. this is a cryopod. i swear my pipes are judged me. my neighbor, barbara, keeps a space heater in her bathroom. she calls it her ‘jacuzzi.’ i tried to ask about it. she just muttered, ‘don’t die. that’s a whole other can of worms.’

but here’s the kicker: van’s housing market is a puzzle. you can buy, but only if you want to live in a house that hasn’t been flipped since 1998. or you can rent, but every month it’s a gamble. i emailed 10 flippers and got 7 responses. three said, ‘we’re out.’ two said, ‘price is firm, but i’ll throw in a toaster.’ one said, ‘i’ll give you my couch if you sign the lease today.’

last week, i overheard two kids at a park saying, ‘rising rents are just capitalists trying to break the youth.’ i wanted to laugh, but i couldn’t. because maybe they’re right. moving here feels like becoming part of a collectively bankrupt experiment. i asked a barista at the van coffee house if buying was a good idea. he said, ‘only if you want to spend your life dodging squirrels and wondering if your pipes are about to burst into snowflakes.’

so what’s the answer? honestly? i’m too broke to buy. but also, my laptop needs a new screen. maybe i’ll just rent until the apocalypse. or until the toaster in the garage flips. you never know.

[iframe src="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.4942,43.38&z=12&output=embed" width="100%" height="300"]

if you’re still here, you’re either brave or very cheap. check out tripadvisor for listings that don’t make you question life choices: tripadvisor.com/van-rentals. local subreddit for when you rage-quit a landlord: reddit.com/r/vanhousing. yelp has a ‘hidden gems’ guide to apartments that aren’t haunted by previous tenants: yelp.com/van-apartments. and if you’re into art, the van art scene is a mess too. i saw a mural of a squirrel holding a peanut butter jar. it was... existential.

(ps: if you’re a veteran, you might qualify for a subsidized home. i checked. i’m not. but maybe you can. van.gov/housing)

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About the author: Ava Morales

Fascinated by how things work—and why they sometimes don't.

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