rob in cal
Dryer sheet wannabe
- Joined
- May 29, 2014
- Messages
- 12
I've lived in California my entire life and its a great state to live in, in many ways. However, the discrepancy between housing costs here and elsewhere is large, and during the recent boom which ended in 2007 it was even bigger. Right now my house is worth about 340 k, and an equivalent house in many parts of the mid-west or south would go for about 200k, so thats 140k in extra investment capital put into housing thats not invested.
140k isn't too bad for the advantages of living near much of our family, and friends in our town, and I believe I have one of the best restaurant delivery jobs in the country.
However, if that 140k margin rises significantly, as it did during the boom (when our house reached about 450k) and is somewhere around 250k, as it was in 2006, it would be tempting to pull the trigger, especially when my youngest is out of the house, which would be possible in another five years. Of course my wife would have to be on board and we'd have to figure out if we really would want to move to another part of the country, just to have 250k or so of extra capital going to work. Plus we'd probably downsize, so would be buying a smaller house in a much cheaper part of the country, so it might become even more than 250 k extra capital.
Anyone else with an expensive house thinking about pulling the trigger?
For us, if such a margin is achievable in another five years, it might mean achieving FIRE by about 2020, assuming our capital keeps growing as it is unrelated to our house.
140k isn't too bad for the advantages of living near much of our family, and friends in our town, and I believe I have one of the best restaurant delivery jobs in the country.
However, if that 140k margin rises significantly, as it did during the boom (when our house reached about 450k) and is somewhere around 250k, as it was in 2006, it would be tempting to pull the trigger, especially when my youngest is out of the house, which would be possible in another five years. Of course my wife would have to be on board and we'd have to figure out if we really would want to move to another part of the country, just to have 250k or so of extra capital going to work. Plus we'd probably downsize, so would be buying a smaller house in a much cheaper part of the country, so it might become even more than 250 k extra capital.
Anyone else with an expensive house thinking about pulling the trigger?
For us, if such a margin is achievable in another five years, it might mean achieving FIRE by about 2020, assuming our capital keeps growing as it is unrelated to our house.