Hi all, I have a question for you about finding the right time to move out of my parents' house. First, a little background:
I graduated from college in May 2012 and have been employed as a technology consultant since then. I'm turning 24 at the end of this year, and I have been living at home ever since graduation. Because of the travel requirements of my job, I will frequently spend Monday through Thursday on the road (fly out early Monday and return Thursday night). Additionally, I have a serious girlfriend of 3 years who is attending veterinary school (a 4 year program which she began this year) at a university about 2.5 hours away. I spend close to every other weekend with her at her apartment. Although I can spend a few straight weeks at home when I'm in between projects or if I am working locally on a project, on average I generally spend about 2 long weekends per month at home, and the rest elsewhere.
So, up until now I have been living rent free at home. The living situation is great and I get along with my parents and younger siblings very well. There is zero pressure to move out from anyone, we have talked about it and agree that it just doesn't make sense at this juncture. When I think about how these forces will shape my living situation in the future, if I had my way I would stay at home for about another full year and start looking for apartments mid-next-summer.
However, as great as it has been to be living in the suburbs with 5 golf courses in a 5 mile radius, a beautiful house, and free food and rent, my friends have slowly been leaving home and getting their own places downtown, which is where I will be moving eventually. At this point, pretty much everyone I know has made the move and when each moved they invited me to be roommates, which I declined for the reasons above. Well, my final suburbs friend, who is in a similar situation to me, has finally decided to pull the trigger and move out on Jan 1. We have been planning on being roommates for a while now, and he's waited as long as he can at home and feels like he has to get out now.
So, this forces the issue. If I move out at the same time, it looks like we'll be able to find two more acquaintances for a total of 4 of us. This is definitely favorable because it will make it easier and cheaper to find a place in the area we're considering. If I pass on this, it's basically the last train out of the station, and I'll have to wait until next year some time when my friends' leases start expiring before I'll be able to find a roommate.
I've been saving my money the whole time I've been living at home, attempting to be as mustachian as possible. I don't own a car, and the only debt I have is $9332 in student loans 60 months @ 0% on $10,000 principal (started paying $167/month in June of this year). Additionally, I have $16,900 in my 401k for work, $17,300 in a Roth I started on my 18th birthday, and $20,900 in cash and savings. I'm very fortunate to have been able to save all this money, but it'd be nice to give myself another year to fill the coffers. I'm not sure if I'll get much of a promotion/bonus/raise this year, and if I don't my savings rate will plummet once I start having to pay for food, housing, transportation, ...
What's the verdict? I know moving out of the parents' house is a fairly polarizing topic on this forum. Is there anything else I should weigh in this decision that I'm not considering? I don't want to miss the boat with my potential roommates here, but I'm not sure if it's the wisest move or not.