Figured I'd get my thoughts from the group:
Current situation: 2700 sqft finished mcmansion, built 1999, plus an unfinished basement, corner lot, cul-de-sac, the suburban dream lol. No HOA. Zillow says it's worth $620k but who knows. We'd clear $200k or more after selling expenses probably.
Potential new house: 2500 sqft, historic home, built sometime in the late 1800s, two stories plus a basement, no garage to speak of, and the lot is TINY at 2500 sq ft itself, so no potential to expand/build garage. Price is probably around $650k. Seemed well maintained.
Why are we considering this?
1) Oldest kid is going to Pre-K at a new school that goes Pre-K-12. The new house would be a 6 minute drive to school while I'm currently looking at 20-25 minutes.
2) It's in my wife's favorite neighborhood in town. We chose our current home and bought in 2017 in a different part of town to make her commute better. She went permanent WFH in 2019 before the pandemic, and will likely stay that way. I am WFH and will probably be more hybrid, but the new house would be 12 minutes drive to my employer vs my current 8 minutes.
3) It's your typical historic district with mature trees, close biking distance to downtown parks and restaurants, and generally bike friendly in the immediate area. The current house is in suburb mcmansion hell and biking infrastructure is lacking.
What are my hesitations?
1) New house is basically built out, has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. For both of us working from home, wouldn't be ideal, but in reality, she'll have a permanent working space, and i'll have to figure something out. So no room to change things up, expand, build a garage, whatever.
2) TINY lot in the new house. 2500 sqft. Weird that this is a hesitation, because I hate maintaining my current yard, but I worry as my kids (5 and 1) get older they'll want more grass to run around. Currently it's well maintained and would be a breeze to keep up with.
3) No garage. Have I said that already? There's a shed for tools and stuff, and a small single car driveway space, and ample street parking, no permit needed. I just hate the idea of scraping off my car in the winter. I've gotten spoiled with having a 3 car garage for my two cars, with the 3rd bay being for tools and junk.
4) Extra housing costs. Not sure about utilities, but the mortgage itself would be about $1200 more maybe? Plus who knows what the maintenance increase would be given that it's a much older home. Of course this would be offset by far fewer miles driven, and we're considering selling my wife's car. You can pry my minivan from my cold dead fingers. But let's assume that she won't want to sell her car, since she hates the shaggin wagon.
So I ask the group:
What am I not thinking of?
From the people who have downsized with 2 kids, did you regret it?
From the people who went from yard to small yard, did you regret it?
Is this just dumb in this volatile time? I hate throwing away a 3% interest rate for a 5% rate, but the driving sucks.
