Should I buy a condo in south florida, or just continue renting?

Condos are attractively priced right now, but two things to consider:

1. Many banks are not lending against condos in south Florida at present. Banks actually have lists of condo communities against which they will not lend, the driver behind those lists being occupancy. i.e. The banks don't want to lend in a condo building / community with low occupancy, because if there are too few residents to cover the operating costs of the property, then the remaining residents will have to pay a disproportionate share of those costs. This is not an issue if you can pay cash for the condo, and many folks are doing exactly that in this market.

2. The HOA fees in condos are frequently $200 - $400 per month or more.

There are opportunities to realize strong returns on an investment in a south FL condo, but only if you are confident you can cover all upfront and ongoing costs. If you have any doubts about that, rent. $400 per month is hard to beat.

If you are going to be in South Florida for the long term then yes, this is the time to buy. It is a buyers market for condos right now & l think if you bought one in a good area you would have no problems on a resale in a few years. Condos did not bottom out like houses did. The big exception is downtown Miami which was in a building boom when the housing market went down & it will be a while before that recovers enough to guarantee any true resale value.

My advice; If you can afford the payments & plan to be down here at least for the next 7 years, then take the time to shop around for the place you want, in a neighborhood you like. Be less concerned about its future resale price as you haven't even bought it yet. In reality, you won't know until you sell. Your big concern would be if you are taking on to much debt before you graduate, especially if you have student loans pending or expecting to relocate when you graduate.

It depends. How much do you have for a down payment? Is the $650 figure the entire mortgage? Do you have a monthly budget so you know what your outgo is now, as well as what it will be when you add in the cost of the condo? Do you have any kind of an emergency fund in place to cover unexpected expenses (car breaking down, a broken leg, etc.) so that you don't have to go further into debt with credit cards?

Yes this is the best time to buy. Just think when you get done with all your schooling how much the housing market will come back. By that time it will be worth more and it would be a good investment you could rent it or sell it for a profit..I say go for it if you can afford it...