emorygrad87

Thank you Usmivka and rising_star for your thoughtful posts. I'm glad I decided to consult the gradcafe community. I convinced my parents to come down with me for grad weekend. My dad is just a general handyman and they own a few rental properties. I'll share your all's input and if they give the ok on a property, I think I will go for buying over renting. The one downside I see is that I will be in a quieter area versus renting and being in a hipper/trendier area. That may benefit my studies though!

As far as getting the loan, both of our families would be willing to co-sign and have stellar credit. Also, I am looking into a condo unit, which will obviate the need for certain types of upkeep associated with home ownership, but also may have less resale value. As the first reply said, all of my bet would hinge on the ability to resell it in a fairly short period of time without accruing huge fees. In regards to saving for a future house, I'm not too concerned about that, as my partner is going into a pretty safe 100k+ a year field. We'll get by. Rising_star, I wasn't planning on making money on it. It is just that the mortgage payments would be considerably less than rent in the same period of time. Then I would be hoping that a sale at the exact same price as I purchased it for would wipe out the rest of my principal on the mortgage. Water heaters, plumbing, and electrical issues are certainly something I will keep in mind, but I also already plan to save for such contingencies. There are also financial risks in renting, especially because so much renting is controlled by companies these days that have the ability to be lax tenants and not be on top of the maintenance. Either way it is a tough decision and one that I am approaching with the utmost caution. Thanks for giving me more to think about! I will try to search more for past posts on this topic. If anyone else has experience or has a link to another post on this topic, I'd love the info!

I am looking into buying a condo instead of renting during my time in grad school. I will have someone else helping me with either mortgage or rent payments (whichever way I decide to go). My calculations show that my partner and I will end up paying at least $15,000 less than if we rent. Without getting muddled in numbers (given that different areas--esp. rural vs. urban--will have totally different circumstances) what have your all's experiences been in housing during a doctoral program? Has anyone bought a condo and found it to be a better value? Thanks in advance for the input!