Remember how I talked about owning a home as one of my medium-term goals? I always assumed I wouldn’t be purchasing a home until I finish graduate school (around 28-30) and know where I’d like to stay put for a while. But now I’m thinking, depending on how things work out, maybe I can buy sooner than that.
My parents have a little experience buying residential properties and renting them out (to ensure cash flow during their retirement years). If I can get together a down payment in the next 3 or 4 years, maybe I can purchase a starter condo, rent it out, and they will help me manage it. I’d probably want to hold on to my condo for at least several years. This is all just thinking-out-loud, but that might be a possibility.
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Hey Wanda,
I’ve no experience with this personally but I’d been pondering this myself. Of course, I’d always dreamed of buying a house first, but it really doesn’t seem possible in today’s market whereas a condo does seem more realistic.
Since you’re working for a while after school, would it be reasonable to try to put away enough to cover mortgage payments during the term you’re going to grad school?
I think about this too–actually, on an even shorter timeframe. I sometimes wonder if it might not be an okay idea to buy a teeny little apartment wherever I go to grad school (as long as it’s not, you know, New York)–given that I’ll probably be there for 5 years, it doesn’t sound like the worst idea I’ve ever heard. Still, it would be tough to scrape up a down payment.
Sure, if you’ll be there for 5 years, that makes sense. My friend is at UNC medical and has purchased a townhome. However, for Wanda’s 2-year MBA program, with potential for out-of-town internship…I would not advocate buying.
Would you really want to rent to your friends? Worse, do you want to rent to a stranger?
I thought this article is interesting…
http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/102603/why-your-home-is-not-the-investment-you-think-it-is
This book is THE best book I have ever read on the subject of buying and investing in real estate.
http://www.amazon.com/Journal-Complete-Real-Estate-Investing-Guidebook/dp/0307345629/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6058635-3209467?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174510859&sr=8-1
I second the article listed in (4) above. Personally, locking up a ton of my money in a single property is the antithesis of diversification. If I then had to manage my own property as a landlord, I hope the work is worth the time and cost involved. I’m thinking of going away for grad school in the near future, so buying a place (especially in the overheated S.F. Bay Area) isn’t a viable option for me, IMHO.