So I'm in a career /life transition which you can find more details about in a previous post of mine.
I owe $201,000 on a 1 bed/ba condo I bought last year for $257,000 (it's probably worth at least $280,000 based on comps last month in our bldg).
Current monthly mortgage, escrow, HOA is $1700.
I recently got married and my husband's family wants to give us $100,000 to help pay it or as a downpayment on another property. I
I also recently learned from my mortgage lender that, if I make a refi application by 12/20 they will waive lender fees, meaning we only pay for the underwriting to add my husband to it, title and recording (around $2000 in refi costs).
Refi will get me from a 4.85 to a 3.9% interest rate regardless.
If we also pay off $100,000 it will drop our annual housing costs to $1000 (mortgage, escrow, taxes, HOA).
I also a left my job this month and am in the process of searching for a new job (you can read more about that in another post of mine). I was earning $150,000 and do not expect to earn that much going forward as I'm looking at doing political work for 2020 or doing public interest law. I currently can do fulltime work I love for the 2020 election but we are waiting on funding for it from our parent org so it may is unpaid. I have $38,000 in my emergency fund and $68,000 in student loans with 2.8 % interest. I've been paying $2000 a month but can reduce that to around $2000. My family also has offered to use stock to help me pay it. This is the only debt we have other than mortgage.
My husband's annual income is $43,000 right now and, if we do this refi and pay off $100,000, we can use that to pay for our mortgage/living expenses and my savings for the student loans.
My husband and I don't love the city/neighborhood where we currently live i.e. we do not want to stay here for 5 years. We much prefer D.C. where we could live for free in my Dad's apartment (which he doesn't live in, is fully furnished, and willed to me). But husband doesn't want to sell and move until I have fulltime work in D.C. I'm still being considered for 2 of my dream jobs there but may not know for sure until after 12/20. I'm also being considered for 2 other paid dream jobs where we currently live.
If we sold our place now, we'd be able to pay off my student loans but we would incur some capital gains tax.
If we refinance by 12/20 we'll make up the $2000 refi costs in less than 5 months and, if we sell after 7 months, we'll have no capital gains tax.
Can anyone help me walk through these numbers and give me some insight? It's alot going on and I don't want to be throwing more money into this place if we're going to move eventually. On the other hand, I also want to take advantage of lower interest rates and reduce our monthly expenses so that I can do work I love and not be worried about money. Is there anything I'm missing or have failed to consider? What would you do?