My partner and I have been going back and fourth for months over wether or not we should buy a larger house or not in the SD area.
Currently we live in a 515sqft one bed one bath condo. I purchased it for $160k 4yrs ago, and thanks to MMM frugality, I have already paid it off. It is worth about $240k now. Thing is, I purchased when I was single, and at this time it was more than enough for just myself. But now I'm married with a one year old and things are getting tight. We plan to stay in San Diego for the next 6 years due to work, but we both do not plan on living here forever.
The idea is, either stay put and save our $ into index funds or buy a larger house and live more comfortablely. Things we currently do not enjoy are:
-laundry machines that are outside and constantly consume quarters and break down and trying to "get in there" when no one else is using them
-Serving on the HOA board and trying to constantly help people that rent from owners, including budgeting while receiving no compensation and dealing with contractors ect...
-Following all the rules, etc...
-Cigarette and car smoke being sucked in the windows from neighbors.
-Can't make major improvements or changes
-Everyone being able to hear private conversations if we forget to close the windows
I know that we don't need anything fancy, if we were to buy a house it would simply need to be a 2 bedroom and a 1.5 bath. But the thing is, every month we wait, the more the housing prices climb. I feel like maybe we should wait, but something I learned here is that trying to time the market is not realistic. Also, we can sell our current condo and apply the sale to a new house, avoiding the capital gains tax.
Thoughts? Currently hosing in our search is in the $400k-$500k range. It's a bit scary, neither of us has ever had a number this high in debt. We are currently 100% debt free, school loans paid off, house paid off, car owned, ect...
I made a spreadsheet showing the different net worth calculations. I will attach it a bit later.
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