Hello all,
Just looking for some advice from neutral parties on what would be best financially. My fiancee and I purchased a home on Long Island (NY) last spring and earlier this year my company moved to Virginia. I was offered a raise plus moving costs to go. Currently i am able to work from home and there is no concrete deadline date that i need to move by and we have already decided that we want to move.
With the market the way it is it is not looking like i will be able to sell my house and have enough to cover a down payment on the type of house i would want to purchase in VA (a newer, larger house where we can start a family) right away. I would probably come out about $5,000 - $10,000 short of closing costs + down payment on the type of house we are looking for. My fiancee and I want our next house to be one that we will not grow out of in 5 years after we start having children.
This brings me to the dilemma of whether or not to:
1) Rent out my house here (i could get enough in rent to cover the mortgage/taxes/insurance every month) and rent a place there
2) Just sell my house for what i can get and rent there initially.
3) Hold out and try to get what i need right now to go purchase the home we want in VA.
Our house has been on the market for almost two months now, we had one offer but the buyers had offers on multiple houses and chose another one and we have had less and less showings as time has gone on, which to me indicates that we need to drop our list price.
The hope in renting the house here would be that in a year or so, the market around here may come back (at least a little bit) and we would also owe about $1,000 - $2,000 less on mortgage and other bills that would need to be paid out of the home sale price. Obviously the problem is that we would be absentee landlords and still responsible for the house. Also, i received the $8,000 tax credit for being a first time homebuyer which would need to be paid back next April (or April of 2013) if the house is converted to a rental property.
If we were to sell our house here for less and rent for a while, we can probably put aside around $5,000 - $10,000 in a year and be in a position a year from now to go ahead and purchase the house we would like in VA. I would also not have to pay back the tax credit, as i am able to show that i did not turn a profit on the house due to all of the repair work we had done (new roof at $9,000 wiped that out). However, my concern is that if interest rates rise or home prices rise, we may not be able to do so at that time. I love owning my own house and don't want to get into a position where I will be renting for years and years trying to chase another real estate market boom.
Also of note is that by moving, we will be in a much better financial position on a month to month basis (whether we buy or rent). Right now we have very little disposable income between us with no real savings to speak of.
Any advice/insight/tips would be appreciated. This whole thing has been more stressful than buying the house in the first place
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