Buying a condo?

[DDYESS]

Just curious what most of you are doing for living arrangements while at school? How many of you out there decided to buy a house or condo?? Do you have to have a nest egg to be able to pay a mortgage while in Dschool??
I have a little saved up, but not that much.. How does taking a mortgage affect your credit when it comes to student loans if your unemployed while in school?? Are student loans even enough to cover something like that?? I was thinking of looking into a cheaper condo maybe something like 100K, I figure if I rented an apartment for 4 years at lets say $900 bucks a month thats = $43K of the mortgage I would have paid, excluding interest so lets say by the time I graduated I would have paid off atleast 1/3 of the mortgage... Im just curious from those who have done this, how it worked out with making payments, taxes, maintenance, all that jazz..... Thanks.. !!

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[Fuji]

You can't exclude interest because about 80% of that $43 will go toward interest, not the principal.

My wife and are buying a home only because she will be working while I'm in school. Whether your student loans are enough to cover a mortgage depends on the school's allotted budget and the cost of your condo.

 

[drpduck]

I considered buying when I go to dental school, mainly because I hate the idea of losing money to rent, but here are a few things to think about

1) Taxes, could easily be a few thousand in some areas, how are you gonna come up with that $$?

2) Homeowners insurance

3) Cost of upkeep (e.g.-fixing hot water heater when it breaks etc.)

4) Time for upkeep


Honestly unless you have a full time working significant other whom can help cover costs, I'd say it is wiser to rent. I highly doubt that any dental student would have the time or money to fix up their place if something broke, but as a renter that is taken care of by the renting company. Not to mention lots of extra costs other then the mortgage (see above).

Depending on where you are looking, condos can also be a gamble. They are always building nicer, newer condos everywhere all the time! So after you are done D-school and want to sell, why would someone buy your older place when for the same amount they can get a nicer, newer place? From what I've read, unless you live in NYC, condos are tough to break even, much less a profit.

Believe me, I would love to own a place and not waste as much money, but IMO its just not possible if you are living by yourself (without a sugardaddy/momma lol) with the time and monetary restrictions of a dental student.