Last spring, Rosaline Tio and Dave Hung decided it was time to move. The couple, in their late 30’s, had owned a townhouse in Atlanta since 2017, but Dave’s commute was starting to feel long and the house, now also home to a four-year-old and a toddler, a bit cramped.
The house hunt was hard. “The neighborhood we liked the most was on the higher end of our budget,” Tio said. “If it was a good house, it went quickly.”
Pricey properties weren’t the only concern. Elevated mortgage rates were also “a huge factor,” Tio said. The rate they’d pay to borrow in 2024 would be more than double the one on the mortgage for the townhouse. “I guess it’s just a sign of the times. It’s what you have to do,” she said – but it felt uncomfortable.
More:Homeownership used to mean stable housing costs. That’s a thing of the past.
Finally, the couple hit upon a solution that was unorthodox, but which seemed right. They moved their family into a house for rent in the area they wanted, and became landlords, leasing out the townhouse to a tenant. The decision to rent saved them nearly $2,000 a month compared to the properties they had been trying to buy.
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“We’re in a new area, and it makes sense to feel it out before buying,” Tio said. “Financially it felt a lot more comfortable than trying to buy at the top end of our budget.”
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