By Andrea Riquier | realtor.com
Claire Jeffers, a 30-year-old public relations professional in Portland, Maine, loves her job, her city, and the Munjoy Hill neighborhood where she lives with her boyfriend.
She loves living within blocks of restaurants like Blue Spoon and Lolita, and her location overlooking the 100-year old Portland Observatory. But she also loves her monthly rent, which is several hundred dollars below the local median. And she knows something—perhaps another job, or graduate school—might pull her away. Those considerations, she says, mean she views buying a home as something that just doesn’t add up.