In April 2012, we got the itch to sell our current house and move closer to family (about 20 miles away). Turns out it was a lot easier to sell our starter home than it was to find a new home. We received an offer on our house in less than a week. While we were scrambling to prepare to move, find temporary living while we were between houses, and find a new house, patience occasionally wore thin between my wife and I.
A few months before selling the house, we had considered spending some money to upgrade some of the appliances, upgrade the flooring, and install an AC unit. We kept putting it off, and decided that we wanted to upgrade the whole house, including the location.
We looked at many houses in the area where we wanted to live, and settled on a new house that was built last year and has been on the market since. We secured a basement apartment in town for a one-month lease. After learning that we may only need a place to live for six days, we canceled the lease and opted to stay in a hotel, with a swimming pool, hot breakfast and maid service.
While securing financing for our new home, I learned that my middle credit score was 791, most likely because even though I have no other debt, I still have a mortgage that is paid on time every month. After all was said and done, we secured just over $22,000 in equity from the sale of our home. Today, my balance sheet is all assets and no liabilities. That will soon change, however, when we sign up for our mortgage on our new home.
On our new mortgage, we locked in a 30 year loan at 4%, which is .375 points below the 15 year fixed rate mortgage we refinanced into last year. The new house is an upgrade in every aspect, from flooring to cooling to counter tops to appliances. This translates to a larger mortgage, but the total mortgage will be less than three times my current salary. The monthly payment for the 30 year loan will be less than 25% of my take home pay, and only about $50 more than my old 15 year monthly payment.
We keep convincing ourselves that in the end, moving up will be worth the stress, time and money. We'll see.
