Stay in a young house you like that is a bit snug, with solid but not exceptional schools, where your dh commutes 1.5 hrs per day.
Or
Move to an older (like mid century probably) house in a nice neighborhood, maybe gain a bedroom, in a city school district (at the mercy of zoning, so have to be prepared to end up doing private school), where your dh commutes 45 mins a day. This would add $700-1000 a month to your house payment.
I have all the books I could need, and what more could I need than books? I shall only engage in commerce if books are the coin. -- Catherynne M. Valente
I was gong to say #2 in a heartbeat, but the school thing is throwing me off. I don't want to have to pay for a private school. No option 3?
Not really. Any further into town and the houses are all 500K+. Its possible that the schools are awesome in the neighborhood, but I'd need to talk to a realtor to know the exact situation/boundary not to cross.
The mortgage would be about 25% of take home pay if we moved.
I guess it all depends on finances. I personally couldn't afford private school plus an additional $700- $1000 in house payment a month so I would stick with option 1.
Neither option is ideal.
Finances would be the deciding factor in this situation as well. I couldn't swing the extra mortgage and private school tuition so I would stay put.
I have all the books I could need, and what more could I need than books? I shall only engage in commerce if books are the coin. -- Catherynne M. Valente
I was gong to say #2 in a heartbeat, but the school thing is throwing me off. I don't want to have to pay for a private school. No option 3?
Not really. Any further into town abs the houses are all 500K+. Its possible that the schools are awesome in the neighborhood, but I'd need to talk to a realtor to know the exact situation/boundary not to cross.
The mortgage would be about 25% of take home pay if we moved.
Ok, so your new mortgage would be 25% of take home. What happens to that percentage if both kids are in private school? What would that percentage look like if you moved to a more expensive area where the kids would be in public school? These are important factors and it could work out that option 3 (which you think is a no go right now) could be better financially and for your H's commute. Something to think about.
eta: I lean toward option 2. Long commutes are hell.
etaa: oh. Never mind. That commute isn't bad. I would stick with option 1. That's a lot of potential money in option 2. I thought those numbers were one way.
The commute now doesn't sound horrible, but I hated it when I had to do it. The condition of the house would also play a big factor to me. I wouldn't want to move to a house I would have to put a bunch of money into.
Post by DotAndBuzz on Aug 23, 2013 10:59:53 GMT -5
If it would be sort of tight, but do-able and not put you in a financial bind/mess up rate of savings, etc, I'd think about moving. However I wouldn't move until I'd run the numbers and was 100% sure we could swing it if both kids ended up needing private school.
When you say "mid-century", do you mean built in the 50's? If so, I'm all for staying in the newer house. Less $$ to pay out for repairs. So coupled with the cost of private school, an increase in mortgage of $700-$1000, plus house repairs, I'd say Option #1.
"Why would you ruin perfectly good peanuts by adding candy corn? That's like saying hey, I have these awesome nachos, guess I better add some dryer lint." - Nonny