Should my husband and I buy in NYC? late 20s, 200K income

Hi -

Like a lot of posters here, I'm trying to figure out if it's better to buy rather than rent in NYC.

My husband and I make about $200K per year. I would like to spend no more than $3,000/month on all charges related to buying (mortgage, fees, taxes, etc). Think that gets us at about $500K sticker price, depending on building/local tax. We both work in Manhattan and fortunately would have family's help for a downpayment if we go down that route.

My main concern - we are not sure if we will be in NYC long term as we are still early in our careers. My thought was we could buy, and then rent out the apartment if/when we move, but I'm not sure how easy that is from afar.

I've been mostly looking in the Jersey City area and other parts of the NYC area that allow for a sub-30 min commute into Midtown and Downtown Manhattan. Ideally we'd want a 2-BR in case we needed to rent it out later on or had a kid.

Has anyone else gone through this decision? Are there any pros/cons I'm missing? Would appreciate any thoughts.