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$70k is after real estate commissions, not the taxes.
I honestly don’t know how to answer the stability. My husband has a solid job now, in the local market. My job, The company is always changing so who knows. We’ve gone through several sales and leadership changes and knock wood I am good.
Health is good, yes insurance.
I have 11% of my salary going to my 401k.
Both kids will go to college, but they will have to do student loans. We’ll pay for the community college for two years and they can go to in state schools after for $12k annual (not including room and board).
My husband and I are debating how to best move forward. He has had a tumultuous few years of employment causing us to go into a tailspin of debt. We now (knock wood) seem to be stable.
We currently own our home, absolutely love it. We put it on the market and stand to make approximately $70k if we sell. We had a couple of offers who pulled out at inspection so we took off the market temporarily to fix a few things we didn't realize were in need.
If we sell, we'll be completely out of debt with the exception of our car payments.
Now we are having sellers remorse. We are currently looking to refinance to see how low we can get our mortgage. With insurance, mortgage and taxes we are at $3900 a month. Our credit card debt is $1100 per month.
If we move, we'll rent, houses around here are $3000 a month average.
We gross $13,750 monthly.
Thoughts? Advice? Need further info?
If I understand correctly
If you own the house you love = 3900$ a month - it is in line with your current earnings below1/3 is appropriate housing costs.
To rent ~3000$ ( may go up!+ deposits ), you may not like it, school district?
The profit of $70 K is not substantial to sell the house yet.
How much equity do you have? Do houses appreciate in value in your area?
Refinance: may or may not work- what interests rate difference we are talking about?
Realize that banks make money on closing/fees/refinancing costs? You should have clear upfront idea how much cash it would costs you to lower your interests rates. Make sure the loan condition has no prepayment penalties.
Not enough info.
If your income stabilized - find other ways to cut expenses.
Credit card debt first to go- pay as much and as fast as you can ( even get a second job for just that purpose)
Cut cable, see if you can find better deals- different carrier on for family phones, cook at home- don’t go out.
Cut grocery- no convenience food, etc
Figure the total costs for a second car you want to purchase - taxes, insurance, gas, repairs- maybe you can get by with 1 car or buy used or Uber?- not enough info.
You got advice regarding retirement- forget about for a moment. Fix your current budgets.
The only acceptable debt is your home- unless it is very expensive to keep- not enough info.
People are healthier and work longer- you will have a chance to save for retirement- but silly to start putting money away for the future when you are currently stressed out. ( to the point of selling family home? To get ahead with the child still at home?)
( looks like you may both earned max SS - and have some savings- the worst case you move to lower cost of living area and be renting then- when you retire)
If your house too big, too expensive to maintain- ind rather see you trade down- sell this one and buy smaller one? Without debt?
Need more info
Just saw about your kids:
Do they want to go to college? Maybe some technical school is a better option? Electrician? Plumber? HVAC specialist? A truck driver?
They can start their own businesses. People in these professions make a lot of money!
They get education faster and for less money or even could be sponsored by a company they start working for...
College is not a guaranteed income in the future. They always can a do college if they really want and have to later while working.
In short: keep the house. Some things are not about money. It is your family home.
Not everyone is so lucky to live in a place they like and so far able to afford.
How much it costs you to refinance in order to save $600?
How long is your loan term?
Just saw about your kids:
Do they want to go to college? Maybe some technical school is a better option? Electrician? Plumber? HVAC specialist? A truck driver?
They can start their own businesses. People in these professions make a lot of money!
They get education faster and for less money or even could be sponsored by a company they start working for...
College is not a guaranteed income in the future. They always can a do college if they really want and have to later while working.
In short: keep the house. Some things are not about money. It is your family home.
Not everyone is so lucky to live in a place they like and so far able to afford.
How much it costs you to refinance in order to save $600?
How long is your loan term?
Thanks for all the questions! This will not be our forever home. We’ll stay here 1-3 years max. The loan will be 30 years, $7000 to close.
We have 2 cars for four people. It’s a challenge. We’re going to buy a third car deciding what now. Either an all cash car for $5000 or a car with payments under $200.
My son knows what he wants to do, is going to community college now and then to the University for the last two years. He wants to live at home to save money. He is incredibly frugal, it is amazing, he certainly didn’t learn it from me!
Daughter doesn’t know, I’ve encouraged her to do a gap year, community college, trade schools etc. she still has a year to decide.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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I agree with others...
1) Don't sell the house at this time (you are on the home stretch with kids, things could change a lot in 2-3 yrs). Renting is not very affordable @ $3k!!!. (That would be a $3m home to suit my criteria of 1% capital (Valuation / sales price) in rent / month.
2) $70k gain is not worth the trouble at the moment (fixing /.selling / moving / renting...) spend that time on a few PT jobs with high earnings. (Texas has plenty of options!)
3) Change your saving structure, attack the most costly debt
4) set kids FREE to explore careers / schooling on their own dime and time (there are many options including FREE college for USA student in overseas university (Not 'semester abroad' ($$$), but 100% abroad (free). Since I hire World wide STEM positions, I can vouch that plenty of foreign U's are far superior to many USA U's in actual training / equipping for technical careers, especially internationally based (which is a GOOD employment plan!). https://www.student.com/articles/cou...y-free-europe/ https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32821678
5) Cars? Used CARS are dirt CHEAP in Texas! I picked up a used minivan for $800, (Ft Hood) has been fine for last 30,000 miles. --- $800 was a real stretch for me, as I drive a 41 yr old car I bought 20 yrs ago for $35. It gets 50 mpg and burns FREE fuel (cooking oil or heating oil, or Jet A). but my DS wanted A/C in the Texas car...
6) Shop around for the refi, I did (2) in the last 3 months. My local Credit Union has my primary home and charges NOTHING for refi. My Texas prop has a commercial loan (expensive). I paid $275 lawyer fees for a $300k refi.
You bit off more than you can chew. You should be looking for a home in the $1500-$2k range at most at your income level.
$4k a month in housing? In Dallas? Yes you are living well above your means.
Plus you are both older and don't have a ton of time to play catch up in the retirement game.
Without a detailed case study/budget there really isn't more advice that can be offered. But truthfully, the vast majority of savings will come from reducing your housing budget, not cutting out lattes.
A personal financial tracker like Personal Capital will help you understand where your money is going.
Don't sell your house. Refi the house. Take that $600/mo reduction in monthly mortgage & apply it to your CC debt.
You said "you need to get another car." I suggest really looking carefully at that. You might be able to make do with Ubering and Lyfting.
You might need to have a tough conversation with your now-high-school aged daughter regarding her plans for college -- specifically that you cannot pay for it.
You mention you suck at budgeting. That's OK; many of us do. Some don't even know where to start. Do you need help with that?
All good advice. I would really think twice about selling your house. Your house can rise in value.
Agreed. The refinance will cost you, and you'll likely not recoup costs if you plan to move soon. There is also zero sense in throwing $$ at rent when you could continue to pay the mortgage and get (at least some of) that money back someday.
It's about this time the OP realizes they dug themselves into a hole and there isn't anything they can do short of increasing their income or drastically changing their lifestyle and disappears. At least they came back to post after their initial one, normally people don't like what they are hearing so ignore it and don't come back .
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