Why not buy an apartment instead of renting?

I'm still in college, but thinking about housing for next year after college in nyc.

Since rent is ~30k a year for most analysts-associates, why waste that much money on just rent?

Why not instead put a 15% downpayment on an 800k apartment (120k) with a roommate (60k each) from internship money, signing bonus and maybe a few months salary in the beginning, and use all that rent money over the next few years you were going to pay as equity in the house. 

After your 4-6 years in nyc in banking/pe you and your friend should have almost 200k each in equity that you can pull out of the house (maybe more if the house appreciated) to use for something else. 

Wheres the flaw in my logic here? If you're going to put all that money to rent why not have equity instead? 

18 Comments
 

Homeowner fees are nuts in NYC, and property tax has to add into the equation. Unless you have a ton of roommates it would probably end up being a worse deal unless you held for a long time. Also, wouldn’t owning an apartment with roommates ruin the point of ownership? I think if you’re planning on staying in NYC for a long time it would make a little more sense if you can get together a down payment, especially since mortgage rates are awesome right now, but even then the property taxes and monthly fees alone probably add up to more than you’d pay in rent for a 1-2 bedroom.

 

Yes, but those property taxes, fees and mortgage rates (less money going into building equity) still probably equal less than rent you would be paying . 

So you would still come out on top paying down the mortgage and building equity instead of "wasting" rent money

 
Most Helpful

A lot of people are pretty enamoured with the concept of renting as a "waste" of money, but you're shielding yourself from a loss in the value of your asset and giving yourself the freedom to move around. Honestly, if you're just starting a job I would focus on renting. Plus, is $800K going to get you anything decent? And you really think you'll be able to afford that?

 

1. Closing costs alone will be another 20-30k out of pocket

2. monthly payments will be equal if not more than your rent (esp. when rent is rock bottom rn)

3. You just tied down 100% of your assets down into an illiquid asset...great

4. Co ownership of a property with another person that is also not comitted to NY long term seems risky in general

 

How would you have $200k each in equity ($400k total which is 50% of property value) in 4-6 years? Remember that almost all of your mortgage payments for the first 4-5 yrs go toward interest. 

As others have noted:

1) HOA: $800 or so a month

2) taxes: $1k or so a month

3) closing costs: $30k or so

4) good luck getting a bank to accept a 15% down payment 

 

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