Buying a house during medical school

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Keona

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All of the other threads about this are really old. I have been accepted to medical school, and will graduate this spring, along with my husband. I was wondering what other people think of buying a house while in medical school. If we're going to buy one we would rather buy one now as opposed to living in an apartment for a while, and then buying a house.

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Prices are much lower than they were a year or two ago but credit is hard to come by. If you have a down payment and qualify for a morgage and can get something that fits with your budget, it might be a good deal.

On the other hand, you should consider the commute to school (check out the rush hour commute which can be considerably longer than it is on a weekend or during a holiday period), and the need to pick up and move 4 years from now if you need to move for residency. Needing to sell (or being an absentee landlord while living elsewhere) can put you in a bind if the market is soft at that time.

While real estate does appreciate (grow in value) over the long term, it may lose value over the short term and you may be forced to sell at a loss, which would be disappointing.

One other thing, with a house you have responsibilities for upkeep (snow removal, landscaping, gutters, painting) and headaches with plumbing, heating, wiring and other stuff that is the landlord's headache when you rent.
 
I'm a home-owning medical student. It's six-to-one, half-a-dozen-to-the-other. You might come out ahead financially, you might not. It all depends on how much upkeep is required and how the market plays out. Also, you never plan for the air-conditioner to fail during the record heat wave of the decade, but stuff like that happens (and from personal experience, that scenario is not cheap either).

I like having my own place. I don't worry when I crank up my guitar and jam away to relieve stress. Neighbors have to really go out of their way to disturb me while I'm studying. It's great for my family. This address puts us in a great school district. The kids play in the yard. My wife gardens. The garage has plenty of room for our cars and my motorcycle. You know, normal suburbia.

But, after the new furnace, air-conditioner, deck, siding, gutters, etc., etc., etc., my home-ownership has definitely not been cheaper than renting. More satisfying, but not cheaper.
 
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Is your husband starting med school as well? I think this would be a much more viable option if he wasn't.
 
He is not going to medical school, he will be graduating in May, starting a job, and he would take on most of the house responsibility.
 
Waste of money. You'll be moving in four years. You buy a house when you're ready to settle down in one spot for a long period of time.
 
To be a Dave Ramsey parrot: you should be debt free, have 3-6 months of living expenses in an emergency fund, and qualify for a 15-yr fixed rate mortgage where the payment is no more than 25% of your take-home pay. A 20% down payment is best to avoid PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance)

If you have that, then this could be a great time to buy!
 
I think there are only a few instances where home ownership during med school is a good idea: a. you have a family and need the space or b. by buying said house/condo you can get instate tuition and thus are probably saving more than you stand to lose from the property.

Otherwise, it's probably too much of a hassle to deal with in med school.
 
I didn't buy a house per say, but I did buy a town home. Its great, because the HOA takes care of all th exterior, inclduing mowing, snowing shoveling, roof repair, painting and etc. It wasnt as much as a hassle as owning a home, and there is a huge barrier between my neighbors so I never hear them and they never hear me while I'm doing late night pod-casting.

Like they said, if you got the the funds to do it, its defintely worth it. Even if owning in short term, its a heck of investment, rather than only oweing money only, you at least have a property that could in turn be turn into a cash if needed.
 
I wanted to buy a house for med school, but school loans couldn't count as income and no one will loan to a person with a projected $0/year income for the next four years (I tried my best to talk them into approving it!). If you can do it and you find a good deal, then rent out the extra rooms, it could end up being a great decision! If it doesn't sell when you need it to, though, it obviously could become a burden.
 
Well, my husband will have an income, so hopefully we'll have better luck convincing them of loaning us the money. This would be our only debt, other than the looming cost of medical school tuition. I like the location of the medical school, and wouldn't mind living there longer than four years, but I obviously wouldn't know about that until I knew where I was going for residency.
 
All of the other threads about this are really old. I have been accepted to medical school, and will graduate this spring, along with my husband. I was wondering what other people think of buying a house while in medical school. If we're going to buy one we would rather buy one now as opposed to living in an apartment for a while, and then buying a house.

rent
without a doubt
 
All of the other threads about this are really old. I have been accepted to medical school, and will graduate this spring, along with my husband. I was wondering what other people think of buying a house while in medical school. If we're going to buy one we would rather buy one now as opposed to living in an apartment for a while, and then buying a house.

Accepted where? For starters, it depends on how much houses cost where the med school is located...

Med school is 4 years. That is not a long enough period of time to be relatively sure of recovering your initial investment...

My advice: Rent and live as close to the med school as possible.
 
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