Should I buy a house?

[CopaceticOne]

I realize that they arent equal, but that doesnt answer my question.

why would it ever be better to spend money in a form where you will never get any of it back- renting
than spending money in a form where you may make some of it back - buying?

the return on investment from renting a property is always negative 100%. how is that ever the best way to spend money?

There are the initial intangibles that go with buying a house: time spent on maintenance and upkeep, yard work, unexpected repairs of appliances and such, homeowners
insurance, all utilities, special assessments in addition to property taxes, HOA dues if applicable, home improvement costs and time. Add to that the potential for devaluation and closing costs x2 and it isn't so clear cut. Renting could very well end up being the move economical option in many places.

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[ThoracicGuy]

I realize that they arent equal, but that doesnt answer my question.

why would it ever be better to spend money in a form where you will never get any of it back- renting
than spending money in a form where you may make some of it back - buying?

the return on investment from renting a property is always negative 100%. how is that ever the best way to spend money?

I owned a house during three years of residency. It cost about $100k to buy plus closing costs, mortgage fees, etc. I only had a little down and had to pay PMI for about a year or so. Fast forward 7 years. I had to install a new AC/furnace, garage door opener, dishwasher, garbage disposal, water heater, and roof. I moved for fellowship and it took a couple months to sell - months I had to pay both a mortgage payment and rent in my new place. Then I had to sell it at lower than purchase price. I even had to sell it below the agreed price due to some comps in the area having been foreclosed. I ended up losing probably around $20,000 on it during that time. It could have been even more as well.

If I had it to do over again, I'd probably have considered renting alot more than when I started, but I figured I'd be there 6-7 years, so I thought I'd be ok. I wasn't.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

I owned a house during three years of residency. It cost about $100k to buy plus closing costs, mortgage fees, etc. I only had a little down and had to pay PMI for about a year or so. Fast forward 7 years. I had to install a new AC/furnace, garage door opener, dishwasher, garbage disposal, water heater, and roof. I moved for fellowship and it took a couple months to sell - months I had to pay both a mortgage payment and rent in my new place. Then I had to sell it at lower than purchase price. I even had to sell it below the agreed price due to some comps in the area having been foreclosed. I ended up losing probably around $20,000 on it during that time. It could have been even more as well.

If I had it to do over again, I'd probably have considered renting alot more than when I started, but I figured I'd be there 6-7 years, so I thought I'd be ok. I wasn't.

I'm surprised this thread is still going strong.
Let 'em buy if they want. It's their $$ not ours.

 

[PrancesWithWolves]

I owned a house during three years of residency. It cost about $100k to buy plus closing costs, mortgage fees, etc. I only had a little down and had to pay PMI for about a year or so. Fast forward 7 years. I had to install a new AC/furnace, garage door opener, dishwasher, garbage disposal, water heater, and roof. I moved for fellowship and it took a couple months to sell - months I had to pay both a mortgage payment and rent in my new place. Then I had to sell it at lower than purchase price. I even had to sell it below the agreed price due to some comps in the area having been foreclosed. I ended up losing probably around $20,000 on it during that time. It could have been even more as well.

If I had it to do over again, I'd probably have considered renting alot more than when I started, but I figured I'd be there 6-7 years, so I thought I'd be ok. I wasn't.

I'm surprised this thread is still going strong.
Let 'em buy if they want. It's their $$ not ours.

... and over 7 years if you had rented for 500 per month, which is cheaper than I have ever even heard of, you would have lost $42,000.


the reason this thread is still going strong, is because after 3 pages-nobody has directly answered the question. Everybody on SDN says its not financially smart to buy during residency, which means its probably a fact. whenever anybody asks how the math works, everyone spins off into - "well closing costs and repairs and everything can cost a lot"- but it never adds up to more than renting


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[Doctor4Life1769]

There's a calculator

Usually, up to 4 years, you're doing good renting. Beyond 4 years, get a house if you insist.

http://www.moneyunder30.com/rent-vs-buy-calculator
Once you go into the page, there are more calculators looking at mortgage, etc.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

... and over 7 years if you had rented for 500 per month, which is cheaper than I have ever even heard of, you would have lost $42,000.


the reason this thread is still going strong, is because after 3 pages-nobody has directly answered the question. Everybody on SDN says its not financially smart to buy during residency, which means its probably a fact. whenever anybody asks how the math works, everyone spins off into - "well closing costs and repairs and everything can cost a lot"- but it never adds up to more than renting


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I posted a link, check it out.
I'm sure it all becomes a Trumpfest/Sandersfest when actual numbers are being asked.

 

[Ray D. Ayshun]

Don't buy a home.

You're right. The thread should have ended after this dime. Do you consent patients?

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

You're right. The thread should have ended after this dime. Do you consent patients?

Lol - go read a money management blog.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

I personally enjoy my freedom too much to buy a home unless I absolutely had to (wife, kids). I like that I can pack my bags and go wherever. I like that I don't have to worry about upkeep/maintenance, etc. That in itself is priceless and I've seen too many people end up being stuck with a house nobody wants to buy at value or repairs needed which ends up putting more money into the property without actually being able to get that money back. Folks then sell at a loss or maybe at the same price they bought, eating the cost of upkeep and repairs.

If you want to buy a house, buy with cash. No mortgage issues to worry about then. I do the same with cars - I buy them used and in good condition - with cash.

 

[patriot6]

I realize that they arent equal, but that doesnt answer my question.

why would it ever be better to spend money in a form where you will never get any of it back- renting
than spending money in a form where you may make some of it back - buying?

the return on investment from renting a property is always negative 100%. how is that ever the best way to spend money?

Rent money being flushed down the toilet is the same as the interest on your mortgage.

 

[dpmd]

the return on investment from renting a property is always negative 100%. how is that ever the best way to spend money?

not exactly. The initial outlay for buying could have gotten a positive rate of return had you invested it differently. Obviously this makes a smaller difference if you don't make a down payment, but still is a consideration. The bigger issue is people not actually accounting for all the costs of buying. To make it simple, if at the end you paid out 100k and got 10k back is that better or worse than only paying out 80k and getting nothing back?

 

[dpmd]

... and over 7 years if you had rented for 500 per month, which is cheaper than I have ever even heard of, you would have lost $42,000.


the reason this thread is still going strong, is because after 3 pages-nobody has directly answered the question. Everybody on SDN says its not financially smart to buy during residency, which means its probably a fact. whenever anybody asks how the math works, everyone spins off into - "well closing costs and repairs and everything can cost a lot"- but it never adds up to more than renting


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You really need to look at the rent vs buy calculators because you really aren't understanding things and it is easier with actual numbers to look at. But to help you let's play around with the numbers in ThoracicGuy's story. I am using my location because i don't know where he lives. I made some assumptions that may not be right, but illustrate the point you are failing to grasp. In order to rent a place for the 500 you mention it costs 500 up front versus the 12 to 14k it would cost to purchase the house if he had a 10k down payment (he said he only paid pmi for a short time so it couldn't have been an fha loan with 3.5% down so i figured 10% was probably needed). Monthly costs for renting are the 500 plus renters insurance if you get it (and then that goes up by whatever increases the landlord does over the years). Monthly costs for the house are 414 for principal and interest, 167 for property tax and insurance impounds (when the lender makes you pay a certain amount monthly and they pay the taxes and insurance), and 44 for pmi. So you are looking at a montly payment higher than rent already without even looking at utilities and maintenence which are calculated to be an extra 183 per month for a total monthly outlay of 808. So lets change the rent to 800. He says he sold after owning it for 3 yrs. By that point he had only paid about 5k to principal, despite putting out about the same amount per month. If he sold for 80k he would have had to pay another 6k for closing costs and would have had to kick in another 15k for what was left on the morgtgage. This is on top of the 12 to 14k he paid up front (plus whatever rate of return he missed out on that money). So how much rent increase would need to have happened to make up for the 33k that went down the toilet? Renting looks a little better now doesn't it? Now if he had lived there all 7 years things get less bad. Costs of renting over that time frame is about 80k (with a 2% rent increase estimated yearly) while the costs of owning (once you extract the 80k he got from selling) is 82k. Had it sold for what he bought it for then the cost of owning is 62k which is better but not the windfall you seem to be expecting.

 

[ThoracicGuy]

////

You really need to look at the rent vs buy calculators because you really aren't understanding things and it is easier with actual numbers to look at. But to help you let's play around with the numbers in ThoracicGuy's story. I am using my location because i don't know where he lives. I made some assumptions that may not be right, but illustrate the point you are failing to grasp. In order to rent a place for the 500 you mention it costs 500 up front versus the 12 to 14k it would cost to purchase the house if he had a 10k down payment (he said he only paid pmi for a short time so it couldn't have been an fha loan with 3.5% down so i figured 10% was probably needed). Monthly costs for renting are the 500 plus renters insurance if you get it (and then that goes up by whatever increases the landlord does over the years). Monthly costs for the house are 414 for principal and interest, 167 for property tax and insurance impounds (when the lender makes you pay a certain amount monthly and they pay the taxes and insurance), and 44 for pmi. So you are looking at a montly payment higher than rent already without even looking at utilities and maintenence which are calculated to be an extra 183 per month for a total monthly outlay of 808. So lets change the rent to 800. He says he sold after owning it for 3 yrs. By that point he had only paid about 5k to principal, despite putting out about the same amount per month. If he sold for 80k he would have had to pay another 6k for closing costs and would have had to kick in another 15k for what was left on the morgtgage. This is on top of the 12 to 14k he paid up front (plus whatever rate of return he missed out on that money). So how much rent increase would need to have happened to make up for the 33k that went down the toilet? Renting looks a little better now doesn't it? Now if he had lived there all 7 years things get less bad. Costs of renting over that time frame is about 80k (with a 2% rent increase estimated yearly) while the costs of owning (once you extract the 80k he got from selling) is 82k. Had it sold for what he bought it for then the cost of owning is 62k which is better but not the windfall you seem to be expecting.

I lived there all seven years and sold a few months after I had moved on to fellowship.

I put about 5% down. The mortgage company took the pm I off after a year when I called in since they said I had been good on my payments. I started with a 7.1 arm and refinanced two years in with a 5.1 arm. My initial mortgage was about $650 a month and went to about $500 a month afterwards. This was in the Midwest.

 

[dpmd]

////


I lived there all seven years and sold a few months after I had moved on to fellowship.

I put about 5% down. The mortgage company took the pm I off after a year when I called in since they said I had been good on my payments. I started with a 7.1 arm and refinanced two years in with a 5.1 arm. My initial mortgage was about $650 a month and went to about $500 a month afterwards. This was in the Midwest.

Makes it harder to calculate but still shows that it would have been pretty comparable total payments-wise to renting so you didn't come out way ahead by buying as prances with wolves seems to think. I guess you would have to decide if the non financial benefits of ownership made up for the stress of waiting to sell then selling for a lower price than you hoped (since the money may have worked out about a wash).

 

[PrancesWithWolves]

There's a calculator

Usually, up to 4 years, you're doing good renting. Beyond 4 years, get a house if you insist.

http://www.moneyunder30.com/rent-vs-buy-calculator
Once you go into the page, there are more calculators looking at mortgage, etc.

So I am most likely not going to buy a house based on the general consensus. I realized a long time ago that when a lot of people are giving you the same advice, you should probably take it.

I am just trying to understand the advice.

Plugging in the numbers for my town (using median rent and median home price) in that ^ calculator, and another one that was on NYtimes showed that its cheaper to buy after 3 or 4 yrs

 

[dpmd]

So I am most likely not going to buy a house based on the general consensus. I have realized a long time ago that when a lot of people are giving you the same advice, you should probably take it.

I am just trying to understand the advice.

Plugging in the numbers for my town (using median rent and median home price) in that ^ calculator, and another one that was on NYtimes showed that its cheaper to buy after 3 or 4 years.





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4 to 5 yrs is a typical point where buying becomes cheaper but only by a little bit and only of the assumptions hold. That isn't often a financial risk worth taking for students and residents who need to be making good financial decisions to make up for the fact they generally are working on wealth accumulation later in life. Hence the advice not to buy. If you look at the calculators and listen to the advice it is possible that buying is still what someone wants to do and it may work out, but i think it would be irresponsible of us not to try to make sure those asking for advice come away with a correct understanding. Trust me, you aren't the only one who doesn't understand it at first.

 

[ThoracicGuy]

Makes it harder to calculate but still shows that it would have been pretty comparable total payments-wise to renting so you didn't come out way ahead by buying as prances with wolves seems to think. I guess you would have to decide if the non financial benefits of ownership made up for the stress of waiting to sell then selling for a lower price than you hoped (since the money may have worked out about a wash).

Part of what was tough was having to come up with the extra money needed at closing. On a resident salary, that was pretty hard and I had to have help from my parents to do it. The time while owning the house was no big deal overall.

 

[BigTumor]

What if you are doing residency near where you (and spouse) grew up and know you (and spouse) want to stay in the area? Assuming the house is affordable on resident salary and has 3-4 bedrooms and 1.5-2 bathrooms to leave room for 2 kids?

 

[PrancesWithWolves]

What if you are doing residency near where you (and spouse) grew up and know you (and spouse) want to stay in the area? Assuming the house is affordable on resident salary and has 3-4 bedrooms and 1.5-2 bathrooms to leave room for 2 kids?

AKA: you don't think you will be moving out of the home immediately after residency?


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[gutonc]

What if you are doing residency near where you (and spouse) grew up and know you (and spouse) want to stay in the area? Assuming the house is affordable on resident salary and has 3-4 bedrooms and 1.5-2 bathrooms to leave room for 2 kids?

What's the job market in your specialty like in that area? If you're going for a primary care specialty and want a community based job, you're probably OK to buy. If you're in Ophtho and planning a fellowship (or something similar), it's a completely different story.

 

[dpmd]

What if you are doing residency near where you (and spouse) grew up and know you (and spouse) want to stay in the area? Assuming the house is affordable on resident salary and has 3-4 bedrooms and 1.5-2 bathrooms to leave room for 2 kids?

There is no guarantee that you will get a job in the area even if you want to stay, and even if you do there may be a different area you would prefer to live in after residency (perhaps more convenient to your new job). It is a risk to buy something you want as your forever house when you could instead live in a cheaper place and save up for buying later. But it could work out (particularly if you are willing to get a smaller place and stay in it for a while after residency even though you could trade up).

 

[BigTumor]

There is no guarantee that you will get a job in the area even if you want to stay, and even if you do there may be a different area you would prefer to live in after residency (perhaps more convenient to your new job). It is a risk to buy something you want as your forever house when you could instead live in a cheaper place and save up for buying later. But it could work out (particularly if you are willing to get a smaller place and stay in it for a while after residency even though you could trade up).

Fair enough. The houses I am looking at are 150-180k. My spouse works in a stable field. I am going into a field where it's very common to be hired by local groups (OB/GYN). Of course it's not a guarantee, but it's very, very common in the field. Part of my question is what are the reasons not to buy that a first-time homebuyer may not have thought of besides selling costs and the chance of a roof needing to be replaced?

 

[blue0rchid]

This thread is very useful. However, I think my situation might be a little more different. Can you give me some advice?

I'm going to New Orleans where rent is expensive in the city, but hopefully not too expensive in the suburb. I'm willing to commute within 30-40 minutes. I have a few small children and a husband. I will also have to move my parents and a sibling with me as well. My parents do not want to live with us. Currently my family owns a house (~300K) and my parents has one too(<200K). So I'll have to eventually sell both houses, and buy two houses in the new city. It doesn't have to happen right away and we have basically until Feb or March next year to do all that. The plan is I will buy my parents' house and my husband will buy our house. My husband's relocation package will pay for closing cost and realtor fees for his house, so it makes sense to buy, and we think we would want to buy something that we want to live in for a long long time. My residency is 4yr and I don't plan to do any fellowship. I think there is a real good chance that we will stay for longer than that because of his job. And I think my parents will probably stay there for a very long time as well (nice weather, large community). But we can never say never.

My husband is super handy and can pretty much fix anything in the house. He can finish a basement, run plumbing, electrical, build hard landscape, etc... Well, he certainly cannot replace a roof or sliding or putting in an in-ground swimming pool but he can do anything in the interior. So I think we can safely say that we can take care of our properties ourselves.

Buying has always been the plan, until I read this thread.... Now I don't know if I should buy or rent, and how much are we willing to spend.... :-/

 

[Ray D. Ayshun]

My situation
200k house, closing costs paid by seller, doctor loan 0% down 3.8% interest. Yearly property taxes ~2500, monthly payment ~1200 (tax, ins, etc.), don't have schedule here, but conservatively 300-400/mo to principal. Would cost 1500-1600/mo to rent this. Hence, money lost to the ether from baseline is 900/mo to buy, 1500 to rent for net of 600/mo in favor of buying. Over course of 48 month residency that's 28800, being very conservative. If kinda liberal, and we say I've got to spend average of 3% home value per year on maintenance, that's 24000, leaving net gain of 4800. Granted that's not enough to cover realtor fees etc, on resale, but the difference isn't that substantial, and that's doing the math in a less favorable way, and presuming no change in value of the house, up or down. In turn, if I'm stuck at the end paying 1200/mo when making x00,000, it won't be a major ordeal, and definitely worth the cost of having control of my own house and yard. All the math suggests I'm approaching this as an investment. I'm not, I'm just considering what could happen in a bad scenario. Truth is, in the market I'm in, I'll prolly make a reasonable amount, but even if I'm stuck, it's not gonna break me, or even come close. If you can deal with that, and have time desire and patience to enjoy projects, or even just growing vegetables, it's worth it. Otherwise, it's dumb to invest in something that might pocket you 10gs when you finish residency. The profit you MIGHT make is prolly less than your monthly take home will be at your new job.

 

[dpmd]

Fair enough. The houses I am looking at are 150-180k. My spouse works in a stable field. I am going into a field where it's very common to be hired by local groups (OB/GYN). Of course it's not a guarantee, but it's very, very common in the field. Part of my question is what are the reasons not to buy that a first-time homebuyer may not have thought of besides selling costs and the chance of a roof needing to be replaced?

Being tied to a location (because it takes time to sell or because you can't sell for what you would need to). Having to make arrangements for repairs (having someone else who can stay home all day waiting for the plumber or whatever is a big help). Having more space means more utility bills and more maintenance (again, having someone else help pay for that and do stuff like mowing the lawn and pulling weeds is a big help). Your debt is yours until paid off so if the market takes a downturn you keep paying the same even if rentals are now cheaper or if your personal circumstances would be better off if you got a cheaper place to stay (refinancing may be a possibility unless your house has lost too much value).

Again, like i said it can work out (worked out with the condo my husband and i bought in med school that we rent out and managed to pay off completely, and worked out with our current house we bought in residency that gained enough value that if we had needed to sell when i finished would have been a net positive but since we stayed in the same place and I haven't succumbed to the trading up desire yet currently means my monthly expenses are less than renting a smaller apartment would be)

 

[dermie1985]

I just bought a house for residency (3-year); paid about 400k (5% down, seller pays closing costs). My partner has a hefty salary (150k+bonus) so this was more do-able for us. It's very specific to individual situation and, especially city. We basically found in looking at the real estate market in the city we were moving to that we could either get a really nice 1000-1200 sqft 2-BDR apartment (and, after all the parking, etc. fees) for about $2500/month vs. buying a much nicer 3-4 BDR, 2000-2500 sqft house for the same price. In other words, the rental market rates were at a big premium compared to buying. There are cost-calculators online for figuring out which makes more sense for your situation which we found helpful (based on what you want to buy and how many years, minimum, you will be there).

We're not sure if we'll stay after 3 years, but at that point, we'll likely have broken even +/- netted some money (i.e. covering selling fees, etc.) with house appreciation. That's much better than dumping money into rent. Either can keep the place and stay (i.e. get a doctor job in the city, of which there are usually plenty), sell the place, or rent out the house at well above our mortgage payment and actually start making a profit off it and continue to build equity. There's also great tax incentives with home ownership (i.e. about 50-60% of your mortgage payment the first few years is mortgage interest and thus tax-deductible, so you can shave about 15% whatever your mortgage payment is given the tax savings assuming a roughly 33% tax rate). You don't have such tax benefits with renting.

You really have to sit down, figure out what you want out of an apartment/house, how much each would cost, and what fits you best. We felt like there was more risk in buying a house, but the benefit was that that risk could actual mean profit and we got to live in a much nicer house for the same price even if we didn't make the profit. We also weren't going to just be dumping money into rent for the benefit of not having so much "investment/risk" in where we were living.

I also wouldn't necessarily let things like a down-payment defer you either (i.e. coming up with 10k to buy the house). That 10k is an investment of equity in the house. It's not lost money. And, in the correct housing market I'm going into, has appreciated in value about 5-10% annually the last 3 years. So could very well earn interest off that investment.

I just wanted to advocate that I agree buying a house is risky for residents. But, just realize there are some benefits to home ownership too.

 

[CantStop_WontStop]

What about a singly guy buying ~$40-50,ooo RV and living in tiny house mode for most of med school and residency... figure 7yrs rent or mortgage at even 750/month is going to be $63,000 anyways. Since other than sleeping, I assume you can pretty much live on campus, in the library, gym, or coffee shops anyways during school, and pretty much living in the hospital during residency. Does this seem like a feasible option to any of the frugal minded out there?

 

[dpmd]

What about a singly guy buying ~$40-50,ooo RV and living in tiny house mode for most of med school and residency... figure 7yrs rent or mortgage at even 750/month is going to be $63,000 anyways. Since other than sleeping, I assume you can pretty much live on campus, in the library, gym, or coffee shops anyways during school, and pretty much living in the hospital during residency. Does this seem like a feasible option to any of the frugal minded out there?

Rvs tend to be pretty pricey so i don't know what you would get for that much. Also you would still need to figure out where to park and pay to dump your ****. Would also be advisable to have a car so you aren't driving the rv wherever you go. Thst said, my dad did that for a while when he had to move for a job but we stayed put until it was financially possible to move us all. Not sure if we already had the rv though (i was just a kid) and he parked in front of his mother in law's house (where there were already like 6 adults and some children living in a 4 bedroom house plus 2 converted garage rooms).

Then there is a friend who works as a camp host (the guy that takes your money and keeps an eye on the sites) part of the year and does some other stuff the rest of the year that gives him a place to park and he has lived in his small rv with his big dog for years. So it can be done.

 

[CantStop_WontStop]

Thanks for the reply, it's cool to read some stories about others that have done it. I was considering a used <6 yr old fifth-wheel and towing it with a full-size truck so another vehicle would be available. RV trader actually has some pretty sharp looking used fifth-wheels in that price range. I was thinking if the school is located in a rural setting, which is where more than a few that i'm applying to are, then trying to locate an RV park or possibly paying a farmer/home owner to park on their land. I was also thinking since the majority of the time I won't be home, showering at the gym and using public bathrooms as much as possible in order to cut down on the waste removal aspect. Just an idea I was throwing around while taking a break from studying and reading the thread lol.

This one here is a 2015 5th wheel listed at $36,995 just as an example. Thanks again.

 

[dpmd]

Got it. So yeah, that has a lot more space than what my friend lives in but the downside is that it will be more an issue to park it on some places (supposedly walmart lets you park for free but I don't know how long they would be ok with that). Definitely you need to see where you get in first, then see what options they have. The rv park may charge enough that it is no longer worth it.

 

[CantStop_WontStop]

Yes I've heard that about wal-mart as well... all good points to consider. Something to mull over if it was in fact financially beneficial. I'm also wondering what school and hospital policies would be as far as being against parking a much smaller drivable camper version on their property, not necessarily for 4 years straight lol but the random night or two in a row when on a long study binge, or a call shift or whatever.

 

[dpmd]

Intriguing idea but would be high crime risk where most hospitals are located.

 

[CantStop_WontStop]

hmmm yeah that's a good point, probably not such a good idea to be camping in a hospital parking lot, at least not in any medium/large cities I would imagine.

 

[mvenus929]

hmmm yeah that's a good point, probably not such a good idea to be camping in a hospital parking lot, at least not in any medium/large cities I would imagine.

My hospital is located in an urban area, and we don't have parking *lots*, we have parking *garages*, so it would not be possible to park your RV at the hospital on those random nights.

 

[RangerBob]

Don't forget that you will need to park somewhere with electrical and water hook-ups (unless you're OK not having electricity and running water). WiFi is doable if you've got a permanent location (or satellite internet--I believe that exists...).

Also, unless you're somewhere warm, you're going to have to pay a lot for propane for heating, which I believe is 4x the price of natural gas. And you'll have to spend a lot of time going back and forth to a propane supplier to fill your propane tanks.

Honestly if you've never camped or spent significant time in an RV, this is probably a really, really bad idea. RVs are easy to break into, and most places willing to let you keep it somewhere long-term are going to be more crime-prone. Sure, if you're in a National Forest/Park those have a much lower incidence of crime than a trailer park or Wal-Mart parking lot, but aside from being limited to only 3 or 4 weeks or so of camping at a given campground per calendar year, it's very rare to find any within driving distance of medical schools or residency programs. Campgrounds with hook-ups also tend to run around $30/day. I don't know what a homeowner/farmer will charge, but many people (and more often, their neighbors) don't want an RV sitting on their property, so it may not be as easy as it sounds. You'd obviously want to rent property from someone you cant trust (your mail needs to go somewhere). If you can find a KOA I think you can solve quite a few issues (they have bathrooms/showers on site, people around to deter thieves, water/electrical hook-ups, sometimes even sewer hook-ups, and sometimes they sell propane on site.)

Also consider that any car large enough to haul a trailer (unless it's a very small one or a pop-up, but everything except the tiniest of trailers still generally requires at least F150/SUV power) is going to cost a lot to buy and maintain. Gas will be a pain, and you're just throwing money down the toilet if you buy a gas-guzzler just to tow a trailer occasionally and then end up using it mostly for commute. Better to just rent a big truck and commute with a car. There's also the aspect your home can literally be towed away/stolen... (Definitely insure the RV!). And RVs do require maintenance and repairs.

You're actually home more than you might think in residency. You're certainly at home a lot in medical school (unless you are someone who almost literally lives in the library, but personally I wanted to get home). I can't state how nice it is to have a place you can call home. Sure, some people can do it quite happily in an RV, but most people will want something with a little more space/amenities.

I love camping/trailers. Some of my best memories were spent in trailers--I grew up with all of our vacations being in a pop-up trailer and my family ran (and still runs) an RV business. But I would never even think about buying an RV to live in for medical school/residency--it would be much more stress than it would be worth. The only way I would consider buying one to live in was if I was retired and just traveling around the country for 6-12 months (or a few years), or if the Yosemite medical clinic hired me but couldn't provide me with any on-site housing.