Author Topic: To move or not to move this is the question….  (Read 3329 times)

DB43

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To move or not to move this is the question….
« on: March 25, 2015, 01:16:01 AM »
My wife loves her job. Her job is 45 miles from where we currently live (90 miles round trip). We owe $172,000 on our home and it is worth $270,000 ($73,000 equity after sale costs). The closest area we could afford to live is about 20 miles from her work (40 round trip) and a 60 year old worn out house in a marginal neighborhood there goes for $270,000.  A house comparable to what we have now would go for $375,000. $375,000 - $73,000 down would give us a $2,000 mortgage payment-- $600 more each month than the $1,401 we pay now on our 30 year mortgage.

Rates have dropped and we could refinance our current home with a 15 year mortgage for the same or lower monthly payment.

My wife could get a job in the same field close to our current home but as I said, she really loves her current job. I can switch locations with the same employer and have a similar 5 mile RT commute in either location.

Many more variables but I am looking for input, ideas, suggestions……. Is $600 a month worth cutting 50 miles a day off a commute? Anyone traded up just to be closer to work? How did it go?

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

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Re: To move or not to move this is the question….
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2015, 05:11:01 AM »
50 cents/mile * 50 miles/day * 5 days/week * 52 weeks/year = $6500/year. $600/month is $4800/year. It's $7200/year. Mornings...

That said, maybe your house premises aren't right. Have you considered a townhome or twin with no HOA? Those usually sell for a discount in $/sf, but the living experience is essentially the same. I was nervous about moving to a twin because I'd never lived in an attached house before, but I was excited to dramatically reduce our housing costs. Ours is from the 1910s (i.e. not well insulated) and we love it.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2015, 06:36:56 AM by ShoulderThingThatGoesUp »

ADK_Junkie

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Re: To move or not to move this is the question….
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2015, 06:16:11 AM »
Math is off by ShoulderThingThatGoesUP

50 cents * 50 miles * 5 days * 52 weeks = 6,500/ year  (though you should probably assume only 48-50 weeks of commuting time)
$6,500 / 12 = $541 /month... $600 *12 months is $7,200...

So it actually looks like its cheaper to live closer.

I'm actually in a similar situation.  Both my wife and I now work approx. 25 miles from our home.  We are considering moving so that we are between 2 and 10 miles from work (and family).  But the costs (especially the property taxes) will go up considerably (i.e., doubling from $6k to $12k, for a similarly sized house). 

What stinks here is that I could save more to "buy" a house, but the property tax increase would be a huge drain financially and add considerably to our financial risk including the obvious delaying of FIRE..... but we'd be 5 to 10 minutes (by car and bike) from Everything that is a part of our family's lives.

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

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Re: To move or not to move this is the question….
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2015, 06:37:19 AM »
Math is off by ShoulderThingThatGoesUP

50 cents * 50 miles * 5 days * 52 weeks = 6,500/ year  (though you should probably assume only 48-50 weeks of commuting time)
$6,500 / 12 = $541 /month... $600 *12 months is $7,200...

Ouch. Sure is. Corrected.

bizzy

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Re: To move or not to move this is the question….
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2015, 04:13:03 PM »
There are other factors that you should consider. Do you like where you live? the neighbors, neighborhood? Does the house have the space you want?
What If you move closer to work but now you have to deal with all these other issues. I bought two years ago a larger house for my growing family. Now my commute is double and I had the bad luck of moving next door to this A**hole that has two large dogs and they bark all day.  Now I wish I would have stayed in my smaller house but with the nicest neighbors.

DB43

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Re: To move or not to move this is the question….
« Reply #5 on: March 26, 2015, 10:39:35 PM »
Thanks all--

We have started looking at condos and town homes in our target area and prices are about $250,000-$300,000 which may be a good compromise and a similar payment to what we have now.

Our commute savings would be a little less than projected as my wife drives a Honda Civic (0.38 per mile cost so far) and only works 185 days a year, 0.38 per mile X 50 Miles X 185 = 3,515/12= $292.00 savings per month.

Bad neighbors-- its sort of the luck of the draw wherever you live--I had a great next door neighbor sell his house to a tweaker and we had a long haul till he was arrested and lost the house and we got back to normal.

bizzy- most cities have an ordinance against barking/nuisance dogs. Sometimes Code Enforcement is more helpful than PD if you want to go that route. Good luck.

bizzy

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Re: To move or not to move this is the question….
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2015, 11:01:44 PM »
Thanks all--

We have started looking at condos and town homes in our target area and prices are about $250,000-$300,000 which may be a good compromise and a similar payment to what we have now.

Our commute savings would be a little less than projected as my wife drives a Honda Civic (0.38 per mile cost so far) and only works 185 days a year, 0.38 per mile X 50 Miles X 185 = 3,515/12= $292.00 savings per month.

Bad neighbors-- its sort of the luck of the draw wherever you live--I had a great next door neighbor sell his house to a tweaker and we had a long haul till he was arrested and lost the house and we got back to normal.

bizzy- most cities have an ordinance against barking/nuisance dogs. Sometimes Code Enforcement is more helpful than PD if you want to go that route. Good luck.
Yes, after trying to talk to the neighbors with no response I filed a complaint. They gave him a warning twice and told me that next time they can give them a fine. For the sake of my wife, I let it go since she didn't want this to get nasty. You are right, you never know. That's why I am scared to move again. Who knows if it could be worse then barking dogs next time. LOL