Purchasing a house is the biggest financial decision many of us make. We are told it is the American dream, and the surest path to wealth. Renting is just throwing money away, and you have to live somewhere, right?
When my wife and I started residency we thought no differently. Buying a house for the five years we would be training seemed like a no brainer. It worked out pretty well for us.
I’m going to assume each couple does a 4 year residency (yeah I know there are single residents, but I can’t really figure out why a single person would buy a three bedroom house in residency).
Its 2004 and everything is booming. What better time to buy a house and catch the wave. Our resident power couple buys my house for $165,000, snatching it from other greedy home buyers looking to buy this goldmine.
They had to pay more than they wanted, but feel incredibly lucky as the other two houses they bid on were lost to others in spite of them offering full asking price. They were getting desperate as their residency director frowned upon homelessness.
Our next couple is feeling great. Housing prices have come down significantly from the peak, and they had their pick of the litter. $173,000 is a great price for this house.
Our couple recently received a sizable inheritance of $40,000 and they poured this into the house. Every spare weekend and vacation was spent on the house that first year, and the hard work paid off.
In 2016, they decided to stay in the house in spite of the fact that they could afford a much larger place with their income. The house was close to their work and they loved the neighbors.