At 32, after 12 years of living rent-free with my parents in the San Francisco Bay area, I was ready to move into my own place. I had saved $400,000 and had the flexibility to make the leap, but whether it was uncertain streams of income, wanderlust and mostly, the financial benefits of staying put, something had been holding me back. Until November 2023, when I visited a friend at their Fremont, California, apartment complex.