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Updated over 5 years ago on . Most recent reply

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Kristopher Werner
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Boston, MA
1
Votes |
7
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Should I rent a home?

Kristopher Werner
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Boston, MA
Posted

I'm just getting started in REI. Before I realized this is what I wanted to do, my wife and I lived in a condo that we rented. To save some money for our first investment, a multifamily we'd house hack, we decided to move in with family. We've been grinding for over a year now trying to find something that we feel comfortable living in and will cash flow when we move out and we simply can't find anything. I live in a really hot market (Boston) which is making it even more difficult. We're at our breaking point and need to do something, but I can't justify buying a single family home due to a crash we know is inevitable in the next few years and there simply aren't any multi family's in my area that fit our criteria. We're to the point of strongly considering renting an apartment until we either find a good multi or see what the markets going to do. Is this crazy? Am I crazy? Has anyone done this? I honestly would rather rent at this point then buy a bad deal and then have the market crash on top of it.

Most Popular Reply

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Charlie MacPherson
  • China, ME
4,013
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3,412
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Charlie MacPherson
  • China, ME
Replied

@Kristopher Werner I don't think there's an inevitable crash - at least not in eastern Mass.  People have been talking about it for years, but the fundamentals that caused the 09 crash, just aren't in play.  That was caused in large part by predatory lending which isn't happening anymore.

Look at the local economy.  If we were an oil town and oil prices crashed, it would be a different story. There, the entire economy suffers - but that's not Boston or anywhere in eastern Mass.

We have so many thriving industries here that we're well diversified.  Education, biotech, defense, IT, medicine, finance - and none of them are in decline.

Take a look at this historical data from Q1 2006 to Q2 2019. Those who listened to the naysayers in Q1 2015 and have waited until now have watched median values climb from about $375,000 to $600,000.  Even if there's a crash, it's not going to drop below that mark.  Those who waited will never make up that difference.

My advice is to consider buying.  If you can't pay Boston prices, look to the south.  Prices in Plymouth, Norfolk and Bristol counties are a lot lower and have also appreciated nicely since the bottom of the last crash in Q1 09.

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