FIRST BP POST! Buy or Rent on the Northshore in MA

[Tyler Suggs]

Hello Bigger Pockets community! This is my very first post in the forums and my first day as a Pro member so figured what better time than now to post. 

A quick rundown of my situation/options: My fiancé and I are currently renting a tiny 1 bed 1 bath apt for only $1,500/month (a steal in our area) but with our wedding fast approaching and the desire to start our family we are on the hunt for more space. (Not to mention our current apt smells of cigarette smoke, not a scenario I will even entertain when it comes to having a pregnant wife/our first child)

After sort of running through our options and what is on the market both for purchase as well as rentals, I have found that rents for apartments around us with at least 2 beds start around $2,400 a moth and can range all the way up to $3,500. 

Small single families around us in decent shape not needing COMPLETE renovation/updating go anywhere from $450,000 to $600,000 and with the mortgage rates wind up being about $3,200 at a minimum and up from there. 

Our 3rd and most realistic option seems to be a condo (which I don’t love the idea of) which surprisingly go from about $300,000-$450,000 (higher than I’d expect) with condo fees ranging from $0 to $400/month. After using some of the BP calculators even if we could get a condo on the cheaper side with 2 beds and 1.5 baths (around $400k), it’d be tough to rent it out after fixing it up to cover our mortgage costs. It winds up costing us $2,800-3,100/month and that includes us putting about $40k down. 

This all leads me to think maybe it does make sense to continue to rent for a bit and sort of see what happens and continue to try to put money away? I hate the idea of continuing to rent but hate even more the idea of buying a condo or small single family (if we could even find one) and wind up not being able to cover the mortgage with the rents in the future. I’m torn on both and will continue to look at the options and see what comes onto the market but hoping for some guidance from others with some more experience or some different views! WHAT DO I DO?!

Thank you ahead of time for any insight or opinions, I appreciate any input!

Tyler

[Jordan Alexander]

Hi Tyler,

First off, congratulations on being engaged! The wedding will be here before you know it. My wife and I have been married almost two years now and it's how fast time flies by. Reading your post popped two words into my mind: House Hacking! I'm not sure if you plan on investing in real estate, but house hacking is a great way to have little to no housing expenses, and you purchase an asset as opposed to purchasing a liability like a single family home or condo. Go into the bookstore and pick up the The House Hacking Strategy. With an FHA loan, you are only required to put down 3.5%. I hope this helps! Congratulations again and enjoy this time!