Rent or Buy

Well I suppose there is actually a little bit more to the story. I will be getting married next summer (2009). I don't think this really impacts anything, if anything, I personally think that it would be beneficial! I have a few questions though, having never purchased a house before. First, I would go through probably ING Direct as they have few fees. But my questions are this: I realize that it will vary from region to region, but how can I estimate utilities? I realize that it depends on my usage and whatnot, but I really don't have a good way to estimate them. The utilities that I would need are electric, gas, water/sewer, garbage, and at least internet access... probably cable. I suppose trash pickup is included. I have found some houses in the area that I might be interested, none of which go over 120,000 in value... so I am just trying to figure this out! Thanks for your help!

You are really making me work for this one aren't you. LOL. I live close to Ohio, just go one state east :) so our regions aren't much different. Getting married actually does impact the decision A LOT! How soon do you and your wife to be plan on starting a family? If it is before you are going to get out of med school you need to take into account how many rooms are going to be in the house, the safety of the neighborhood, and the schools in the area. All that aside, as far as the utilities go. Call the utility company with the address of the place you are interested in and ask them to give you an estimate of what the average utility bill was for the previous person who lived there. You won't know how many people lived in the house before you or anything like that but it gives you a pretty good idea of at least where to start your budget. And you can expect to pay at least $100 a month for cable and internet. When in doubt always budget higher so there are no surprises. And the biggest biggest expense will come from your heating cost. So make note of what kind of heating source each place you are interested in has. If you find yourself trying to pick between two houses and one is going to cost you $400 a month in gas to heat and the other is going to cost you $1500 a winter to fill up oil tanks then you need to factor that into your decision. House buying is no easy task but it truly is cheaper than renting. Oh and btw, when you buy a house you have to start trash service in your name. I've never found a place where they include that expense into your taxes or something like that. But it is only roughly $20 a month.