Never say never! Our SILs were all in their late thirties when they married their spouses. We kept our mouths shut about them having children… I think I drank too much when big kid announced she was expecting… and then an avalanche of grands just happened! 
So 
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If you had asked me 4 years ago I would have said I don’t think I’ll ever be a grandmother. Fast forward to today where I have 4 grandkids ages 2 1/2 to 10 months. Never say never.
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S1 and DIL have decided, for many good reasons, to not have children. S2 and FDiL have already announced that they hope to have “2 or 3” as soon as they marry next summer. (They told us this why? ) My concern now is family balance with that kind of gap.
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D1 started her teaching job at the beginning of August. Closed on a house at the end of August. She is in a low cost city and it is a small older home. At least she isn’t throwing away money for rent.
I will say she was able to do this by keeping herself out of debt especially college loans. Going on the hunt for merit scholarships paid off for her.
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@BunsenBurner & @mom60 : I’m JEALOUS!
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Right???
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We went zero to two–one due Nov and the other Feb. Must’ve been something in the water!
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If anyone’s kid is going to Yale there are some beautiful properties basically on campus. Students have to live in residential housing for 2 years, but juniors and seniors often like to live off campus. Buy an apartment for your kid, rent out the three others. There are always grad students looking for housing. It’s a great investment.
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Sure, I’ll get right on it!
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Renting properties to college students from afar—sounds like a great investment. NOT!
My parents owned rental properties and I remember all the horror stories. Maybe they had bad luck and always got the renters from hell.
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I have a friend who bought a place for her dd and three sorority sisters. The place gets handed down every year to others in the sorority so it’s worked out for them.
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I know two families that bought housing near college, about an hour from home. One was a condo, and things went well (for 2 kids/friends there). Many years later they keep it as an investment, paying 9% to a rental company to handle all the leasing and headaches. Another I think was a house, and the roommates were not as responsible as their kid. When they visited they were astounded at the bad condition of things. I think they sold after graduation.
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I think we were their neighbors. I’ve said before… if the house/condo is in an already established area full of college kids, great! But please do not buy a house in a single family residential neighborhood and rent to college kids. Just please don’t. Watch the movie Neighbors. That was our life for a few years minus the laughs. Fortunately the owner was renting to way too many kids (supposed to be a max of 3) and the city hounded him enough and he sold it. But not without great destruction to the property, and I swear it’s what caused our neighbor across the street to have a stroke. The situation upset them greatly as well
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My beautiful little first house in Omaha that I bought while I was in the military (and ended up back up in my lap because the buyer assumed my VA loan and didn’t pay the mortgage 
) was being managed by a realtor. He rented out to a bunch of college kids, who had big parties and would vomit in the sink, clogging up the plumbing. They totally trashed the place.
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My niece asked me to look at a townhouse with her today. It’s significantly above the amount that the bank qualified her for, as is just about any decent place in the Seattle area. Shes already asked her parents to co-qualify (absolutely not), and I sure hope she isn’t going to ask me, because that’s a 200% heck no, I do not intermingle my finances with anyone else’s. Last thing that I want in retirement, especially since no way can she and her boyfriend afford this. But the fact that she asked me to go house hunting with her is a major clue. 
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@busdriver11 - that would be a hard No for me.
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You should stand firm. In addition to your rule about not intermingling finances… there is the issue of fairness if you don’t do it for all of your and husband’s nieces/nephews. She ought to understand both reasons. Perhaps she really does just want your wisdom and insights. You might have ideas to help them economize while renting (share with another couple, forgo a car, etc etc)
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I definitely shall stand firm, particularly since she had to sell her first reasonably priced house because they couldn’t afford it, and the second went to short sale (though no need to bring that up). But I absolutely know that getting your finances mixed to enable someone to do something that they can’t afford would be nuts. Right now they are paying no rent and money is tight, so I don’t know how paying 5-6K/month in mortgage costs is even doable. I understand the desire for a house, but sometimes it’s a huge mistake.
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