Hello Mustachians! i have a rent vs. buy question but you need some background first.
I'm waiting on a very likely job offer in a city that would be about a 1h5 15min drive/1hr 45min train from where I am now. It's the kind of job I can see myself at for many, many years. My wife and I both want to move out of the 'burbs and back to the city, which is why I started looking. She currently works in between where we are now and where my new job would be, but much closer to where we are now, so it would be about 1hr by train for her. BUT she currently hates her job, and might take a break from working for a while to hang out with or kid and/or get a different job.
My wife and I bought our first house ~5 years ago, sold it ~2 years ago. Did not plan on moving but made sense because we both changed jobs. We're now 2 years into our next home. We have totally renovated both at this point and are not really looking forward to the actual moving part or doing any work on a new home, and would like our next move to be longer term (5-8 years at least) so we don't put time and money into something we have to turn around and sell yet again. So, my question is:
1) Do we buy a house biking distance from my office in an area that we like, but that is farther from the train station (for my wife) in the new city, assuming she'll change jobs or take a break?
2) Do we buy a house biking distance from my office in an area we're less thrilled about, but closer to the train station for my wife to make the potentially short term commute more bearable? Being close to the train could be helpful for whatever next job she gets too.
3) Or do we rent until she finds a job or decides whether or not she's taking a break, and move twice?
Oh, I should also mention that our daughter is 3.5 and has about 2 years to go until Kindergarten. We're trying to choose an area with a good public school, but if she gets into a charter or magnet school that could be irrelevant in a couple years.
Any advice you have would be great!
