Fainted - what would you do?

[firebirdgold]

Okay, a not-so hypothetical question...
Say you own a lovely historic home with lots of charm and in walking distance to everything. (restaurants, bars, bookstore, museums, little music theatre, corner market). The downsides are that it''s hard to heat, the fruit garden is costly to water properly, and it''s a a long drive to get to work in another town, and you dislike the old wood floors but can''t fix them.
You''ve been idly talking to your S.O. about moving closer to work when you get married, but worry that the town you both currently drive to is a bit small and therefore boring. But it''s currently a buyer''s market, maybe. The main company there is losing people now, could downsize a little this summer, but should start rehiring by the fall. (reorg.)
You''ve just learned that the house next to you that is very similar to yours (slightly bigger but needs updating) just went on the market. For a boatload of money. Seriously, it''s twice what you bought your house for 4 years ago, and has another digit in the price.

So do you:
1) stay put in the lovely, nice lifestyle house?
2) Sell and buy a less expensive house closer to work, and have a huge nest egg?
3) Wait and see for a year, but risk the other housing maret turning into a seller''s market?

 

[Mara]

I would wait...we are kind of in a similar situation re: selling now and ''upgrading'' into a real house in a good neighborhood but we didn''t plan to leave yet so we are trying to stick with our original plan and not get our head turned...it''s so hard to decide WHEN is the right time and the smartest time. Problem is we also really like our house and we like it here...so it''s not as though we are dying to move. Sure it''d be nice to have a larger house in a better area or whatever, but we feel comfortable here now and to be honest I just hate moving!! So we''re waiting it out another 2-3 years and seeing what is going to happen. Plus there is tons of development going on where we are and it''s kind of fun to see it all changing.

 

[firebirdgold]

Yes please. er, thought it was votable, I''ll give it another try.
Thanks

 

[Mara]

It is votable, what happens when you do a poll is that the post appears with no options while you are still filling things out/adding options. So for about 5 minutes it looked like there were no voting options, but now they are all there.

 

[Mandarine]

I would wait....

My situation is kind of similar, but not quite, and we are in the process of buidling a bigger house. We both own our places and are thinking of keeping them for a while...just to see how the market "behaves"..

M~

 

[pricescope]

Yeah, sorry server is bloated

now and it took more time than usually, thanks Mara.

 

[decodelighted]

Hmmmm. In a kinda similar situation myself, actually. Okay EXACTLY. Only add to the problem a particularly SMALL house for two people, four cats & a tiny dog.

My thoughts of late though have been "How nice it is to live in a house worth $XXX,XXX and only PAY a mortgage on HALF THAT". It''s like being further down the "pay off" path. In our area that we need to be commutable to/from -- we don''t have the choice to get something smaller/cheaper etc though ... it would ONLY go up. We could LIVE FANCIER, but we''d pay MORE.

If we did have the option of living cheaper, saving nest egg, cashing out at the "height" of the market (gambling that that''s semi-true) ... I''d be very, very tempted. Somewhat ''cause I get bored of places in about five year cycles. The combo of "fiscally sound" and "new new new" might tip me over the edge.

Hope that made sense?

 

[movie zombie]

if you think the town you''re considering is small and boring and you don''t even live there, you won''t like it when you get there and are stuck with a mortgage. wait.

movie zombie

 

[fire&ice]

Date: 4/19/2006 1:04:56 PM
Author:IndieJones

Okay, a not-so hypothetical question...
Say you own a lovely historic home with lots of charm and in walking distance to everything. (restaurants, bars, bookstore, museums, little music theatre, corner market). The downsides are that it''s hard to heat, the fruit garden is costly to water properly, and it''s a a long drive to get to work in another town, and you dislike the old wood floors but can''t fix them.
You''ve been idly talking to your S.O. about moving closer to work when you get married, but worry that the town you both currently drive to is a bit small and therefore boring.

A home is a home because you like to live there. Nothing is perfect. Do you really want to move to a place where you don''t own a lovely historic home w/ lots of charm & within walking distance to things you enjoy? Though you are farther from work, you are close to entertainment.

Yeah, old house are hard to heat - you could talk to someone about better insulation & how it can be more efficient. At the very least, we have found that installing and closing wood blinds REALLY helped. Also, cover the wood floors with rugs. It will make the house much much warmer & solve your problem of not loving them.

Real Estate is all about three things - location, location, location. And, your enjoyment factor of the time spent there.

In the end, it really comes down to how important *this* house in *this location is worth to *you*.

 

[fatafelice]

Funny that you posted this as we are struggling to make a real estate decision too!

In our case, BF''s mom wants to sell her home (same town) and move to a condo, but is willing to sell it to us for way below its value so that it stays in the family. It would still be a stretch for us financially, particularly because her house (if I''m going to live there) needs some big renovations (-- plus side, I like old houses

). We will probably make a nice profit off our house if we sell now. And BF''s mom''s house would be a good investment, even more so if the local redevelopment plans reach fruition. Sounds win win, right?

Well, I like our little house. And even though we knew it would be a "starter home," I thought we''d be here at least another year, more likely two. We haven''t even gotten to do all the things we have planned for this house. And while her house would be much better for children in a few years, it has less yard space for our dogs.

Finally, it will extend the time living in this state indefinitely, rather than moving in a year or two to VA or NC, like I have been dreaming of doing. But when (if?

) we do move south, we would do so with better finances after selling his mom''s place and would be able to get something closer to our dream home down there.

To top it off, we found out about this 3 days ago and need to make a decision ASAP. I really don''t know what to do!!!


In your case, I think it seems a little easier (since it is not actually my decision to make

). You said that you love your location. Why move somewhere you don''t love? There are solutions for the issues you have with your current home. Personally, while I think that the market is bound to slow down and even decrease some in the near future, your home is probably still likely to increase in value over time.

I say, stay with your "lovely, nice lifestlye house" (your words, but it sounds like a dream!).

(sorry for the long post!

)