Too cheap to buy a new house?

[obgyn65]

I agree with this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delawaredave5 I would not move to reduce a 30 minute commute. .

[soupcxan]

I would make this move in a heartbeat. The $45k is not an expense, it is a capital investment - you get it back when you sell the house, so the incremental cost of making this move is much less than $45k. You are freaking yourself out over a little bit higher interest expense, insurance, and taxes. Chump change over the course of your careers. Time spent commuting is 95% wasted. Studies show that a shorter commute contributes much more to happiness than extra income. Just do it.

The people telling you to sit tight are being penny-wise and pound-foolish.

[Too young to work]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soupcxan Just do it. The people telling you to sit tight are being penny-wise and pound-foolish.

I have a feeling you may be right. They also don't know the entire situation. As much as I posted there is so much more.

Based purely on neighborhood, we would definitely move. Our neighbors suck, they aren't friendly, there aren't parks nearby, there's nowhere to take the dog for a walk as we're on a main road, and we live fairly from family and friends. We love the house for the house, not the outside except that the privacy is great. The new neighborhood seems to be a huge upgrade, minus the privacy.

I think if we moved and we died a year later, we would be happy we moved. I think that makes up our minds.

[NW-Bound]

I am impressed that at the age of 27 and 28, your home equity and retirement already add up to 1/2 mil. I made pretty good money at that age, and still did not have the same money back then.

So, I think you can manage the financial aspect of this move, whichever way you want to do it. The main thing is to be sure that you would be happier with this move. The additional cost is not that much, and can be financed if necessary.

[Rich]

You folks are doing great, especially considering your age. Quality of life seems to be the question here. I can only share my experience. For nearly twenty years I commuted over 50 miles, one way, to work. Depending on where I was assigned (NYPD) the one way commute took between 1 hours and 10 minutes to (are you ready for this) 2 hours and forty-five minutes (I had to spend several nights a week at a relative's home in Brooklyn to make that one work!). Oh, the last commute was from upstate NY to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, the Aviation Unit airbase (helicopter pilot).

My next, and last, twenty years of work I lived 1.5 miles from the office. Home for lunch or to say "hi" to the wife. In good weather I biked (showered and changed at the police station). Sure was nice.

Best of luck with your choice. Money is important, but there are other factors to consider.

Rich

[Too young to work]

After all this discussion and thinking we settled on moving we sat and talked for hours about what to do. We ultimately decided our agent may have pushed us into feeling like we needed to move more than we did. We came to realize that we actually like our house more than the new one. Despite the neighborhood that we would move into being better, the extra cost, sacrifices of what we would lose here, and the uncertainty, we just couldn't tell ourselves moving was the right decision.

It's funny how you can get so wrapped up in the idea of change, that you forget what you're leaving behind.

[chris2008]

....and the current house might not have sold as quickly as the agent implied....
This alone could have turned all the financial calculations and other arguments upside down quickly.

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Too young to work After all this discussion and thinking we settled on moving we sat and talked for hours about what to do. We ultimately decided our agent may have pushed us into feeling like we needed to move more than we did. We came to realize that we actually like our house more than the new one. Despite the neighborhood that we would move into being better, the extra cost, sacrifices of what we would lose here, and the uncertainty, we just couldn't tell ourselves moving was the right decision. It's funny how you can get so wrapped up in the idea of change, that you forget what you're leaving behind.

Now is a really good time to change your mind. I'm glad we had this little talk!