To SELL or NOT to SELL....

[Mojorator]

Need your Financial GURU advice please....

Here I am faced with a situation...

I work about 95 Miles from my house and recently, my priviledges of working from home (2-3 days a week) has been discontinued due to "security concerns".

The House I own now is worth about ~450K which I owe about ~300K..

If I sold my house to MOVE closer to work, the house pricing here is in the ~650K ENTRY level and HALF the size of my current home..

The PROS of moving are:
MORE Time with my Family
Less commute (Usually 2 hours in the morning and evening)
Less FUEL bill (I calculated it to be ~450.00 per month on Fuel Bill)
Less wear and tear on my Vehicles AND my physical condition as well.

The CONS are:
I loose my FIRST HOUSE which I love BTW.
I loose a lot of room (from 3000+ Sf to 1500Sf Minus 1 car garage)
I loose any FUTURE Equity if the housing market keeps appreciating like they are here in SoCal
My mortgage will almost DOUBLE since the house pricing here is doubled.


OPTIONS:
- Keep the house and MAN UP to the commute
- Sell the house and INVEST the Equity
- Sell the House and BUY another house which will double my Mortgage.
- RENT The house (for a loss ~$300/month since my mortgage now is more than the current RENT the area is going for) and move closer to work and RENT a house (which is cheaper than buying at this time)
- SELL the house and MOVE to a different state where I can BUY a house with MOST of my Equity and start over with Job hunting and all.


What to do, what to do.....

Please advice.

mike

 

[djskyy]

not a expert, but why don't you pull out a 2nd mortgage or something like that...just rent out your current home and buy/rent another....nothing beats owning a home...

 

[White92]

I'd sell the house. Your family might not remember going from a 3,000 sq foot home into a 1500 sq ft home, but they will remember you being gone alot. If you can afford the more expensive home/smaller and it means more time with your family, I say do it. That's just my opinion though.

 

[NsXMas]

How about finding a new job closer to home? Is that even a remote possibility?

Here I am considering giving up working from home part of the time to going to a job with an hour commute or more. I'm glad someone slapped me and woke me up. No way I'd waste that much time in commute.

 

[White92]

Or a new job out of state even. My next door neighbor just moved here from San Francisco. He was paying about $600k for a 3 bedroom condo. He got tired of the rat race, found a new job out of state, built a new house next to mine for less than half that and is now loving life. He's always home and has the enough money to do whatever.

 

[Shaun Ray]

Sell and move closer. The housing bubble in your area is more talk than reality. Even if there is a slow down, there is a load of people just like you that live too far out and will want a house closer to the action. By then maybe you will be ready to sell that newer house which has even more equity!

Of course, there are plenty of other factors more of a personal nature to deal with, but don't fear the bubble!

 

[Dtrigg]

Do what I did...move out of California. I owned a house in Santa Barbara for over 25 years. Moved to Europe for seven years, and then moved to San Francisco from Europe. We rented the house in Santa Barbara while we were in Europe and San Francisco. I got tired of the rat race, and quit my job. We moved back to Santa Barbara for two years, for tax reasons, sold the house and moved to North Carolina.

House prices here are approximately 10% of what they were in Santa Barbara, and the cost of living is about 50% less. Plus California is nuts!

My current job is cleaning the NSX. I love being unemployed.

 

[BioBanker]

1 - As above, can you find suitable work closer to home? The time with your family is the most valuable thing you are giving up.

2 - If you moved closer to your current office, would you be able to afford a suitable house or is halving the size of your house moving to something that is not appropriate in an area that is not as good?

Coming from someone who works 15 hrs a day, but is able to handle it okay because my commute is less than 10 minutes each way, Id do whatever will give you the most time at home. If youre not in the car you can be very productive.

 

[ANYTIME]

Another option: Sell your house and rent a house close to your work until you find a house in your price range and or the housing bubble cools down :smile:

 

[Mojorator]

Thanks for all the responses guys... I really appreciate it.

After a few months of trying to make my situation better, Family time is more important than anything else.

I've decided to MOVE closer to work and renting a house. I will rent MY house and just ride it out BUbble or not... I've never been a Landlord so i'll see how that goes.

I may loose ~400-500 a month while renting the house, but I will get it back by spending LESS on fuel and wear and tear on the cars and myself. PLUS i will still get some tax benefit of being a home owner AND I will have MORE time with my family.

I guess the gamble is my house being destroyed/ruined by the new tenants and having the extra responsibility of being a "landlord".

The other upside is that "IF" my house does gain more equity, then I'll still be ahead of the game even after taking a loss while renting it out. PLUS I would like to keep my 5.5% 30 yrs fixed Mortgage rate .


Again, I really appreciate your comments and suggestions.


BTW if it were up to "ME", I would have SOLD the house and moved to Austin Texas and buy a home CASH and live without a mortgage and work for McD's...lol

Mike


P.S. Finding another employment by my house that will pay me close to what I make now is ALMOST impossible. Where I live now, 68-70% of the residents commute at least ~60 miles for work due to PAY...so I guess thats out of the question.

 

[Mojorator]

Another option: Sell your house and rent a house close to your work until you find a house in your price range and or the housing bubble cools down :smile:

John-

Thats a great Idea and thats exactly what I'm doing except for the "SELLING" part..I'll just rent it out and RIDE the bubble "if" indeed it's going to happen.


Mike

 

[nuccaJB]

I know it has been covered and you have made your choice, but to make you feel better about your decision...
You do not want to commute all that extra time. With my commute it is like working an extra ten hour day a week. Think about the house work and family time that this is equal to! I can't wait to get a new house with a 10-15 minute drive! Also driving in commuter traffic can make you want to go crazy, I wonder if traffic congestion and commuting such long distances is why so many people are on zoloft and prozac... :biggrin:

 

[Mojorator]

Also driving in commuter traffic can make you want to go crazy, I wonder if traffic congestion and commuting such long distances is why so many people are on zoloft and prozac... :biggrin:

Tell me about it...I almost went out and bought myself an AK-47 for those Idiots on the cell phones cutting you off cause they are NOT paying attention to the road...then there's the Sleepy heads that partied all night knowing they have to be at work early in the morning...then there's the big rigs that does not fit the lane so they take some of yours...not to forget the wanna be ballers and their "22s" that slouch soo low that everyting is a BLIND SPOT...I can go on and on...but I'll stop BEFORE i decide to purchase that FULLY AUTO assault weapon :biggrin:

Mike