buying a house vs dorms -college

[Kyuubixchidori]

Hey everyone. I know this isn't the best place, but just need to bounce ideas off people. So I'm heading off to college. The 3 options are rent a house, buy a house, or dorms.

Rent would be 400$ a month

Dorms work out to 800$ a month(11k a year)

House is 6-10k.

The housing market hasn't recovered in the area yet, and the zillowestimates are in the 40-50k for these sub 10k houses. So that way alone its a good investment

But let's ignore that for a second. Assuming just the cost over 4 years. A dorm that works out to 44k. A house would leave me 30k over 4 years to cover normal dorm things such as utilities, repairs, and food. Keep in mind, I can rent a room out next year and up to my friend for 300-400$, and possiblebly another friend for 400$ a month. So its possible to have a 800$ a month income simply by renting out the house

Any ideas? Thoughts? "Your dumb"? Thanks!

[WereCat]

Well, personaly if I had this choice I would go for house. Also depends on what is the condition of the house. I mean, usualy dorms in our country are really bad, small, dirty, lot of things doesent work. That house may be in simmilar condition. I dont know.

But I think it would be more comfortable to live in house. Altough $400 is not final cost is it? You will still play $400 for house and then + $ for water, electricity, repairs, etc... that may also come up to $800 in total. But if you can rent it to friends then and make some money on it, it may be worth it.

[Chickenator]

Hey everyone. I know this isn't the best place, but just need to bounce ideas off people. So I'm heading off to college. The 3 options are rent a house, buy a house, or dorms.

Rent would be 400$ a month

Dorms work out to 800$ a month(11k a year)

House is 6-10k.

The housing market hasn't recovered in the area yet, and the zillowestimates are in the 40-50k for these sub 10k houses. So that way alone its a good investment

But let's ignore that for a second. Assuming just the cost over 4 years. A dorm that works out to 44k. A house would leave me 30k over 4 years to cover normal dorm things such as utilities, repairs, and food. Keep in mind, I can rent a room out next year and up to my friend for 300-400$, and possiblebly another friend for 400$ a month. So its possible to have a 800$ a month income simply by renting out the house

Any ideas? Thoughts? "Your dumb"? Thanks!

*You're dumb (the irony of that).  Anyways, I've found that, if you get any good friends right off the bat that aren't insufferable to live with, rent an apartment with them.  I've done it, friends have done it, my parents did it when they were in college a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.  I find it to be sort of the tried and true method.  However, I don't know where you're going to college, so the residency scene might be very different.  Really comes down to your preference.

[jkraghify]

Buying a house in a college area is really hard, but I would think it is worth it if you can make the initial investment because you can rent to students when you leave (especially if the college is growing--higher number of students creates a greater demand for housing and rentals can charge more).

 

I really wanted to buy a house, but in California that's simply not an option 10 minutes from the beach

 

Best of luck to you. I have never bought a house, but I am renting now. Take my advice with a lot of skepticism, it's just based off intuition.

[TheKDub]

I'd go for renting an apartment or something.

 

That's what I plan to do through college, already have a place picked out, same place my grandparents lived for a few months while trying to get enough money for a new house, will end up costing about $550 a month I think

 

 

Even better if you share it with someone else and spit the cost.

[Kyuubixchidori]

Buying a house in a college area is really hard, but I would think it is worth it if you can make the initial investment because you can rent to students when you leave (especially if the college is growing--higher number of students creates a greater demand for housing and rentals can charge more).

I really wanted to buy a house, but in California that's simply not an option 10 minutes from the beach

Best of luck to you. I have never bought a house, but I am renting now. Take my advice with a lot of skepticism, it's just based off intuition.

Ah. Yeah its a little different, its a relatively poor neighborhood. Its a 85% commuter school, and its only 9,000 students to begin with, so its not really a college town by any stretch.

Something to remember is the dorms are actually really nice, but I could own a house for less then cost to rent a dorm for one year. That to me is huge.

Granted house will be In a sketchy neighborhood. My rule for that is can't be a neighborhood that needs bars on windows

[TheKleen]

Rent an apartment or house and share rent with friends. Owning a house comes with tons of responsibilities that you're not going to want as a college student. I bought my house just after college and it blew me away how many extra expenses and how much work come with owning your own house. 

[Real_PhillBert]

Not buying a house my sophomore year was my greatest regret of college. When I was in college I could have bought a small 2-3 bedroom house for ~$50K and even at that price it would have been cheaper than renting. 

 

I couple of my fiends did buy houses, and at least at that time, all of them made money on the houses when they sold. So they essentially got paid to live there, as opposed to my renting. 

 

 

Your choices are your choices, but I would buy. 

[airdeano]

as a homeowner, buying a house is not an easy outlay of cash. even if it is a

cheap purchase. if it is a 10k house now, means it'll be a 15K house in 10 years

only if it is in a desirable location, has current amenities, and/or the next buyer

has the same needs/requirements.

 

a home loan has four parts to it:

principal - loan payback

interest - loan interest

taxes - personal property/real estate taxes

insurance - banks hedged bet that they'll get their money in case of catastrophic

damage.

 

a 6-10k loan will be a 5-10 year loan, unless you have impeccable credit (6 years

or better with a FICO score 750+) you might squeak 15 years.

 

another is "can you actually rent a part of your house?" some local laws do not

allow rental agreements within some communities (check housing regulations).

 

the logic is there for a house purchase, but going to school and chasing home

repairs (and usually in the most inopportune time while schooling) could be a

disaster waiting to happen. renter up and leaves and you do not have that

months payment, final exams, registrar wants next years tuition, and the roof

fell in on you while studying.. 

 

just some info on home owning.. you want your house payment to be 33% of

your monthly income to make it an affordable purchase. because you still have

to pay for insurance and taxes, still live (eat/sleep/enjoy), transportation and

property upkeep.

[nerdyrcdriver]

Personally I am in a dorm and will be there next year as well. It is just so close to the dining hall and all of my classes. Apartments and houses are not nearly as close, but can be cheaper in the long run. That being said, I plan to live in an apartment or house for my junior and senior years. 

 

To me, location is very important. I don't want an hour long gap between classes where going home would be pointless. 

[Kyuubixchidori]

as a homeowner, buying a house is not an easy outlay of cash. even if it is a

cheap purchase. if it is a 10k house now, means it'll be a 15K house in 10 years

only if it is in a desirable location, has current amenities, and/or the next buyer

has the same needs/requirements.

 

a home loan has four parts to it:

principal - loan payback

interest - loan interest

taxes - personal property/real estate taxes

insurance - banks hedged bet that they'll get their money in case of catastrophic

damage.

 

a 6-10k loan will be a 5-10 year loan, unless you have impeccable credit (6 years

or better with a FICO score 750+) you might squeak 15 years.

 

another is "can you actually rent a part of your house?" some local laws do not

allow rental agreements within some communities (check housing regulations).

 

the logic is there for a house purchase, but going to school and chasing home

repairs (and usually in the most inopportune time while schooling) could be a

disaster waiting to happen. renter up and leaves and you do not have that

months payment, final exams, registrar wants next years tuition, and the roof

fell in on you while studying.. 

 

just some info on home owning.. you want your house payment to be 33% of

your monthly income to make it an affordable purchase. because you still have

to pay for insurance and taxes, still live (eat/sleep/enjoy), transportation and

property upkeep.

Ah. well I plan on just burrowing 10K from either my dad or my sister(both have it, and dont mind) with no interest. over 4 years that works out to 200$ a month. If I get my old roommate on board, he could be paying 400 a month to live with me, which Means right off the bat thats 200$ to go towards other bills and such. 

 

 

Basically, Id just need to keep living costs under 11K a year for it to be worth it to go the house route. Keep in mind Id be getting approx 400 a month from the roommate, and If I get a three room home, id be looking at 300-400 from a second friend that plans to move up next year. that could be a possible 600$ a month of income.

 

 

so the straight house cost is not a big concern really. What Im worried about is major repairs and such that may come up. But with the 40K over 4 years dorm would cost, that leaves a lot of wiggle room. 

[Aphexx]

Assumed a mortgage on a home with a basement suite with a separate entrance. basically the basement paid for the mortgage and paid for a chunk of the utilities. upstairs I had a roomate that supplied income to stash and helped with utilities.

 

cons: replaced the carpet and had to resod the grass in the backyard. and the thermocouple broke a couple days into moving in.

my first year I spent in a dorm. it was a formative moment in my life. the friendships and experience I gained are unlike anyother. Its like reading a Harry Potter book where he doesn't life in Hogwarts but instead commutes from living in a Muggle household to Hogwarts daily.

[Kyuubixchidori]

Assumed a mortgage on a home with a basement suite with a separate entrance. basically the basement paid for the mortgage and paid for a chunk of the utilities. upstairs I had a roomate that supplied income to stash and helped with utilities.

 

cons: replaced the carpet and had to resod the grass in the backyard. and the thermocouple broke a couple days into moving in.

my first year I spent in a dorm. it was a formative moment in my life. the friendships and experience I gained are unlike anyother. Its like reading a Harry Potter book where he doesn't life in Hogwarts but instead commutes from living in a Muggle household to Hogwarts daily.

ah. but Its hard to put a value on friendship, but  a few future friends or 11k? And it can be argued both ways, as with a home you have a hell of a lot of more room, and its much more comfortable to invite people over to a real living room, not a 100 sqft dorm.

 

will definitely rent it out though to friends/roommates. and luckily all the homes are within 10 minutes of the campus. 

[Aphexx]

will definitely rent it out though to friends/roommates. and luckily all the homes are within 10 minutes of the campus. 

forgot the other cons.

 

summer..... it was beyond tough to find tennants for the summer outside of renting to non students. but getting the utilities paid for during the winter made summer living easier.

[Kyuubixchidori]

forgot the other cons.

summer..... it was beyond tough to find tennants for the summer outside of renting to non students. but getting the utilities paid for during the winter made summer living easier.

my Tennant's will be 2 friends that are going to the same college. 1 for sure. It will be interesting to be getting money from a friend, but will also be nice to live with friends