Hey guys,
Just wanted to get some opinions on the matter... my parents and I currently co-own a condo in Southern California (Orange County) that is fully paid off. I'm planning to relinquish ownership fully back to them so my hands are clean of it (don't want to deal with in-fighting with my brothers and SILs over "fairly" splitting the inheritance etc).
That said, I've been paying them a pretty low amount per month for "mortgage" (which is basically just me buying more 'equity' from them in the place) for the past 8 or so years. Relinquishing ownership would mean them buying me out and essentially paying me back for the down payment I put in plus all the monthly "mortgage" payments. They aren't charging interest either, so that's a huge benefit. Anyway, the buyout would probably end up being in the ballpark of $80k if they were to buy us out *now*. We want to stay put as long as we can here but they keep telling us it's going to be really tight when they visit (we're in a 3br/2bt condo @ almost 1400sq feet). Both my parents and in-laws visit on occasion, stay with us, and will help with the kids. But it's not often - her parents come once a week and spend the night and my parents will come visit for at least 1-2 weeks or more at a time. They currently are occupying our second bedroom (which will eventually be our son's) and I just started a telecommute position in which I've allocated our smaller bedroom/den as office space. Just thinking ahead but aside from all the baby stuff we've accumulated, I think things are going to get even tighter if #2 comes along within the next few years.
We currently have to the tune of $245k in [taxable] investments (mostly S&P 500 funds, Total Market funds, some intl market funds, and ETFs) and about $75k in cash (including 'emergency' funds). I'm really hesitant to make any moves with this but am wondering if it would be 'beneficial' in any way. My parents have said that they'd be willing to help us with a loan (not sure of the amount) towards the new place (I think they might be thinking that since they expect they'll have a place to stay when they visit, they would continue to help any way they can).
Our realtor-friend who helped us buy the current place just had a discussion with them yesterday about what the current place would rent out for ($2300-2400) and what her thoughts our on my parents buying us out and us looking for a bigger place (single family home in a surrounding city - likely Lake Forest or Orange). She said "you would definitely be able to find a single-family home in either of those cities for under $700k" - lol, before that was a 'normal' price range in my mind but now it's pretty ridiculous seeing what I've seen here and in comparison to much of the rest of the country (there are a few exceptions of course). I accept the fact that housing prices are what they are here in Southern California, but that doesn't make it any less ridiculous [from a Mustachian POV at least]. Anyway, if we were to make such a move, do you guys think it would be a reasonable one based on the current amount we have saved? I know the market is volatile now and my plan with the $245k was really just to invest it and grow it (a couple years back it was our "home fund" but I had a change of heart and decided I'd rather invest in index funds with most of it). But if push comes to shove, I'm willing to take it out if it makes sense for us to move. I have thought about moving out of state but not sure we'd be ready for that at this point in our lives... since I'm telecommuting though, and my wife will soon be full-time SAHM, it would open up that opportunity for sure. We just don't want to make it too hard especially for my in-laws as they currently live an hour away (driving distance) and run a business (not sure when they'd retire). But my parents were even talking about finding a place where my in-laws could potentially live with us (I don't think we want that and my in-laws have told my wife they don't want that either... I think it would get crazy).
Sorry this was such a TL;DR. Any thoughts or recommendations?