Quote:
Originally Posted by Tondtar
A word of advice to all the young ones here from someone who has failed to do this for himself and his kid :
If you know where your kid will be attending college, plan on buying a home or a condo/ apt. in that town if you can afford to do so. Anything is OK as long it can meet your kid's needs (which should not be much as a college student). There are several advantages to this :
1. Your kid does not pay rent or have to worry about mailing in the rent check late while in college. You are the Landlord. A huge piece of mind.
2. All the money you spend on the mortgage while he/ she is using the place, you probably get back after 4 years or more and then some. So, there is huge savings as well smart investing there.
3. After getting out and getting a job, if he/ she can afford to take over the mortgage, pass it on to your kid and do it immediately after they get a job. This way they will be building equity of their own right off the bat. If he/ she can not afford the mortgage immediately, go ahead and carry it for a couple of years or so and use its rental income to offset its mortgage cost (or better yet, cover the whole mortgage payment assuming the rental rate and property values have appreciated considerably during years of ownership). You can then sell the property and give the profit to your kid as a gift to place as a down payment on his/ her own first home/ condo purchase when they are ready to do so.
Anyway you look at it, there is a huge financial win in this simple strategy if you can implement it right.
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+1 on this advice.
I bought when I was 28 with my then fiance..who is now my wife. Buying in CA at the time we bought was tricky with all the "short sales" & foreclosed homes. Luckily we had good real estate agents who took care of us! After our wedding, we set aside money we got as gifts and set up a mutual account AND CD account for our 1st born's college fund!
Now I enjoy "modding" the house and waiting for that Fxx M3 to come out in 2013! (hopefully sooner! lol)