Housing at Med School

[ollie2003]

For those of you who have decided where to go (or have a good idea) how and when are you going to start looking for places to live?

Anyone going to buy a condo/house instead of renting? I am thinking about doing this and would like to hear from others about their plans for buying.

Or...which schools help you find roomates or places to live. Is it mostly on your own?

maybe this is too early, but I am thinking about it now since I want to move in a month or so before school starts.

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[DrWuStar]

i think the timing depends on the location. if your school is in a college town, where most rentals are taken by students and 9 month leases are common, now is a good time to start. for instance, i know UC Davis suggests students secure housing as early in the spring as possible. on the other hand, if you are going to be living in a big city where there are lots of rentals, you probably won't be able to find something this far in advance. you woul do better to find something about a month before you are planning to move in. i am probably going to school in chicago, so my plan is to fly there for a weekend in july and find a place to start in august.

my sweetheart and i are thinking about buying a house, but are still trying to decide if it is worth it for four years. to me, it seems like a good idea since we could afford the down payment and then our monthly payments would go towards owning something instead of just filling the landlord's pockets. but his dad thinks it's a bad idea unless we are planning to stay in the area for longer than four years, which i doubt we will do.

if you are considering buying, make sure you think about not just your monthly mortgage payment, but also about homeowners insurance and annual property taxes. you get a big tax break based on the interest on your mortgage, but as a med student with no taxable income, we won't benefit from that the way working folks do. at least that is my understanding.

i so want to own a house.

 

[Tezzie]

Buying a house is not an option for me.

If i go to school in NYC i will stay for a few weeks with my parents and try to find a roommate / apt.

In other cities i guess i will just rent right away.

If i stay in St. Louis, i will keep the apt i already have (although i am not sure if my roommate is going to stay).

 

[ollie2003]

I am thinking about buying instead of renting for financial reasons mostly. I realize there are hidden costs, but I think in the long run it may be a better option.

I am going to be in Ann Arbor where they give you an estimated 600/month rent---for four years that is about 28,800 dollars spent in rent. (i will probably just stay in the area for the summers). In Chicago you will most likely have a higher amount than this

I currently have enough money for a down payment and although I need to talk about it at detail with my parents and boyfriend in the end I think I can sell a nice condo in Ann Arbor for about how much I paid for it, if not more. At worst, if I am unable to sell the condo (which according to 3 realtors condos sell very quickly in ann arbor) I suppose I could rent out the rooms for ~550/month and pay it off that way.

I just think if I have the money for a down payment now, I would have to lose more than 28,000 on the condo at the end of four years to make buying a worse choice than renting.

As far as the point about not having enough taxable income to benefit from the tax break, I think one potential way to avoid that would be to convince your parents to put it in their name, but pay for it yourself. I'm sure this wouldn't work for everyone, and may even be a bad idea for most. but, in theory, i think that would be a way to avoid it.

 

[futuredrswife]

depends. looks like my husband and i may have to choose between living in florida and virginia (if florida comes through). in florida, we would definitely buy a house, since i work. in virginia, we wouldn't be able to afford anything nice anyway, so it might be better to rent.

but we really want to buy a house. we want a yard with a grill, and room for a dog, and a garage... so many reasons that houses are superior to apartments, for us. not to mention equity, tax benefits, privacy, no landlord, room to breathe....