Housing During Medical School

[zebrastrippedwall]

As we all know, medical education takes a long time. I began looking for an apartment, but then I started thinking. Would it be better to invest in a place?
I’m my situation, I am living with my boyfriend who plans to stay in the area. For my schooling, I have 3 years of my post- bacc until I enter into medical school since I work. And then I estimate about 5 years for med school(classes only). I know we will have to do rotations and residency as well as finding a job, but I don’t want to throw money away 8 years of rent money on a temporary place. Does anyone have any advice on how to financially handle the situation?

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[LizzyM]

There are over 50,000 applicants to medical school each year and each school receives thousands more applications than they have seats. Each applicant makes 15-20 applications and some folks here make 30+. What this suggests is that you will either have to relocate for medical school or you will need to severely limit your application list to only those schools close to your home. This could put you at a severe disadvantage. Of course, you might sell, at a profit - or take a loss- and move out of town. There is a good likelihood that you would be required to move again for residency, again for fellowship and perhaps even a third (fourth) time for your first job as an attending.

Do you have a sizable down payment for a property? Would it be better to put that down payment toward your educational costs to reduce the need for loans? It might be a good idea to look at a few different scenarios and figure out the implications of each one.

 

[junky372]

There's a lot of assumptions here which would have to be fulfilled for this to make financial or logistical sense.

If you have the resources to make payments on property, it's probably safer to put that on paying cost of attendance - if you take out loans, you'd be saving 6.1-7.1% compounding interest spread out on however long you'd take to pay it back

Here's a few ways this could go wrong:

1. Money - how do you acquire the resources to put a downpayment/pay mortgage on property? Even in a low cost of living area, this is a lot of money.
2. Personal life changes - what if your personal life requires something different than the property you buy? What if you end up hating your current location? All of this plus economic instability makes this worrying to me.
3. Professional life changes - How do you know your timeline is going to work? What if a once in a lifetime gap year opportunity arises? Or you don't get into a medical school in the same area as your post-bacc? Then you have to sell the property, which does not guarantee a return on your investment, or even necessarily getting all of it back.

Ultimately, renting feels like throwing money away to live, but it gives you flexibility during a period of inherent instability.

 

[ciestar]

My husband and I are still renting. Why?
Well, i had 10 interviews while applying to med school. Two were close. I had several six hours away. At my school, you’re not guaranteed to be close to the school for rotations (even less so now with the loss of Hahnemann). Finally, depending on what you choose as a specialty, once again there is no guarantee you’ll get to stay close to where your property is. (We live in the greater Philadephia area and I want FM. FM is a specialty this is more likely to work out for, but most others, not so much).

There are no guarantees in any of this process.

 

[zebrastrippedwall]

Thank you all for the advice!! It sounds like most of you are renting which does allow for flexibility. I do like the idea to invest the property money in education since that is more solid.
I do wish settling down in one area was easier to achieve, however, I know many people who unexpectedly moved even though they were in a different profession.
I’ll focus on looking for a place to have as I complete my masters and then take the next step as they come.

 

[paimei42]

If you can get a morgage rate that is significantly below the student loan interest rate it might be worth it on paper but is it worth the PITA of dealing with it (repairs, if you match somewhere far away, other logistics etc) is another question.

 

[WildcatS11]

Buying a House During Residency | White Coat Investor

New residents have a big desire to buy a house. But it's a gamble of your time and money at a period of life when you have little of either.

www.whitecoatinvestor.com

 

[907914]

I would absolutely not and here is why. I had 2 nontrads invest during residency. They completed training and got attending positions just as the 2008 housing crisis hit. They couldnt sell the place. Took both a good year or two before they could sell

We are within 18 months of another recession. If you wanna buy, wait till then.

 

[zebrastrippedwall]

Before I forget to ask, is there a website that posts off-campus housing for graduate students? I know universities in the area list places on their residence life page, but has anyone use Craigslist or Apartments.com?

 

[Medic741]

Thank you all for the advice!! It sounds like most of you are renting which does allow for flexibility. I do like the idea to invest the property money in education since that is more solid.
I do wish settling down in one area was easier to achieve, however, I know many people who unexpectedly moved even though they were in a different profession.
I’ll focus on looking for a place to have as I complete my masters and then take the next step as they come.

You could instead take that $$ spent on down payment and mortgage on paying for a cost that’s *guaranteed* to cost you 6-7% compounding interest.

The safer better bet, if you have cash lying around is to use this money instead of taking out that quantity of loans.

 

[907914]

You could instead take that $$ spent on down payment and mortgage on paying for a cost that’s *guaranteed* to cost you 6-7% compounding interest.

The safer better bet, if you have cash lying around is to use this money instead of taking out that quantity of loans.

Do you think it would be worthwhile if you are a special case for the loan (ie. VA home loan - 1.75% interest rate with no down payment and no PMI)

 

[Medic741]

Do you think it would be worthwhile if you are a special case for the loan (ie. VA home loan - 1.75% interest rate with no down payment and no PMI)

I’d say it really depends on housing costs in your area. Honestly if I were HPSP or ARNG and got a paycheck and had access to the VA loans I’d happily put that rent money towards a mortgage instead.

Some things to think about
-would I be overextended once I started residency and wanted to buy a house then/there?
-do I have $$$ to cover incidental repairs?
-would I want to manage as a rental / sell / keep for self and family at the location I’m buying at for school?

I think the VA loans could be a great way to go but I’d be extremely cautious about making financial commitments at a time in life with few financial resources that could leave you quickly in a bad spot unless you’ve got a working spouse. Just my uninformed $.02

 

[907914]

I’d say it really depends on housing costs in your area. Honestly if I were HPSP or ARNG and got a paycheck and had access to the VA loans I’d happily put that rent money towards a mortgage instead.

Some things to think about
-would I be overextended once I started residency and wanted to buy a house then/there?
-do I have $$$ to cover incidental repairs?
-would I want to manage as a rental / sell / keep for self and family at the location I’m buying at for school?

I think the VA loans could be a great way to go but I’d be extremely cautious about making financial commitments at a time in life with few financial resources that could leave you quickly in a bad spot unless you’ve got a working spouse. Just my uninformed $.02

Good point. And this will all depend on a number of factors as well:

Are you at a place where you can be confident to stay for residency or even a job (UChicago, UWash, Mayo, what have you)?
Do you have spousal income and is it steady?

Got it, right on.

 

[907914]

I’d say it really depends on housing costs in your area. Honestly if I were HPSP or ARNG and got a paycheck and had access to the VA loans I’d happily put that rent money towards a mortgage instead.

Some things to think about
-would I be overextended once I started residency and wanted to buy a house then/there?
-do I have $$$ to cover incidental repairs?
-would I want to manage as a rental / sell / keep for self and family at the location I’m buying at for school?

I think the VA loans could be a great way to go but I’d be extremely cautious about making financial commitments at a time in life with few financial resources that could leave you quickly in a bad spot unless you’ve got a working spouse. Just my uninformed $.02

Does HPSP get VA home loan? I know I only qualify for it because I did 6 years reserves (tried to use it at 2.5 years, learned it had to be after 6 years, bank still honored the interest rate and no downpayment....long story lol).

 

[Medic741]

Does HPSP get VA home loan? I know I only qualify for it because I did 6 years reserves (tried to use it at 2.5 years, learned it had to be after 6 years, bank still honored the interest rate and no downpayment....long story lol).

Regrettably we don’t :’( or tricare which is a bummer because it seems whenever I see even a PCP for simple stuff I lose a paycheck thanks to our ****ty insurance lol.

Haha gotta love banks... glad it worked out in your favor at least

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

And then I estimate about 5 years for med school(classes only)

How familiar are you with the medical school timeline? Most med school programs are only 4 years for both classes and clinical rotations, unless you take time off (LOA, extra degree, research year, etc). As others have mentioned in this thread, some schools may require you to move for clinical rotations, which means you often only have about 2 years guaranteed in one location while you take preclinical classes.

 

[junky372]

I know universities in the area list places on their residence life page, but has anyone use Craigslist or Apartments.com?

Craigslist is very hit or miss and can be sketchy. Apartments.com is ok, but listings are often out of date or incomplete. University housing pages usually list overpriced places. I found my last few apartments on zillow/apartments.com and the like - it's doable and legitimate but does require some work. Your mileage may vary depending on where you are.