Dear readers, let me start with an apology. What follows is an update to an ever present financial dilemma that is driving me, my husband, my friend the Realtor and surely many of my friends bonkers.
Should the McGuires stay put, or should they move?
Here's my on-the-record take of the situation from a column on frugality that I wrote in February:
I think this is a core value of mine. So why do I waste precious time taking online photo tours of houses, sending listings to Mr. Kablog and going over the tradeoffs time and again between buying a bigger house or sticking with the not-so-big-house?
For one, with rates for 30-year mortgages wading in sub-5 percent territory and home prices treading water, if not still sinking, it is a darn good time to buy that "forever" house. I can buy a house that's worth more than twice my current property, is twice as big and twice as nace and with 20 percent down, we'd write a slightly larger, but not much larger, check each month (we currently have a 15 year mortgage). In our payment-obsessed world, this fact is hard to let go.
The latest object of my affection is a 3,000 square foot house with a swimming pool a couple of miles up the road. The kids could walk to school, instead of being bused across town. They wouldn't have to share a room. We wouldn't bump into each other in the kitchen.
But we'd need two cars, or Mr. Kablog's bike and bus commute would lengthen, which would mean paying for after school care for the kids. It would cost more to heat. Insurance must be more for a house with a pool (a pool!). And we wouldn't be able to help as much with college.
If we stay put, our mortgage will be paid off by the time our second goes to college. If we move, we'll have a big fat mortgage and tuition bills. Considering what's happened in recent years, I'm not willing to bet that our income will continue to rise to the point that paying for college is a possibility without that freed up cash flow from no house payment. This may be as good as it gets.
Thanks for letting me spill my thoughts. I doubt it will stop my incessant house-hunting, but I'm a firm believer in laying out financial debates for others to see. Sometimes it stops you from making regrettable decisions that are hard to unwind.
But if anyone has an argument for why we should buy the biggest house we can afford, lay it on me!
