The year was 2002 and I had just graduated from medical school. After a one-year internship living in resident housing in La Crosse, WI, a small city famous for having the most bars per capita of anywhere in the U.S.
Doctor loans aren’t just given out to anyone with an M.D., D.O., D.D.S, D.M.D., etc… behind their name. There are some criteria which will vary by lender, but the process didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped.
I did nothing but locum tenens work for nearly the first two years after finishing residency. Initially, I used the Gainesville condo as a home base, but I was eventually able to convince my wife to move our belongings out and find a tenant to pay rent.
If you’re not sure you’re going to stay in one place for at least five to seven years, you’re probably better off renting. I know that now, but I didn’t back then, and the break-even timeframe I recall hearing was three years.