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I wonder if you could find someone to trade houses with for a year or two - you live in theirs and they live in yours? You continue to pay the mortgage, taxes, and major repairs on yours and they on theirs. That way you both get an opportunity to check out the opposite coast without making a major committment or dealing with equity imbalances in the future.
Don't know how you'd go about finding someone to trade houses with, that would have a house we would like in the area where we want to live. Also our house here is kind of "in the sticks" - about an hour from Portland, so not an easy commute to the city. I don't really have the option of just "checking out" living on the east coast. My company is paying to relocate me, so I am making a commitment for a certain amount of time, or I will have to pay back the relocation expenses. Plus I really want to work for this company. One of the biggest advantages to selling now is that all of the selling and buying expenses (realtor's commissions, closing costs) are part of the relocation package, so I will get all of the equity in my house and have minimal expenses to buy a new one. If I keep my house here and decide to sell it in a year or two, I will have to pay the realtor's commission myself. But for someone in a different situation, a house trade might work. Especially if both houses were within commuting distance of a metropolitan area.
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