Haven't posted in a loooong time. Our entire life situation is different now though. We're not trying to fire or be wealthy, but just live modestly. In 2019 our landlord sold the condo we were living in in CA. We took the opportunity to move to WA state as that was our dream forever and my husband could work remote (precovid). We wanted to rent for a year and decide if we wanted to stay. Well covid hit and life was lonely. I had made a few connections before covid and we loved our outdoor lifestyle (hiking, being on the water, exploring, etc) but I really missed being able to see family (most of whom were all in Texas). As the year rounded up, we started trying to buy a home. This was June 2020. Only to be hit with no inventory and an onslaught of cash. It was a more rural area of WA with lots of retirees. We spent almost a year being outbid and seeing nasty rundown homes. We have no desire for a fixer. We want to paint and replace carpet kind of people. My grandma's husband died early 2021 and my sister needed some help with her kids (both in the same suburb north of Austin) and our landlord let us know they were moving back into the house (there were NO rentals available in our town or the next - not even an apartment), so we decided to put our stuff in a pod to store in WA while we came down to TX to help for a bit. I knew I wanted to be here for the holidays since I had not had a holiday with anyone since 2018.
It's been hard in Texas. The heat & humidity were hard on my body. My husbands allergies are so bad. We miss the outdoor lifestyle we had. We wanted to get a small apartment but there were NONE for rent when we got here so we've been living in my sisters house in a guest room. Which is so so hard. We like the town my sister lives in and my other sister and her kids (that I am very close to) also live a couple hours away. All family functions happen here. We were not planning on staying in Texas and were hoping to explore other areas that may be driveable to Texas instead of going back to WA. When we first got here we had looked at what's for sale in the area and had liked this one new development but prices were out of our range and lottery only. I have faced a bunch of sickness and anxiety since getting here, I also just had surgery. My grandma is hard to care for and I demanded help from my mom and her siblings.
In late August, we got an email from the builder in the new development we liked (reminds of us the area we lived in SoCal and how well it's appreciated over the years) that they dropped prices on a few inventory homes and were paying closing costs, giving sellers credit and offering moving voucher. We decided to just see what they had available. We really liked one of the houses (not my 80's dream home but a decent home) and somehow in this crazy market, it was ours if we wanted it. No overbidding. No waiving anything. So we put down the measly $3k deposit knowing we could back out if we decided to and it wouldn't be a huge loss. We figured if we didn't want to stay, we could rent it out or sell down the road. (3 bedroom apartment about same amount as total mortgage). We do not want to ideally live in Texas. Just about anywhere else would be good. We miss WA but we hate the current politics there, home prices are only worse and we can only get a mobile home at this point and that my knees were horribly painful the entire time we were there and I could no longer get up from furniture (this has gone away in Texas). I also like being around my sisters and all the kids. Unfortunately the house has been delayed by several months, leaving us more time to ponder if we should not do it.
We have explored NW AR (my husband is big into mtn biking) and TN (where some of our friends have moved). But we just don't know where to be. NW AR is nice but missing things like Trader Joes & Costco & airport. TN is nice but still very far from family and still hot & humid. Working remote, we have no reason to be anywhere. I love my family but we also hate Texas (flat, desert, hot, humid - love the politics). But we are becoming really afraid the house will lose over $100k in value and we will be stuck forever. And we will hurt ourselves financially forever. I am 44 and have never owned a home - at some point we need to just jump in if it's not the perfect scenario. We're only putting 5% down (I know not ideal but we have accepted this is the only way we can work it out - PMI is only $60). Total mortgage pmt with ridiculous Texas property taxes & insurance is around $2600. Which is still less than 30% of my husbands take home pay. But disgusting when my sisters payment is $2k for a monster of a house that she bought 2.5 years ago. Only other debt is one student loan - which we're not trying to hurry and pay off. I will get a job again once we decide where we're living and I am not in the ER or having surgery (Accountant). We're also thinking of renting out the front bedroom & bathroom to travel nurses for extra income.
But the idea of ruining ourselves is really scary. But I am tired of moving. We move every two years because every house we rent gets sold the owner moves back in, etc. We move A LOT. I just want to live somewhere. We've been priced out of two areas we love now because rents just keep getting higher and higher. We need somewhere to live. I'm sad if we stay in TX as I will lose the lifestyle I love but I will be sad to not live near family and enjoy everyone growing up. It's like a no win situation. We could back out and just rent here for a bit but again that's more moving and I would hate to end up staying for 10 years and not having bought a house. But if the market drops so much, I am not sure we want to be here 10-15 years for recovery. The gamble of being priced out forever or waiting to see if we could get some better/cheaper down the road is daunting. I feel like if the house were anywhere else, I wouldn't care if the price dropped because I would be fine staying for a long time. I just don't know if I can say that about TX.
Also add my husband works in tech (software engineer/QA test) so if ever did need to find a new job, being somewhere with a decent amount of tech work would be nice (AR & Knoxville not so great for that). Also, we like being somewhere without mandates and more conservative politics. We were also thinking of just landing here for a few years and seeing where/how the covid/political disaster dust settles and maybe picking up some land in AR to build on the down the road for a vacation/airbnb place. But is buying at the tippy top of the market stupid? I am staying up all night reading blogs and reddit and everything I can and I just get more and more paralyzed about making a decision. But we can't live in this bedroom for much longer.
I feel like I have lost all my hopes & dreams and no longer have vision for future. I am constantly stressed & feeling really low and beat up by life.
Anyone see what I am missing? Good at making decisions? How to come up with a new vision & plan for future? Also, please be gentle.
