Hello all,
here is our situation, which I am seeking advice on. I know ultimately it's a personal decision, but looking for thoughts, especially from the financial point of view.
We are 2 middle aged adults (38, 45) currently living in a rural town of Underhill Vt. There is not much community here, or ammenities, but surrounded by beautiful areas and recreation. This is basically a bedroom community for Burlington, VT. It takes about 35-40 minutes to reach Burlington. My husband has a 30 minute commute to work, mine is 40, 45 in case of snow or excessive traffic. My husband has owned this house for 18 years, and our house is very affordable. We also love our house, but recently I have become frustrated by the commute (of course, no brainer) and also the lack of options for socializing and community in our area. We have discussed options, and have come up with a compromise of moving to the small town of Richmond, VT, which is closer to both of our jobs and will cut our commute by 50% each. It also has nice options for recreation, and a more centralized community, so I would be happier with that. We'd also have the option of biking to work (him more than me, but I could swing it occasionally) as we are both big time cyclists. I currently commute 3 days a week, and work 2 days closer to our house. He commutes 5 days/week.
The dilemma- housing prices are more expensive AND more scarce. I've done a little research and see that the market seems very competitive, especially in our price range of 200,000-250,000. Which brings me to the meat of the dilemma:
We currently owe $142,000 on our mortgage, and were considering refinancing for a 2.875% rate for 15 years. We have about $160,000 in stocks, and I have about $16,000 in debt. Our monthly budget, after refinancing, would be roughly-
$1250 mortgage
$3000/month: investments
$1500-everything else
My long term financial plan is to slowly reduce the hours I work, to have more time to play and enjoy life. I've decided once we have $350,000 in investments, we could slowly let that accumulate over 10 years and add to it at our leisure, as we work less (say 25 hours/week) and enjoy a partial retirement, fully retired by 55. If we buy a more expensive house, we could put this plan in jeopardy.
Ultimately, my question would be- how much more would you pay to move? We could sell our house for $200,000-$210,000, but might end up buying a house costing $250,000.
The town of Richmond is very cute, and a desirable place to live. I'm sure real estate values will appreciate well there, which could help. If we did sell eventually, I'm sure we will recoup the money we put in. But it doesn't change that we will be paying more in the meantime.