physician mortgages

My spouse is a fourth year medical student. I am a grad student in Atlanta and she has applied to family practice residencies there. We are trying to decide whether to buy or rent. Does anyone have experience, positive or negative, with the speicalized "professional mortgages" out there - mortages for physicians with no down payment, no mortgage insurance required.

[houseelf]

I can't say enough good things about buying a home. Our mortgage payment costs the same amount as our rent did. We are in a "hot market" so our townhome appreciates at a rate greater than our monthly mortgage payment. 8O

When we bought for the first time we used physicians' mortgage assistance. This was a decent company, but I would definitely shop around to ensure that you get the best deal. There are several zero down programs but a lot will depend on your income, your credit history, etc.

In addition, having equity in a home can be helpful if you ever get into a crunch. It is cheaper to have a second mortgage than to pay credit card interest. We are desperately trying not to incur consumer debt in any form, but it is nice to know that we could tap into this money if we ever had to during the lean years of residency.

Anyway, best of luck.

Kelly

Here are a few things to consider when deciding to buy a house:

- Length of time you plan to stay - @ least 4 years to build equity
- Loan fees:

Points - Usually, you have to pay fees to obtain a loan. It depends but usually it's between 3% and 5% of the loan amount.

Down payment - The less you put down the higher your interest rate

-Closing costs - This is negotiable. Sometimes the seller will pay all closing costs, sometimes you split the costs. Closing costs is usually 10% of the sales price.

-Buyer's agent fee - If you decide to hire a buyer's agent for you to help you find a home, that will be a 3% sales commission you pay.

You just have to weigh the costs and benefits. Hope that helps!

Rachel

[DCJenn]

Length of time you plan to stay - @ least 4 years to build equity

Except if you live in a hot market- My DC condo has appreciated 300% in three years and our home here has increased by $20,000 since we bought it two years ago. So, look very carefully and if you can afford something in a hot neighborhood, even if tiny or run-down- buy!!!

Jenn

My husband had just sold a house he had had during his military time in North Carolina when we started the residency, which made us able to buy one in Wisconsin, but I think most of the other residents rented places near the hospital. (We are about 40 minutes away, which I would NOT advise, but we didn't pick out where we would live, his father did--that's another story.) The tax benefits are GREAT--being able to deduct your property tax and interest on the loan--and the payment is about what we'd pay in rent, but it's kind of scary having all the responsibility for anything that goes wrong, and we've been very socially isolated from the other residents because we live so far out in the country. But on the whole I'd say if you can do it, do it.

[Vishenka69]

My FH is also a fourth year and about half of the residencies he's applying to offer some kind of housing assistance. Have you looked into that option?