Does home owning even make sense in Austin?

[Shawn Jaffee]

I’m currently renting my residence and am splitting rent ($1450) with my girlfriend. As much as I hate to give my money to a land lord and miss out on any equity build up through loan pay down or appreciation, there are a few benefits.

No maintenance costs, I get to live in a decent location (78746) and have a much shorter commute to work and central Austin.

With the ridiculous pricing in the Austin market, house hacking is almost obsolete. If going the SFH route, I'd have to drop a whopping 25% down on a property around 200-230K just to keep my payments as low as they are now.

And to top it off I’d have to sacrifice location and move much further north or south.

As the title suggests, does home owning even make sense in the Austin Market? Or am I better off investing my money in properties further out that can actually produce CF and continue renting my primary residence?

Thanks!

Shawn

[Aaron K.]

You can look at this as a math problem or how you want to live the choice is yours, but keep in mind that your rent will go up over time where a mortgage payment will not.