Hello everyone!
This is my first post here, but I have read all blog entries from the beginning to the end. I've been raised fairly mustachian, but there are certainly things I could get better at and a lot of the content that makes sense to me.
Anyway, I'm 34 years from Sweden and my girlfriend is 30 years from Austria. We're now living in Graz, the second largest city in Austria. The plan is to move to Sweden in around 5-6 years though.
We're now living very central and pay very little rent, but the apartment is too small for us both. It is totally cluttered and we need to get out of there. The problem is that we can't really decide on where and how do do it. I'm the type of person who can see the benefits of a certain choice just to a couple of weeks have the complete opposite as my favourite.
Here are the facts:
* I'm working as graphic designer in the city (walking to work now) and my girlfriend is in a mobile Kindergarten team, visiting the office in the city 2-3 days a week and three Kindergartens around the city 5 days a week. We both have very ordinary salaries.
* I get a bit stressed from the city and would prefer to live on the countryside. My girlfriend would also enjoy that, but is slightly more the city type.
* I also feel a bit uneasy with renting something rather than owning it, as it's not "mine". Can't really explain, but it's a weird feeling for me.
* I have renovated a little house in Sweden that I'm selling this summer (for reasons that are too long to tell here). I'm decently handy, but no expert. I do love carpentry and fixing things up though.
* We don't have kids but plan on getting that sooner rather than later.
Our options, as I see it and as we've been talking around for over a year now, are the following:
1. Buying a lot and build our own house outside the city
+ would be a very fun project
+ we would put in as much time as possible ourselves and make smart decisions around material, meaning we could do it comparatively cheap
+ we would live just as we want when done
- it's a lot of money. Especially with our time frame, meaning we could get stuck with the house in a down-market
- it will probably take much longer than I expect it to take
- I would have to commute to work
2. Buying a fixer-upper home outside the city
+ could move in sooner than if building a new home
- ... but in my experience, it's as much money and work in the end as building a new anyway
3. Buying a raw attic in the city and turning it into a flat
+ a more reasonably big project compared to building a house
+ probably a better project financially, as it's less money invested and easy to rent out in case we don't want to sell it
- would be on the 4th floor in an old building without elevator, meaning that having kids here could be a bit challening
- don't know if I would feel more at home in the city with my own apartment or if I would really need a garden to feel at ease
4. Renting a house or apartment in a location we both could imagine to stay for a few years
+ way smaller economic risk
- no chance for me to work on the place to make it better
- the feeling of that it's not "ours"
To get a general idea about the financial situation, we have a bit over $100k in funds and make somewhere around $55k together after taxes per year. A typical lot costs from $40-60k and building a house I imagine somewhere around $200k-$250k in total. A fixer-up home starts around $200k and a raw attic in the city is $100k. Renting a decently sized apartment is from $800-1000 a month and a house outside the city from around $1200.
Well, I guess that pretty much cover the basics, but let me know if there's any info your missing. I would be very interested in getting an outside view of our situation. Thanks!
