Renting vs Buying?

[hrcline]

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Is it better to rent or buy when looking at homes for vet school? I'm married with a child, so roommates aren't an option. I've heard that some students buy a home and sell when they graduate. Does anyone have any experience with this?


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[Posey]

My husband and I are making the same decision (sans children). We plan to rent because we had a bad experience trying to sell a house during the recession. So, we are probably extra-conservative.
Some of the factors we considered are:
1) How likely is the market to appreciate in four years? Will it be enough to recover our costs?
2) How likely am I to find employment in that town after graduation? How likely is he to find long-term employment?
3) If we don't stay in that town, can we turn the property into a rental and cover our costs?


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[Posey]

I found this article helpful:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html?_r=0


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[CalliopeDVM]

Renting will give you a lot more flexibility -- you don't really know what the state of the market will be in when you're done with vet school and might need to move for a job. You might find yourself needing to move when there is a buyers' market and you could lose money on your investment, or find no buyers at all. Plus, you will have to pay all the transfer and legal fees at each purchase and sale. And you'll have to be responsible for maintenance and upkeep, which is both an additional cost and use of your (collective) time.

Mostly, at this time in your life, I think you need the flexibility of renting. Some people think rent money is wasted because it doesn't go towards ownership, but in reality it's buying you some freedom and flexibility.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Is it better to rent or buy when looking at homes for vet school? I'm married with a child, so roommates aren't an option. I've heard that some students buy a home and sell when they graduate. Does anyone have any experience with this?


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Heh. Kind of funny you say that. A colleague of mine is also married with a kid and they have to have a roommate to make ends meet. Hurrah vet med debt.

 

[rockatiel]

renting will def be more flexible, if you can find a completely vacant home. Not sure where you're going to, so idk what the house market is. My parents still rent to this day.

 

[rockatiel]

But you may do the roommate thing... To save money. Is your hubby working? Think about 3+ people contributing to the rent vs just one/two

 

[hrcline]

Heh. Kind of funny you say that. A colleague of mine is also married with a kid and they have to have a roommate to make ends meet. Hurrah vet med debt.

We tried the roommate thing once. We had to evict her, it wasn't a pleasant experience. It may work for some people, but it didn't work for us.

Thanks for all the feedback guys!


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[supershorty]

I would rent unless you're doing a dual program that will take more than 4 years. Renting is so much more flexible than buying.

 

[Coquette22]

We tried the roommate thing once. We had to evict her, it wasn't a pleasant experience. It may work for some people, but it didn't work for us.

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

In general, other vet students tend to make reasonable roommates compared with the general population.

 

[Cmmore15]

My husband and I have decided to buy but that is because we own a home and plan to sell to get a down payment. We also own several large dogs, one of which is a German shepherd (hard to rent with in most areas). It makes more sense for us to own but if our circumstances were different I think we would rent.


KSU c/o 2020 hopeful

 

[Posey]

My husband and I have decided to buy but that is because we own a home and plan to sell to get a down payment. We also own several large dogs, one of which is a German shepherd (hard to rent with in most areas). It makes more sense for us to own but if our circumstances were different I think we would rent.


KSU c/o 2020 hopeful

I've heard that some landlords are more flexible on pet limits when renting to vet students. I face similar difficulty finding a place that will allow a giant dog, but I'm hearing that it's easier to find rentals near vet schools.


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[Cmmore15]

My thing isn't just that they are big dogs, but that one of them is on the restricted breed list for most rentals that have a breed list.


KSU c/o 2020 hopeful

 

[Posey]

My thing isn't just that they are big dogs, but that one of them is on the restricted breed list for most rentals that have a breed list.


KSU c/o 2020 hopeful

Totally understand. I wanted to share the information for others who may be trying to make the same decision.

Mine is borderline for breed restrictions; she tends to get caught by weight restrictions more often than breed lists. It's definitely frustrating.




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[lianali]

Is it better to rent or buy when looking at homes for vet school? I'm married with a child, so roommates aren't an option. I've heard that some students buy a home and sell when they graduate. Does anyone have any experience with this?


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One thing I would like to add to Posey's post which covered some good questions to ask when buying a home - how much can you afford to have serious house repairs whenyou are in vet school? My SO is an engineer and is financially stable enough to cover any massive home repairs on our house that might crop up,

Is it better to rent or buy when looking at homes for vet school? I'm married with a child, so roommates aren't an option. I've heard that some students buy a home and sell when they graduate. Does anyone have any experience with this?


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To add on to Posey's list of really good questions - how are you planning to cover the inevitable house emergency repairs while in veterinary school? I'm not talking about the plumbing leak, I'm talking about the $12K roof repair or other 4 to 5 figure costs that happen as part of home ownership. Will you and your partner be financially solvent enough to cover those things on top of vet school debt?

 

[Osudairy]

I am personally planning on renting a house with other people. Buying a house would be too much for me going into vet school. Especially if the house market sucks in the next 4 years.

 

[SummerTheLynx]

Is it better to rent or buy when looking at homes for vet school? I'm married with a child, so roommates aren't an option. I've heard that some students buy a home and sell when they graduate. Does anyone have any experience with this?


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My n=1 experience.

I bought 3 months in to being here (I had a renter that was allowing me to break the lease early), but I was only looking for absolute steals. I found a short sale that was being sold about 40 grand under price. So I scooped it up at 45 grand under price, and it has since gone up in price (from its base value) by 30 grand, excluding renovations I have done. So the market in my area is on the rise, and I am planning on being in the area of my school after vet school as well.

I am currently renting out 2 of the three rooms, and gf will be here super soon, so we are having the renters combined pay for the entire mortgage and we are covering taxes and homeowners insurance. We are paying less than we would be renting, and obviously paying off part of the mortgage in the process.

So a whole lot of reasons contributed, but in a worst case scenario, I know I can get the money back out of the house and sell it quick if for some reason I don't end up staying here after school, but I am so happy I made the decision to buy!

 

[that redhead]

Rent rent rent.

You'll want the flexibility when you're done school and are job hunting. Won't have to wait for it to sell if you end up moving, or deal with the costs of upkeep/repair/etc.