There’s always something that brings me back to this topic, again and again, over the last 1+ years. Well, recently a friend of mine told me that he and his (third) wife are buying a home. Actually, she’s doing the financing herself, since he’s tied up in his underwater townhouse. She makes 6-figures, can afford the financing on her own, and wanted to become a first-time homeowner. Yesterday he showed me pictures of this 5-bedroom, .25 acre home on which that they just won a contract.
I admit that part of me was jealous because here was this friend, financially able to move into a lovely 5-BR home, of which is way too much space (even he has admitted that; he’s going along with the move because his wife was passionate about it) for just him and her. She’s got a grown daughter who just left for college, another teen at home that will be leaving in a few years, and a younger son with whom he shares partial custody every other weekend. In a few years or so, it really will be just him and her, in that big….’ole….house.
And I couldn’t help but feel twinges of jealousy that Kwasi, Kwabena, and me (and soon, baby Ohene) are living in a 2-BR condo in which we sort of feel a bit trapped.
All the reasons why we feel we can’t or shouldn’t move include:
(1) Financially can we afford it? Once Ohene is born, we will need an extra $800 a month, in addition to Kwabena’s $660 a month, for daycare. Pulling an extra $800 out of our asses will be challenging, but with cut-backs (and getting my car paid off soon), will free up extra cash.
(2) The equity on our condo is being eaten up by a bad financial move concerning the townhouse we bought in Hagerstown, which is under water. This means that we would have less than would be ideal to put down on another home (which then results in mortgage insurance each month).
(3) We might have to sacrifice our retirement savings until…..well, until when? Until we both find new jobs that pay more? Until we get pay raises so that we could once again start saving? Until both kids are out of daycare and we could start socking some of that money back into retirement accounts?
(4) I am so afraid of faltering financially, that I think I prefer to live below my means, so that in the case of an emergency (a job lay-off, for example), I wouldn’t have to worry. Living in our condo is affordable, and to think of needing 2 paychecks in order to just make ends meet seems….a little too daunting for me.
(5) Kwasi has to help his mom financially, so would he still be able to do this if we were to move?
Here are the reasons why we should move:
(1) Kwabena is starting Kindergarden in 2 years. The school district we’re in SUCKS. We’d even considering using his Mom’s address so that he could attend another elementary school in her area, but even that school isn’t looking too hot from the research I’ve been doing. I have been doing some research on Montgomery County schools, and have identified the more desireable school districts. If we were to move to one of those school districts (even Howard County district), we wouldn’t have to worry about public school costs that would surely be needed if we were to stay in our condo.
(2) More space! Having 2 kids will be a bigger adjustment, even in terms of space, and I can’t help but feel more space for a family of 4 would be ideal. I feel a bit superficial for wanting more space, when I consider that we could live somewhat comfortably in our condo with a family of 4.
(3) A backyard would be nice!! How awesome would it be to just let the kids run outside in the backyard?? Why shouldn’t we have this for our kids? Will they be negatively impacted by not having it? No. But it would be fun 🙂
(4) We should totally move IF we were able to find something that is comparable in monthly payment that we are currently paying. But all the properties I am finding that are worthy of buying are $325,000 – $375,000, and the payment, along with property taxes and insurance, would probably fun about $2,100.
So the big question is……….could we really afford to come up with an additional $800 per month for daycare along with another $500-$600 (or more, considering hidden expenses that come along with buying a house) per month for a larger home?
That’s the $64,000 question….Lots of things to consider…..
Leave a Reply