We’ve been planning on moving (which may sound odd in other places in the world where it’s known as “shifting”) for 6 years. Yes, it’s really been that long.
When we first bought this house from my parents, we got it with a dirt-cheap “5-year-fixed then adjustable-rate” mortgage and the strong intention to move before the rate became adjustable. Well, that time has come and gone, and it’s about time to get out of this house and into something new.
We met with the realtor last week. Jean is a very jovial spirit, and is very enthusiastic for her team to help us with our move. (Something we hadn’t considered is that a real estate agent would come pre-grouped with many people: One to sell our house, one to help us find the best house to buy, one to help with the financing.) Part of the process is obviously finding someplace new to live, and so last night we reviewed a web site that Jean forwarded to us so that we would have some places to tour over the holiday weekend.
We were excited to see the lists of houses, but the initial chart puts most of the new homes in the $350k-$450k range. This was much higher than I expected, and I questioned the sanity in this when I saw that our mortgage payments would be somewhere above $2000 per month.
The broker is a bit crazy, saying that we could easily afford a $500k house. Seriously, that’s a half million dollars. One half million. One wonders if these huge numbers are solely commision-driven and whether there is any actual sense incorporated in their figuring. But I’m told that the numbers all work out.
Apparently, according to our salaries and expenses, this is within a reasonable range for mortgage payment for us. I had previously expressed concern to Berta that I didn’t want to buy a house that would leave us with no money for our lives.
For example, we both like to travel, and taking the kids places is something we think we will enjoy even more as they get older. Right now, we can afford a couple of real travel vacations each year without a problem. Our timeshare will be paid off this year, even before the new mortgage engages (something Berta sites as a place where more money will become available), which gives us plenty of flexibility in our travel plans. But if we can’t afford the high-priced plane tickets for four, then we’ll be stuck using that timeshare at very local locations.
The kids are also going to want to participate in activities as they get older. Abby takes ballet now, which isn’t too expensive. She’s interested in karate though, which will eat through money very fast. Riley is sure to be interested in all sorts of similar things. And music lessons might be nice for either kid. That’s money.
And I also like the style in which we live. I admittedly spend money with less consideration than I should have. Still, we can afford to be a little frivolous. We can eat out very often if we want to. We can spend money on movies and other entertainment without watching the budget too closely. And gadgets - I like to try everything new. Will loading up on a $450k mortgage stifle the “extravagant” life that we’re used to living?
There are other considerations, too. I know that we need more house than we have - this is obvious by comparing the number of bedrooms to the number of occupants. But we don’t need a crazy huge house. I think we could be satisfied with a house that has just as many rooms as we think we might need, or possibly have a use for.
In my mind, the ideal house would have three bedrooms plus a guest bedroom, two full bathrooms, livingroom, diningroom, kitchen, familyroom, office, and a two-car attached garage. A separate craft/utility room would be nice. A study (for the books, and possibly as a separate computer office) would be nice. A porch or deck would be nice. A yard of at least the size of our current yard is a requirement. Those are the essential bits. Anything more is really gravy.
One of the houses that we saw online last night has 5 bedrooms and a study and an office. It has two walk-in closets in the master bedroom. Two full baths and a powder room. Only a one-car garage (a point on which I’m not too particular, but Berta seems to want it), but everything else is huge. $439k. It’s more than we need and it costs more than we need to pay. No doubt that it’s an amazing property (at least in photos and on paper), but it’s just too much.
I don’t want to be in a position where we’re looking at all of these great houses and Berta falls in love with what you can get at this $400+ price tier. Then we talk financing and, yes, we can afford it, but I’ll have to cancel magazine subscriptions to pay for it. What sort of quality of life is that where you have a fantastic house to live in and then the living you’re doing doesn’t match the price of the house?
Berta has alerady said that it’s forever been her dream to live in a house like these. I can understand that. But wow, that’s a lot of money. The thing that most married couples fight about most often is money/expenses. We don’t really fight about money. Sure, she tells me that I spend a little to rampantly. It’s true, and I try to cut back when I go overboard. But we don’t fight about it because we’re never in danger of real financial problems. I don’t want the expense of the house to lead us down that road.
For the record- My fears have nothing to do with not wanting to move. I may resist the packing and the home repair in the name of prepping the house to move, and I might complain about house prices being too high, but trust me. I need to live somewhere else. It would simply be nice if that somewhere else wasn’t so expensive.
