I'm toying with the idea of moving. Our situation, we have a 2 year old, and another due November. Currently living of one income. I want to spend more time with our children. Also looking to move to a warmer climate.
Which leads me to wanting to move from our quake ravaged city
to Coopers Beach.
As far as house prices go, now's the time. There is excess demand where we live, and lot of people trying to cash up their holiday homes at coopers beach. If we sell our current home, our options are.
1. Buy a cheap house for $200k, and invest the remaining $200k. About 20 minutes walk from the beach. May need some maintenance.
2. Buy a slightly nicer house than we have now for $300k, invest the remaining $100k. Be 15 minutes walk to the beach.
3. Buy a beach front house for $500k, this requires a $100k mortgage for us. But the up shot is we could rent it out as a holiday home and earn approx $1,000 a week after expenses. This property is also the most likely to see major price increases, so we could sell and trade down in 5 to 10 years, and pocket the capital gain.
The big issues stopping us are.
- No high income jobs in the area. I'd have to be self employed, or look into a different field at a lower pay. Not a lot of opportunities should my wife wish to return to work.
- We'll be a long way from my wife's parents.
- We'll be leaving a few friends behind.
- Wife is slightly petrified of tsunami risk (but this beach alivates much of that risk as all houses are elevated).
The pros of moving
- Fucking cool beach. I can pick shellfish, go wind surfing, go fishing, build sand castles, etc.
- Nice warm climate.
- Better climate for growing vegetables.
- Closer to my parents.
- Quieter lifestyle.
- Less work stress.