Help! Rent is going up, is it time to buy?

[Heidi Kenefick]

My rent on my condo is going up by $450 in two months when my lease renews!! This is in part due to a promotion I was given when I rented it 3 years ago not being renewed. New rent will be $2200/month. They offered to sell it to me for $216000. The HOA cost is about $350/month. I have two loan offers one is for a physician loan, so no PMI but requires 5% down because this is a condo, 2.97% interest rate on a 15 yr fixed. Total cost to close will be close to 20k, monthly expenses with HOA fee will be just over 2200/month. I only have 15k that I can comfortably put towards this, so that's problem one. Problem two, I only plan to be here another 2 years, so when I sell I want to get my money back out.

Similar units in my neighborhood sell for 215-230k right now. If I finished the basement and did some upgrades I could potentially sell for over 240.

Option 2- buy a single family house, no HOA fee, no PMI and 100% loan to value, so less money out of pocket to close (closer to 10k). Same issue of moving in a couple of years, and right now everything sells so fast it is crazy! Hassle to buy and hassle to move...

Which option seems to be the better financial choice? This isn’t a long term play, so I’m not emotionally attached to the condo or a house, just want to do what makes the most sense. Thoughts?