UMICH - Buy a house or rent?

I don't know what the property values are in Mich but here in Buffalo it is dirt cheap. I am not expecting to gain much on appreciation of the property but it is cheaper for me to own than it is to rent. I am in a little different situation in that I have two children and I need a yard. We paid 95K for our house so we have a total of 650/month house payment including taxes. For us to rent a comparable house it would be around 1300 in the area. So in our case it doesn't make any sense to rent. Even if we sell the house for what we paid and lose the 6% agent fees at the end we will still come out ahead. And that is assuming it doesn't appreciate at all. Also if your wife is going to be working you will have some write-offs when april comes. And for some reason sitting in my living room feels a lot better than sitting in some crappy apartment.

 

I don't know how familiar you are with Ann Arbor... but it is the most expensive place in Michigan to live. Houses there are outrageous with respect to other midwest locations. You would be lucky to find something for around 100,000... I don't even know if you could.

 

i'm not sure if it's the most expensive place in the whole state, but i do know everyone who has a house has it far away from school, in surrounding towns. they have to drive to the commuter lot and then take the bus to the school, unless they have someone willing to give them a ride. My opinion, just rent something close to school and don't worry about it. even though you lose money renting that you might be able to make back on buying, it will be worth it when you can roll out of bed and just walk to school in 5-10 minutes, go home for lunch if you want, and easily come in in the evening to practice whenever you want. especially in winter, who want to deal with digging out your car, driving in on icy roads, and paying for the gas money to do so.

 

There is, however, Northwood family housing on North Campus. Yes, you cannot own your house there, and it is a 10 to 15-minute bus-ride to the Dental school, but it is worth considering. I know someone who lived at the northwood apartments during their ortho residency at michigan. My 2 cents on the issue.

 

Yeah, the family housing is an option a lot of people choose... I would consider it more of a dorm than either and apartment or a house though, since it is run by the university. There are a lot of plusses to living there, its inexpensive, parking is available onsite, etc. I looked into it before getting my apartment, and the main reasons I decided against it were the bus ride and the fact that you actually lose preference for living there each year you stay (so there is a chance you will not be able to keep your same place for all 4 years, if there is no availability left after new people sign up). For the record, another option that a good number of people choose are the dental frats, but if you're married I'd assume you wouldn't want to do that.

 

with real estate the answer is always YES!!!!

 

There are some houses as close as within the two mins walk to the Dental School and no need for bus. You will have a lots of options within 8-10 mins of walking distance. School is surrounded by bunch of properties and apts for rent.

 

As for rolling out of bed and getting to class in 10 mins sounds really good. I would have loved it. However, I never lived on Central Campus for some reason.

 

There are loads of apartments within walking distance of the school, there are even a couple that are almost right across the street. try that website that i posted on the other um housing thread, it lists all of the apartments on and around central campus. i guess when i said close i meant walking distance, not having to take the bus at all. However it is true that if you go far enough away that you would take the bus, you can definitly get a much nicer place for cheaper. I don't know much about the farther away places though since I didn't look at them very carefully.

 

As my final exams are over, I have been searching for homes in the ann arbor lately and they seem to be expensive. I mean some townhomes are running for 180K+ and single family homes are around 250K(ones in the nice area and the mostly newer ones). I will keep looking for month or so and If I don't find anything appealing I might just rent it. I am surprised that housing are that expensive in AA. Another thing to conside for buyers is that Real Estate boom is pretty much over so appreciation may not be more than 5%. I am really thinking if financially it would make sense to buy becasue if I am only making 10K at the end of 4 years then, commuting is not worth it.

 

once you consider having to come up with a down payment, probably pay a realtor to help you buy and sell, only having it for 4 years, gas money and inconvenience to commute each day, i just figured it wasn't worth going to all the trouble. ya houses and condos right near central campus are crazy expensive. It might be more worth it if you have a family but for the average single or married/no kids student i just don't see the advantage in buying.

 

if your gonna have kids buy a place. the A2 market is weird. relatively expensive. dont buy something that will be hard to sell in 4 years. the cheaper something is, the harder it will be to sell. sounds paradoxical, but those places (ie Pauline, Geddes Lake co-ops, etc) are not very desirable and stay on market for a while. renting sucks, too, tho. lesser of two evils. ultimately, unless you can afford a sweet, desirable house or condo, you may end up renting. all the stuff near the dental school is very "under-graddy". check it out while undergrads are in, before signing a lease.

 

I live further away, probably a 10 minute drive from school. It takes me about 30 minutes after I park and take the bus into central campus. I have a much nicer place with lots more room for the same price that I would have in a closer apartment with less room and not nearly as nice. It really comes down to what you desire more, a better, more spacious place to live, or a smaller, usually older place that is close to campus. There are obviously exceptions to this rule, but if it is close and nice, it will usually be expensive.

 

Yes that is right. It truely depends on you. I have never lived on Central campus as an undergrad becasue I thought they weren't worth it so I lived on north campus and took bus everyday(15mins at most ride). However, right now I am considering Central Campus becasue it will be early in the morning for D school and Northwood Express and other buses aren't that frequent early in the morning. In the winter time it would suck to wait at stop for 20 min early in the morning. I am looking to pay no more than 500 for Central Campus. I am going to start searching from next week onwards. I know on north campus I can get something nice for 500 if I share 2 Bed apartment with someone.

Also, I looked on the housing market in AA and to me it didn't make sense since I am single. I ahve down payment and all that and was approved for loan that I wanted but after running the numbers I am just going to rent. Housing taxe in AA will run you around 5K for a year for about 230K house. All other utulities and expenses would be higher than renting. I figured even if my house appreciates at 4% I would make no money at the end of four years. in Ann arbor appreciation is about 4-5% max. Something to think about for you guys. If I had a family I might be doing something different but being single, renting makes sense.

Hey Biogirl, how much do you pay for your place in Central Campus. How is the place like, I mean old, new, noise factor etc.