It recently occurred to me that if we moved 25 minutes drive away from where we are now, we could instantly wipe out our $180k mortgage, and ever since then, I've been infatuated with the idea, and my wife is on board as well, although we both have anxiety about moving. It would be to a place we looked at moving before, with a small town feel, somewhere we've never lived, but that seems like a very appealing lifestyle (the town is surrounded by conservation lands/trails on three sides, but attached to a big city (Hamilton, Ontario), and very walkable/bikable. We're both 37, kids 6 and 7.
Pro's
- No more mortgage, versus 12 years left with wife working 25 hours a week, and me about 15-20, if we stayed put. I also consider our ability to maintain these hours and incomes not very secure in the longer term, though. With no mortgage, we'd be able to live same lifestyle working 10 hours per week each (both of us have incomes that can be scaled fairly easily), or with just one working 20 hours or so if other couldn't work or find work. We already have enough retirement savings to be fine at 65, so we're just working to cover living costs till then and save for earlier retirement, if we ever choose to.
- We could drop to one car for sure, and be able to walk or bike most places. Our current area is also quite bikable, but not as 'scenically' bikable (suburban vs town/urban in new area), and not easily walkable to shops.
- We would be moving to a smaller house (1,700sq ft to 1200-1300), so less to clean, less space to heat, less house repairs and maintenance (which I despise). We used to live in a house this size, and are okay with that part.
- When our kids grow up, they might actually be able to afford a house in the new area.
- Life is an adventure, and change is good!
Con's
- we are very established where we live now, we know every neighbor, and most friends are bike distance away. We aren't moving so far that we couldn't easily see friends with a 25 minute drive, but we'd definitely lose the interactions that happen so frequently here like, 'hey, want to go for a ride in 5 minutes?', 'hey, let's do a dinner night with a course at each families house, biking between each!'. And the spontaneous beers with neighbors when we are both out with kids outside that turn into invites for dinner and late night socials. This familiarity and sense of community is a major factor, obviously.
- the uknowns. Maybe new neighbors will be terrible and make our life hell. Maybe kids won't adjust well to new school. Maybe we'll decide the new area isn't as nice as we thought, 'grass is always greener', etc
- life is uncertain, and change is scary! ;)
We're pretty much changing our minds on this every hour right now, so looking for any advice, any other factors we might have missed, etc. Plus, it's also always good to just get your thoughts written down on 'paper', so even if no one responds, it's still helpful!