In 2001 (when I was 19 and my boyfriend was 22), we decided to buy a home together. We were tired of paying rent on our small one-bedroom apartments and living across town. This was supposed to be a five-year starter home. Now 10 years, a marriage and one child later, we are bursting at the seams. Should we move up and get more home for our money – or keep building equity and make our current home work for a few more years?
Pros to moving up:
- More square footage
- Find the right school system
- Interest rates are still low
- Nicer neighborhood
- Hopefully shorten our commutes
Pros to staying put:
- Live below our means = more savings $$
- Continue to build equity and save for a larger down payment
- Keep our 15-year, 3.75% interest rate loan (thank you Allen Tate Mortgage!)
- Stay by our neighbors who we now consider close friends
Our home’s value hasn’t increased, but it hasn’t lost much either. But as it gets older, we expect that we’ll be doing a lot of repairs in the near future. Does it make sense to sink more money into it or move on? I signed up for 1st to Know and also receive Market Report to keep current with market conditions in my neighborhood and the areas we’re interested in. Our plan for the next year is to make some minor improvements to get our house ready to sell. We’ll see what 2013 brings!
What’s holding you back from purchasing your next home?
By Melissa Munson (Project Manager) – Guest Blogger
Melissa Fence sitting is for the birds...literally! You need to buy new construction now! Great financing, great prices and great way to build more equity than your building now. Come see me and I'll fix you up with one of our BSI builders today. Mike
November 9th, 2011 at 2:55 pm
Mellisa, how about keep the home, turn it into a rental property and buy up while prices are down and financing is low. You get a bigger home for less then if you wait for market to turn and then pay more, with a possible higher interest rate. Or sell take equity out for a downpayment and try to find a home that matches your monthly payment now. Either way congrats on your article!
November 10th, 2011 at 11:01 am
We've tossed around the rental idea but we need the money we'd make on the sale for a down payment on the next home. We'd like to put 20% down on our next home to avoid PMI. And when we move on we want to really move on up!
November 11th, 2011 at 10:30 am