livingalmostlarge
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2014
- Messages
- 334
So we've been talking more about the future and ER is not going to happen because my DH won't have it happen. But we are going to take a leap in two years and move without a job no matter what. We are shaking the dirt off our feet and just leave where we are to where we want to be.
One next year my DH gets a month sabbatical so we are going to try and live somewhere for a month and get job interviews. If we get a job offer we move sooner. If not we move summer 2016. Why? Our oldest will be done with kindergarten moving into first grade. I think it's a good time to move kids wise.
Two my DH has acknowledge it's possible he's not going where he needs to be career wise and it's time for a change. 9 years and one promotion isn't exactly climbing the ladder. And while it's well paying job he loves his resume is weak, his words not mine. If he were to get laid off the chances of getting another job in the same field are slim. So we'd be stuck in a city we don't love with potentially more bills than we'd like.
He's decided a career change is probably in order and doing something wit more flexibility location job wise and just getting another job. He's always assumed he'll make less money (not necessarily true) and work more hours (again not necessarily true). My thought is if we move somewhere cheaper we may need less to live on. I've been preaching that since January of this year.
But we were recently approached with a house purchase offer and so we started to look at SFH where we are. Honestly we can't really buy anything we would want for $900k at the top end of our budget. We went to see a house this weekend that was listed for $749k 3bd/3ba 1700 sq ft on 3400 sq ft lot. Bidding war and likely to go for $825k. It just got put on market on Tuesday and had an offer that day, but the owners wanted more so they refused the offer and said they were waiting until 12 noon on Monday after the open houses. Before the open houses they have 3 home inspections and 2 written offers.
Since this is our second weekend of open houses I was willing to concede about not moving out of our city but my DH had a strong dose of what we could really afford. And the truth is we'd have to move a lot further out and a lot longer of a commute than 30 minutes (current commute) to buy a house instead of our townhouse.
The reality is that our family life will suffer to get a home we want in this city either stress from overbuying or commuting 1-2 hours each way. If we lose a job we could easily face losing our home. So my pointing out that a cheaper COLA "early" retirement is the way to might make sense.
I'm no longer saying ER, rather I'm saying we can take jobs paying as little as $60k/year to survive, what our current burn rate is without savings. However that includes $2500/month on PITI, and the cost of living in general where we are is so high that our $2500/month living expenses might be $2k elsewhere or even less.
And the reality that our current townhouse is being offered for $750k, we owe $390k now is a little absurb. That we potentially could buy a home cash with the equity from our house or with a very small manageable mortgage. That would mean what we really need to make to live is half of what we do now.
Yes we wouldn't be saving for retirement or college if we make $60k, but I'm banking that we may not need to save more for retirement that what we have since I project we'll have $600k for retirement in 2 years and while this move would possible nix all possibilities of ER, I think it's worth it. And in theory we could save for retirement if we didn't have a mortgage payment but diverted the $2500/month to savings?
I know ER would be great and possible if we stay put, but at the same time I don't want to live in a townhouse forever. I don't want my DH commuting 1 hour each way every day either. So something has gotta give. A very rich friend who ER at age 44 told me "at your price point in real estate (under $1M) you can't have everything. And perhaps it's not the place for you." I love her by the way and I know she's giving me great advice period.
Would people do this? Is it crazy?
One next year my DH gets a month sabbatical so we are going to try and live somewhere for a month and get job interviews. If we get a job offer we move sooner. If not we move summer 2016. Why? Our oldest will be done with kindergarten moving into first grade. I think it's a good time to move kids wise.
Two my DH has acknowledge it's possible he's not going where he needs to be career wise and it's time for a change. 9 years and one promotion isn't exactly climbing the ladder. And while it's well paying job he loves his resume is weak, his words not mine. If he were to get laid off the chances of getting another job in the same field are slim. So we'd be stuck in a city we don't love with potentially more bills than we'd like.
He's decided a career change is probably in order and doing something wit more flexibility location job wise and just getting another job. He's always assumed he'll make less money (not necessarily true) and work more hours (again not necessarily true). My thought is if we move somewhere cheaper we may need less to live on. I've been preaching that since January of this year.
But we were recently approached with a house purchase offer and so we started to look at SFH where we are. Honestly we can't really buy anything we would want for $900k at the top end of our budget. We went to see a house this weekend that was listed for $749k 3bd/3ba 1700 sq ft on 3400 sq ft lot. Bidding war and likely to go for $825k. It just got put on market on Tuesday and had an offer that day, but the owners wanted more so they refused the offer and said they were waiting until 12 noon on Monday after the open houses. Before the open houses they have 3 home inspections and 2 written offers.
Since this is our second weekend of open houses I was willing to concede about not moving out of our city but my DH had a strong dose of what we could really afford. And the truth is we'd have to move a lot further out and a lot longer of a commute than 30 minutes (current commute) to buy a house instead of our townhouse.
The reality is that our family life will suffer to get a home we want in this city either stress from overbuying or commuting 1-2 hours each way. If we lose a job we could easily face losing our home. So my pointing out that a cheaper COLA "early" retirement is the way to might make sense.
I'm no longer saying ER, rather I'm saying we can take jobs paying as little as $60k/year to survive, what our current burn rate is without savings. However that includes $2500/month on PITI, and the cost of living in general where we are is so high that our $2500/month living expenses might be $2k elsewhere or even less.
And the reality that our current townhouse is being offered for $750k, we owe $390k now is a little absurb. That we potentially could buy a home cash with the equity from our house or with a very small manageable mortgage. That would mean what we really need to make to live is half of what we do now.
Yes we wouldn't be saving for retirement or college if we make $60k, but I'm banking that we may not need to save more for retirement that what we have since I project we'll have $600k for retirement in 2 years and while this move would possible nix all possibilities of ER, I think it's worth it. And in theory we could save for retirement if we didn't have a mortgage payment but diverted the $2500/month to savings?
I know ER would be great and possible if we stay put, but at the same time I don't want to live in a townhouse forever. I don't want my DH commuting 1 hour each way every day either. So something has gotta give. A very rich friend who ER at age 44 told me "at your price point in real estate (under $1M) you can't have everything. And perhaps it's not the place for you." I love her by the way and I know she's giving me great advice period.
Would people do this? Is it crazy?