I want a new house

[bmcgc]

We currently live in a 1500 sf house built in 2002. Its a very nice home and needs nothing. Its in a gated community and right outside the gate are the businesses that we use 90% of the time. (WM, Lowes, restaurants, movie theatre, our bank) Its very convienent and only 15min from my wifes job. We paid 110k three years ago and owe 84k now.

Here is what I do not like:

Steep driveway, the yard is also a hill, busy street, big fireplace (that we do not use) sticks in the garage so we lose alot of garage space, gated community ($600 a year), high taxes, to much yard work.

I want a smaller house, theres just two of us, a shop, level lot, more secluded on a quiet street. Not much crime in the gated community but they do not charge enough dues to maintain the infrastructure. We have to maintain our roads.

We might clear 100k for this house if we sell, so we would lose about 20k when you factor in the improvements we have made.

Do we put this house up for sale and look for something else?

Do we tread water and wait for a better housing market?

Do we stake our claim here and spend the money to change what I dont like?

[shipwrecked]

My opinion... I would sell. I won't buy a house until I find the forever home... You know packing up and moving every 3 years is a drag, so doing it one more time wouldn't be such a stretch.
But if you find the exact one you want and can do the improvements on it to suit you, you might be happier doing that.


Are you in a position to turn your current home into a rental? Advertise to the local military population>

[bmcgc]

Ive owned rental property in the past. Never, never again.

The thing that makes it tough is we love the general location. When we exit our community we can turn right and town is there, if we turn left we can ride our motorcycles for over 100 miles and not enounter a traffic light. Its the best of both city and country living.

[64low-n-slow]

Find a location where you can rent a small workspace for a couple hundred a month if you HAVE to have a shop. Pay somebody to maintain the lawn. Enjoy the therapeutic time gained by working on stuff at the new shop and cruising in your Slick and on your bike. The house will continue to appreciate in a recovering market. Later on if circumstances change and the location is less ideal, sell and make a little $.

My opinion. I wish I had your problem! Best of luck...whatever you decide.

[charliemccraney]

If you get a loan to buy a house, you will almost always loose money when you sell. If you've only paid on it for 3 years, then you most definitely will loose money. The vast majority of people who buy a house are not buying it as an investment, despite what the realtor may have told you. When you factor in taxes, insurance, interest, inflation, etc, it just isn't going to happen unless you get real lucky and pick an area where the prices just skyrocket. Forget about making or loosing money. Unless there is something we don't know about the details of your purchase, you're going to loose. For most, buying a house is about happiness, and stability, a place to call home and that is it. It sounds like one of those is conflicted, in which case I think it will be a good idea to move for the long term.

Do you do it now or do you wait? It is a trade off. If you do it now, you will not get as much for the house but you will also be able to find a house at a good price. If you do it later you will get a better price for your house but you will pay more for your new one. But how much later?? How much more is paid into taxes, interest, community fees etc and is it actually more beneficial to wait for a stronger market? I'd go ahead and do it so I can be completely satisfied with my situation.

In the current market, buying is much better than renting from a financial standpoint because your mortgage will be far less than rent.

The steep driveway, yard, busy street, gated community and high taxes are very expensive things to fix, more than simply buying something that suits you better, if you can fix them at all. I really don't think staying and fixing those is an option. If you could pull it of, I guarantee, you will never make money on that property - all hope will be lost on that front.