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We bought in 2006 with a 7 yr ARM, knowing that we would probably move before then, or refinance if we liked the area enough to stay. We felt at the time we would not be in the home longer than 7 yrs.
Bought home for ~247K in a market where we could NOT very likely get that in an asking price today. That is the low end of the market where we live, housing is not very affordable here.
However our mortgage is 140K so we do have equity. But in selling we would get less out of it than we put in, assuming we'd have to sell lower than we paid plus all of the associated fees and commission.
Husband has potential for a job in another state that would be a raise in a an area that has no state income tax, a lower cost of living and lower home prices. Month to month we would be in a better financial situation.
But... with the actual costs of moving, the risk of our home sitting and sitting on the market, is it worth it? I think we would have to eat through all our savings just to move and then spend a few years building it up again. So the short term costs would be very high, but long term we MAY be in a better situation.
If deciding today I say NO it's not worth it with the added uncertainty in the market (which I suspect it will declare itself after the election).
What do you think?
If it helps we want to move closer to my family and have a little more money. Those are the main reasons for considering this move. Oh, and knowing we'll have to do something about that ARM (but we still have 5 yrs....)
Only you can decide what the right decision is for your family. My 2 cents is: would you really put a few dollars ahead of quality of life for you and your family? Long term, it sounds like a good solution... and you will be closer to your family. Don't let a possession (home) keep you from living your life. Life is too, too, too short....
We were in just about the exact same situation as you last year. The numbers were much higher as far as housing, etc.....but we could not decide if the place dh was offered a job to would be a better quality of living than where we live now. The job was probably better, but it would have taken us VERY far away from family instead of just far. With the expenses we would have incurred to move (even with the relocation package offered), it just did not make sense for us to do it.
DH's job is HIGHLY stressful, so I often wonder if we should have tried, but there were too many unknown variables and ultimately, I think we made the right decision.
Only you can decide what is best for your family and what this kind of move will do/not do for you in the long run. But think about your family's future and not just the immediate loss of money.
IMO Money can be replaced...family can't...
We're in Wichita now, family back east and DD out west........if a reasonable opportunity arose to get us back a lot closer to one or the other, we'd be on it like white on rice, money be damned. But then again, we LIKE our family!
Honestly you just need to sit down and crunch some numbers. If you save x amount every month due to cheaper housing and just put it in a CD what would that look like in the long term. Calculate what your new home payments would be with current interest rates, how much it would cost to sell and move, how many months you might have double mortgage/rent payments, etc.
When you have a side by side comparison, then factor in the emotional and other factors. Is it a less stressful job, closer to family etc.
Maybe I'm naive, but I don't think the elections are going to have a huge impact here. There are some serious woes in the financial markets that are going to take years to sort out. The election may boost confidence in the short term, but I wouldn't count on too much.
I don't think there is any way to determine which position is more secure. I'm sure people at Lehman Brothers thought their job was secure not too long ago. My husband could get a new job and that company could go bust, or he can stay where he is and his current company could go bust. There is just no way to know for sure.
I don't think there is any way to determine which position is more secure. I'm sure people at Lehman Brothers thought their job was secure not too long ago. My husband could get a new job and that company could go bust, or he can stay where he is and his current company could go bust. There is just no way to know for sure.
No way at all. My husband has been in electronics for over 40 years and only for a few years in the late 90's did we feel secure. Family is #1 and I always knew that but we took a job offer from a highly stressfull job in CA to a less stressfull one in FL with what we thought a lower cost of living (not so). We wish we could redo this and stayed close to our family . Family 1st.
Find a GOOD property manager and rent it out for a couple of years (or more). Let someone else make your payments, and when the market improves (and it will, eventually) sell it.
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