My husband is considering a job in another state that pays a lot more then we are currently making. We live in Michigan. Houses are not really selling. We would be lucky to make what we owe. My question is has anyone else moved to another state and started completely over without selling their old house?
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My husband and I found a piece of property he just couldn't live without so we "snapped it up" before we sold our other place. That was 18 months ago and the first home still hasn't sold. We have had to rent it out against our better judgment but it will be better (we think) than letting it be empty.
Tough choices. If you leave the house vacant it can be turned into trash by vandals or some other problem could happen. If you rent it and something goes wrong the tenants will want it fixed. So if you have a family member or a very good friend that could keep an eye on the house when it is rented they could intercede if problems arose. Not the best of choices.
My husband is in the Navy, we married last summer, we both lived in different parts of the state and commuted long distance till I was able to move where he was at. Since the market was down when we moved, I rented out my home, it covers the mortgage payment, the rest we have to eat till it sells (property taxes, ins) but at least we are not stuck with the full mortgage payment, and for that I am very grateful!
A few years back my husband was transferred with his job to another state. At the time we owned a house and knew we had to buy another one in the other state. Long story short, we had two houses, two mortgages and one job (my husbands). We had the house on the market for a year before we sold it. Mean while we did rent it out for about 6-8 mos. We will never do that again. The tenants didn't really trash the house but they certainly didn't treat it the best.
We had an enormous water bill so we called about it and they said the faucets leaked (all 3 bathrooms) They didn't bother letting us know. They locked themselves out more than twice and broke into the house damaging both door jams plus they smoked terribly. The house stunk! The whole renting agreement was set up through our real estate agent, we never did find out who was really renting our house (I think it was a few people)
It was not a good experience. We have purchased three houses had 3 moves within 3 states within 6 years and now my husband is up for another transfer. This time we will be renting a house where we move. We will sell the house we live in now and hold off buying one until we decide to stay put for a while. Sorry this sounds so grim but I hope your experience with what ever you decide will be better than mine.Good Luck
We have moved a lot, due my husband's job.
I've learned a lot of things about moving to a new part of the country.We made a lot of mistakes, and learned a lot of do's and don't's.
One thing you should do is go WITH your hubby to the new area, and see if you think YOU would like living there. Find the location of his work.Drive thru the area close to work. Go into the local grocery stores, and just ask people where they live, and where their children go to school,where the Churches are located that have lots of family things to do.
If you can get involved in a Church, you will make friends, the kids will make friends, and you won't feel so lonesome. After all, the kids will be in school all day, your hubby will be at his work all day, and you will find yourself at loose ends if you don't plan ahead for things to keep YOU busy. And you know the old saying.....if mama aint happy, then nobody is happy. :)
Don't plan to buy a house right away.Rent for at least 6 months. Get to know the area.....
1) you don't know where the "good" schools are, which schools are better for your boys until you meet people and "gossip." a little bit. :)
I know this is long-winded, but these are things that we have learned in the past.
One house we thought was a grest deal, flooded when it rained, had a huge pasture behind us which looked peaceful and great...but had some very loud cattle and a Brama Bull that scared our kids to death, and on the right of the cow pasture was a train track that had Coal Trains carrying coal to the power plants....all day, and all night.You couldn't see the tracks from where were lived......but you could sure hear them !! And then, there was an empty factory several miles away that someone purchased,refurbished, and put several 100 people in the community to work, sounds great ? They did something with fertilizer... and grew mushrooms in the stuff that came from mucking out the stables , from horse barns, they grew the mushrooms in the horse stuff, the odor was horrific !!
Not to mention all the trucks that were hauling stuff in, and trucks that hauled out the mushrooms after packaging.And then after growing the mushrooms, they hauled the stable stuff out in huge piles and sold it to folks for their yards....mushroom mulch !! Who knew ?????
Lots of luck to you and your move.........
barb in tennessee
I've never been in that situation, but I've heard it stated this way: If you lived in one state, and had a few hundred grand laying around in the bank, would you use it to buy a house in another state? Probably not. Keeping the old house would be the same thing.
We have moved 12 times from state to state since we were married, renting or buying, etc. as we moved around. The number one piece of financial advice I would give you is this:
If you can not AFFORD both payments, upkeep, and taxes at the same time on a PERMANENT basis, then do not buy a second house until the first one is sold. You will jeopardise your financial future if you run your savings into the ground and be forced to sell or get foreclosed on. I have seen it happen to other people who thought they could "juggle" both "for awhile". You would be far better to take a loss on the current house and get it sold, then to sit on it for a year or more hanging over you like a vulture. If something can go wrong, it is likely to! It can be horribly stressful.
I do also agree with the poster before who said go with your husband to check out the area before he committs to taking the job, and move with him as soon as possible. Taking a loss on your current home may not be any more expensive that him having to make flights back and forth for several months - especially if you are juggling two payments. Then he may feel he "can't" come home in order to save money - that is a downward spiral.
Hi this happened to us. We couldn't sell & that was in a good market. So we rented it out. We were bummed but it turned out to be the best thing we ever did, it was about 7 years ago.We invest in our 401 k but other then that we cant save.
By letting the renters pay our mortgage our house will be paid for in 8 years, when our first child goes to college.The house appraised for 180,000. but it will be a few years before we could actually get that. Here are some ideas-- how much does a house your size usually rent for in your area. You can call a rental company & tell them your looking for a certain size house in your school district & see what they have available & for how much.
Is there someone there you could pay to collect rent & meet a repairman if you have too? Can you rent the house for enough to pay this person? It is a bad housing market but if people cant buy--they have to rent. So this could be an opportunity.You also might talk to the rental company about handing your house. When I talked to them I was surprised at how well priced there handymen were & that they would bill me. They take all the work out of it for you.
I would also suggest making the deposit different then the first months rent.You an also make the rent due very two weeks. A friend of mine use to rent & after the 5th if her rent wasn't paid the fee was 10.00 a day till paid, I thought this was a rip=off but I bet the tenants he had were on time. I would wait to buy a house in the new place. Depending on the area most people buy are rent anew place in the summer in between school years. The laws in your state for renting & what your rights are should be easy to find.
Another idea since credit is tight you could lease purchase so you get money down they make the payment & they are responsible for repairs.They have so many years to finance it themselves. But if your happy with the leasers you can extend there time. Remember renting the house will use up some of your credit.I believe your only allowed to put 75% of the rent toward your payment, so for instance you rent for 100.00 your payment is 100.00 your existing credit would be down 25.00 .
Try www.biggerpockets.com They have some experts over there.
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