Buying vs renting in the Bay Area

[Sahir Noorani]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently living up in Seattle with family but my job is based in Menlo Park and eventually I'll have to move back down there.  I'm trying to decide whether it would be a better idea to rent a place or buy one. I've made a list of pros and cons but would like to know what I'm missing/what else I should consider:

Pros of buying:

• Building equity in the property (mortgage payment would be about the same as rent)
• It's currently cheap to borrow (low interest rates)
• Bay Area prices have been resilient for the past 20 years or so although we can't assume this will continue
• I could generate some rental income by renting out one of the rooms to a tenant

Cons of buying:

• I don't want to live in the bay area long term
• Bay Area market could crash pretty badly
• The market still seems pretty expensive
• I hear the laws in California are really bad for landlords and that there isn't much recourse in the event that a tenant needs to be evicted.

This would be my first property and although I don't plan on staying in the Bay Area for more than 2 years, I would ideally like to keep it as a property to generate some rental income.  Would appreciate some advice!

Thanks.