Continue to Rent or Buy?

This was something that we found ourselves asking towards the end of the first year of medical school. The rent for our apartment was going to be increasing and the difference between that and a mortgage was just around $200. With medical school being only four years, was it worth it to make the investment if we only had three years left?

We started to look at housing anyways just to see what we could afford and what the market looked like. One thing we knew was that we wanted to stay in/around the neighborhood we were currently in. It was close to everything we needed. There were some older homes across the street that we looked at…and a new housing development going up down the way. Our first thought was that the new housing development was out of reach, we can’t afford it, but we’ll look through the model homes for the heck of it. Naturally we fell in love with the model homes and the furnishings in it. Just like my last post, we walked through in awe and began dreaming.

After a few weeks to a month (or so) of looking, we ran the numbers and realized that the new housing community down the street might actually be in reach! With the down payment we were putting down, we got pre-approved for the loan we needed on just my income. During the build process, we got to pick some of the furnishings and upgrade certain things. Granted we had to be strategic though about what we chose to upgrade. Our process for choosing what we did was based on resale value if we ever had to sell the home. What would other buyers want?

We ended up choosing the following:
– wood like tile flooring for the first floor (minus the Harry Potter closet)
– stainless steel appliances
– slightly more padding under the carpet upstairs
– upgraded electrical so the house can be wired for an alarm system or surround sound in the future
– ethernet ports in all living areas (including our loft)

I am happy to say that I have been in our home since late August/early September of 2016. At first I tried not to get too attached, but now it is safe to say that the house has definitely become a home.