Thoughts about life milestones (house, kids) through the transition from Internship>Post Doc>Career

[CatLover&PsychEnthusiast]

Hi all,

I am currently a married grad student who is planning on moving for internship next year. I'm a few years older than my cohort and I'm fortunate to have purchased a home (on my own!) when I started grad school. (I took a few years off after undergrad and worked very hard, which allowed me to do so). Anyhow, now I am thinking about the next steps in my life. I recognize that I will be selling my house and returning to the 'apartment life' during internship. However, I would like to settle down in an area and purchase another home during post doc (2 year position), if I am lucky enough to get a position in a location I wish to settle down in. That being said, would it be foolish to buy a home during post doc, not knowing 100% that I would find a job in the same city? When during your journey did you buy your home and set down roots? Relatedly, same question regarding kids. I really want to adopt, most likely from the foster care system. It's a long process. My understanding is that you also can't move around while fostering to adopt (I could be wrong though). Anyone else relate to any of these milestone questions? Wondering how to best balance these life milestones, and also not wanting to put all of this on hold for 3+ years until I finish post doc, is that unrealistic? Thanks in advance for your insights

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[Ollie123]

We waited til after post-doc, but plenty of people do not. Some depends on what you want to do and where you end.

Willing to settle for any ole general clinical job and moving to a major city for post-doc? Probably not a big concern. Personally I'd still wait out of fear of ending up with a nasty commute, but I wouldn't worry about it. Doing post-doc in a one-university town and want a faculty job in a psychology department? No way in hell I'd buy a house.

Generally speaking, break-even time on a home purchase is ~5-7 years assuming reasonably standard terms. Buying for less time than that is invariably not a good financial decision. It may be a good personal one, but except in unusual circumstances you will likely come out behind. Whether the personal outweighs the finances is up to you and your individual situation.

Can't comment on fostering.

 

[PsyDr]

You would be foolish. National average for break even on a house is 2 years. Sooner than that and you pay capital gains taxes on both a state and federal levels (i.e., 2/5 rule). Break even time is also highly dependent on geography. Lower cost of living places go towards 2 years, higher cost of living can go up to 15+years. Slower real estate market and you're potentially stuck with a house that you can't sell, which might be a problem if you can't find a job. You'd have to have at least 10% appreciation in that time frame, as the usual real estate commission is 6% and there are some other fees. Lenders are going to be extremely wary of someone with an end date to employment.

 

[CatLover&PsychEnthusiast]

I should have mentioned, I am seeking a neuropsychology career, primarily in practice but I'd also like to continue some clinical research.

Regarding the lending issue, my spouse has a solid job working remotely, so I'm fairly certain we could get a loan based on their info alone.

I hear you, it's a good reminder to think about the fees. It's hard to think about throwing away money to rent over the next several years, but I suppose that may be necessary. *sigh*

Also, did you begin the aforementioned milestones (house, kids) once you started your first position out of post doc or what was your path?

Thanks for the feedback so far!

 

[AcronymAllergy]

RE: home buying, I'd personally wait until either A) after postdoc, or B) you're able to fairly confidently determine that you'll be sticking around in that area afterward. You certainly could go the route of renting the property out (and possibly hiring a property management firm) if you leave, but you'd need to decide if that's something you want to take on. If not, renting may be your best bet.

I tend to look at the money "thrown away" on renting as affording increased flexibility and decreased risk (including the fees PSYDR mentioned) in situations like these.

 

[erg923]

I own a home. I am glad I do, because I dont have to go through the headache/nastiness, fix up, selling, marketing to sell it....cause we aren't going anywhere!

We have almost 40k in equity but this only happened because we bought at the right at the time (14-15), as well as some circumscribed location issues within our area. Please rent a house or a townhome.