conversation: User (KenjinKell): "I've heard the rule of 7 years. If you're going to live somewhere less than seven years than its generally better to rent rather than buy. I'm only planning on living in my current location for roughly 2.5 years, however I believe my situation may be unique. I'm not sure, there are likely things I may be overlooking. Help me /r/personalfinance, you're my only hope.\n\nThe area that I'm currently living in (northern midwest) has a really small rental market in terms of supply. There's never more than a handful on the market, most seem very overpriced, and new entries to the market seem to disappear the second they pop up (which is not that frequently). However the buyers market is saturated. For what I would get renting at $650/ month I could buy for $350/ month. I don't have enough experience to know if this is normal in other markets or not. Utilities don't make much difference because I'd be paying them whether I was renting a house or buying a house. Apartments in the way that I think of them (large apartment complexes) don't exist here. \n\nSo essentially I'm contemplating buying a 2 bd 1 ba for between 30k-50k.\nI gross is about $1800 per 4 weeks. After taxes it comes out to about $1500.\n\nI don't have much in bills, but they are as follows. \n\nCar Insurance: $30/ month\nGas: $100/ month (but this would go down drastically after I move)\nSubscriptions: $25/ month\nFood: $200/ month\n\nAnd that really is it. My mom pays my cell phone bill (family plan), free health insurance. A fairly conservative estimate of my utilities in this area for the sized home I'm looking at would be about $150-200/ month with winter being the peaks. That would be including water and garbage (which is free through the city).\n\nThe numbers seem very doable by any calculator I go with. My current down payment would only be about 5%, the rest I would try to save for my emergency fund. First time buyer, I don't know how that makes an impact. \n\nSo am I crazy? My thoughts are that after I move I could just rent it because the rental market moves so fast.  "
  Self: "What are the maintenance costs on a house like that?"
  