Sell recently purchased house to move closer to work?

[bonkers40]

Wife and I are thinking about selling our house we recently purchased in August 2016 and buying a house closer to work. Our commute is currently 20 miles each way but we commute together cause we work at the same place. We want to sell because we both hate commuting and want to be close enough to bike to work. Has anybody sold a house after just buying it?

Backstory: Wife and I built a house which the process took about 1.5 years to complete but now we are doubting our choice because of distance to work. The house is awesome, brand new, efficient everything but we built it before we discovered Mr. MoneyMustache and now we hate commuting because of the amount of money and time spent on and in cars. We should be able to sell our current brand new house for a little bit more then we paid but would probably break even. We did put 20% down and got a 15 year loan at 2.75% and owe about 1.6x our income on the house and have about 100k worth of equity in the house. If it matters we both currently max all our retirement accounts and can still save about 80k per year but if we moved closer to work could definitely save more and retire earlier.

The problem: There are almost no houses for sale currently near where we work. We don't mind a project house, both very good building and fixing things (both engineers of course) but searching Zillow there's nothing and everything goes fast that's decent and its not a hcol area.

Solutions: We could sell our house and rent near where we work and wait till something pops up and grab it but we don't want to lose money on the sale of our current house and its hard to get a rental lease that isn't a year long. Or we could just stay in our brand new house and enjoy it and suck up the commute for the next 10 to 15 years. Current house is in the woods, can't bike anywhere. Our commuter car is a Chevy Sonic that gets close to 40mpgs. Also no kids, no plans for them.

Is it worth it to take a loss to move closer to work? We both plan on staying at the same company till we are FI and our jobs are very safe.

Picture of my house for fun:

[pbkmaine]

Sell and rent close to work for a higher quality of life.

[mskyle]

It sounds like you are kind of up in the air about things right now.

You finished the house in August, discovered Mr. Money Mustache, and now you want to sell the house. That's really fast, and you haven't really sat with that decision for very long. Definitely don't buy another house right now - if you *do* decide to sell the house and move closer to work, rent for a year or two. Don't worry about the lease - first, a year is not actually a long time, and second leases can be broken if you actually do find a place you were excited about buying during the term of the lease.

Take a step back and breathe. What if the next website you stumble across makes you realize you want/need to change jobs, or have kids, or drop out and live in the woods?

[tralfamadorian]

Solutions: We could sell our house and rent near where we work and wait till something pops up and grab it

Wait until the market slows down then purchase near your work.

[bonkers40]

It sounds like you are kind of up in the air about things right now.

You finished the house in August, discovered Mr. Money Mustache, and now you want to sell the house. That's really fast, and you haven't really sat with that decision for very long. Definitely don't buy another house right now - if you *do* decide to sell the house and move closer to work, rent for a year or two. Don't worry about the lease - first, a year is not actually a long time, and second leases can be broken if you actually do find a place you were excited about buying during the term of the lease.

Take a step back and breathe. What if the next website you stumble across makes you realize you want/need to change jobs, or have kids, or drop out and live in the woods?

But I want results now! Good post, we are really up in the air about what we actually want to do and in no hurry to make a decision so ya, probably won't make any changes for a while, maybe see what the housing market does in my area in the spring, maybe list it for sale by owner (did that with last house was easy) and see if we get any bites.

[Mother Fussbudget]

In general, regional real estate sales pick up in the spring when the weather improves, and people go out shopping for houses.  Wait until spring to list your home.  Watch the weather apps for an absolutely gorgeous sunny weekend.  Also use some of the 'create a bidding war' techniques - hold the listing until you're absolutely ready, have open houses on 'the weekend', hold any bids un-opened until a specified date (the Tuesday after the opening weekend, and post that in your listing).

And rent near your work.  Read any of the number of countless forum questions asking 'rent vs. buy' - but ultimately, pick whichever costs less based on your circumstances.

[frugaliknowit]

I feel for you, that sux!

I have to tell you:  Unless you are in an unusually hot market, I seriously doubt you can break even on a house you built.  It just seems really doubtful, so I would do very careful research before investing a lot of  time in this (assuming you are not willing to take a hit...).

[Candace]

Your commute isn't as bad as the normal commute of that length would be. You're together. A d one of you can read, work or otherwise do something other than drive. Just playing devil's advocate here. I would wait a little bit and enjoy the house you built and the surroundings.

[LaineyAZ]

I'm also wondering how long you both plan to stay with your employer?  Selling to be close to work is a good deal only if you're a) sure about employer's long-term stability and b) if you both intend to keep working there.

[Fishindude]

Twenty miles is hardly a commute, it's just long enough for a cup of coffee, and since you're riding together it's really not a big expense either.
Stay right where you are at and just enjoy the ride.  It's worth a little longer daily ride to get somewhere you have some peace and quiet.
Nice looking house too !

[JLee]

How long does your commute take right now?

Buying houses is expensive. How long will it take you to recoup the costs of a move?

[marielle]

Your car gets nearly 40 mpg, you're probably averaging about a gallon a day total. For 250 working days and $2 a gallon that is only $500 a year.

That doesn't seem that crazy to be to be honest, especially since you spend the time together. Is there anything you can do to make the drive better? Podcasts, audiobooks? The money seems like it would barely affect your retirement, if at all. Unless the house or rent close to work is significantly cheaper. Or if you can completely get rid of the car and save on insurance, maintenance, etc. Then it's a different story.

Also, you have no kids and a huge house. Can you rent a room out for $500 or so a month?

[Lews Therin]

If this is a home you are looking at keeping forever, maybe it would be worth looking into renting that house out, and either buying/renting closer to work. That way you still have the option of returning to the house you built. Selling a house is a very large cost, especially if you are planning to FIRE and move another time.

Turning your house into a Rental will allow you to keep it in your hands, and if you decide / change jobs, you can still return to it.