New grad, 1 year in the area so far, TC 230k. Currently renting for 1700/mo, living with two roommates in a nice apartment complex. Been toying with the idea of taking out a mortgage, putting 10-20% down and buying a two or three bedroom place and renting out the bedrooms. Rent should hopefully be enough to cover mortgage payments, I don’t mind living with roommates, and I’m hoping the house value will appreciate. In 5-10 years I’d sell and either upgrade or keep it as a rental. I’m looking at Sunnyvale / Santa Clara in particular, or areas nearby. Can anyone tell me why this is a bad idea? My reasoning: - I have an upward career trajectory and expect to be earning more in several years (already been promoted once so far) - I want leverage - I’m currently paying $1700 to rent but getting no equity Reasons why I’m a bit wary: - housing is currently expensive and I’m scared we’re gonna go into a recession / housing bubble pops / etc
"I have an upward career trajectory", "expect to earn a lot". "1 yoe"... New grad Google job is commendable but I really think you should not be making leaps of faith like this at age 23.
I have seen friends get disillusioned and quit after 2 years to go travel
“I have an upward career trajectory and expect to be earning a lot in several years” How can you determine trajectory with only one year experience? Why are you so confident you will continue to be earning a lot? One bad manager or team defrag is all it takes.
Don’t do it, you can wait another few years for a housing recession
Recessions come from people making mistakes that seemed reasonable at the time...
I would be surprised if you could get a 1M+ loan with almost no work experience. Many lenders won’t consider RSUs. I would go to a bank and see what they’d offer you at what interest rate. Beyond that don’t forget property taxes and maintenance — expect to pay $7-8k/month all in for something mediocre.
I can send you to a lender that’s great if you need to use RSU income. It’s very simple and a lot of lenders actually do use it.
I think it’s a great idea. Especially if you’ve got roommates that are reliable. Of course rent won’t cover mortgage but you just need it to subsidize it. It beats throwing your money away paying for someone else’s property.
The market is turning. You don’t want to be playing landlord this early, believe me.
Familiarize yourself with property cash flow and cap rates before spending 5x annual income. I mean, in addition to learning the terms, check out the cash flow for single-family homes in the area and check the cap rates vs what they were years ago or are in other areas. Also check out the mortgage interest tax deduction which iirc is capped now.
I have done the math. For 800k place with 20% down, you are looking at $4200-4500 a month for mortgage + property tax + HoA + home owner insurance. You can get about $1k back a month from mortgage tax deduction. The 3.2-3.8k is then split between you and your roommate. Sunnyvale/santa Clara, u can probably get a 2 bedroom/1bathroom for 800-850k. Rent probably 1000-1400 depending on the location. So cost wise, you might see a increase from your current rent and move to much older/smaller building. If you are buying for the long run where real estate price will go up 30-50% in the next 5-10 years and you can afford the mortgage comfortably, def go for it.
$1k back from mortgage interest tax deduction?? You have like $50k in itemized tax deductions, or how does that work?
Assuming loan value of 640k at interest rate of 4%, your first year mortgage interest is at $25,600. You can deduct this against federal income, which means you will save roughly 10-13k a year depending on your tax income bracket. You used to be able to deduct your property tax too, but now because of SALT, you will get $0.
Housing peak to trough is 16-20 QUARTERS and we are very close to a peak ... https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CSUSHPINSA
I don’t think rent will be able to cover your mortgage payments. You’ll have a negative cash flow for sure. Also don’t forget the property tax - if you buy a 1.5 million house, thats $1400 every month
I’d be looking at probably 800k-1.1M. Didn’t consider property tax tho - thanks for mentioning it
Also HOA or maintenance, vacancy, non-paying tenants, theft / vandalism, insurance, utilities.. am I forgetting any?