Hey guys! I'm a long lurker here, and I know this debate crops up a lot between rent and home ownership. Considering it almost always boils down to your mileage may vary, I thought I'd post the specifics of my case just in case any one on here can give me some advice/a new perspective. I'll try to include everything I think pertinent without giving my identity away, please let me know if you need clarity/more info.
I'm a university student, who will be applying for Grad school soon, in California.
My rent is $900 a month, not including PG&E but including water.
I live with my working boyfriend in a cheaper area, so I actually have an hour commute to school (bus) and he has an hour commute to work (car).
I recently told my mom that rent had gone up (only $50) and she was a bit exasperated, and suggested she and my stepdad just buy a property where I currently live and rent it to us.
For some background, they own a property and rent it to my Aunt, have another holiday home in a different country, and own a property they live in on their own. They own three cars, an airstream rv-thing, and are very financially stable people. So buying another property is not out of the realm of possibility for them at all.
My mom wants to buy a property near my campus so I wouldn't have a commute and my bfs commute would be shorter. This would be much more expensive, hence us not renting there to begin with. If we lived near my campus, we would be paying twice as much rent as we are currently paying, basically.
My dad is very traditional and wants me to suffer for any privileges, basically. He's really really against entitlement and getting handed anything. Which is why we have had to handle all our finances "independently" (from him, not so much my mom) for the past year. He's a self-made immigrant and doesn't always get how America works in terms of being a student here and stuff.
My mom is really spontaneous and makes decisions irrationally, while my dad is more down to earth but strict. I'm seeing them this weekend because they're helping buy my bf a new car. My dad wont even participate in this house conversation if I haven't done my research on home-ownership, so I've been looking at property values, the guides/posts on here, etc.
The deal is probably going to boil down to us "paying" them in rent, probably the same amount as we pay now. I say "paying" with quotes because they're very charitable and my mom sneaks up here to buy our groceries, gives us gas money, etc, so I feel like they support us more than enough. She also randomly drops money into our accounts if we're short, so she kinda helps with rent anyway.
I have several concerns/considerations with this plan:
1.) what if I don't go to grad school here and end up leaving next year? If I do go to grad school, we will be here for at least five more years. If that is the case, buying a house seems better because then I can get a dog (actually a really big factor in not wanting to rent, there are almost no dog-friendly apartments around here), not worry about anymore rent increases, will be able to paint the walls and shit, and be closer to campus. But if we are leaving in a year, that'll leave my parents looking for a tenant to rent out to or selling a property they only bought a year before- which makes me feel like ugh. Should I make a table showing how much I'll end up paying in rent over five years?
2.) If we buy a property, we can rent a room to my friend. He's actually my bf's friend and they've known each other since they were like 12. He goes to my school. This would bring in more income/revenue, but also potentially cause tension (doubtful but still) and be more work. My dad will want to do it by the book so we'd have to research how to even split-rent like that and be all legal. For a college-student, that sounds daunting. And again, my dad will want me to suffer to learn so to speak, so it'll fall on me to be educated on rental agreements and all that.
3.) If our rent "pays" for the mortgage, as in the rent we pay them matches their mortgage payments (they wont be relying on our income to pay for it) would I get the house at the end of this? Will I be able to like take over the mortgage when I'm more financially stable and then get like the deeds to the property? From their standpoint, yes, but what about legally? Like would I have to buy it from them? Would it count as a gift for tax purposes? Or would I co-own it with them by them just adding my name to the title? Should my name be on it from the start?
4.) We are going on vacation for two weeks in two months, should we wait to have this conversation/start house hunting after we get back? Or is that just me procrastinating lol.
5.) Should I make the deal so that my parents are renters like a usual situation, so get them to pay for repairs/etc? Isn't that kinda greedy? Ah! I don't want to seem ungrateful, but I want to make sure we establish boundaries and needs up front. My dad will say its my job, and my mom will say its theirs. So it comes down to me either putting my foot down or taking on the responsibility.
I know this is really long, but I'm really nervous. My dad is talking to his accountant tomorrow, and I'm seeing them this weekend, so if I don't seem like I know my shit, my dad is going to be disappointed and this might not happen. I need to be ready for any questions they might have, and so do you guys have any concerns or questions?
Basically, help?
Submitted July 21, 2017 at 04:55AM by CaliforniaAlley http://ift.tt/2gPA244
