Will your Louisville community be there in 2 years? How many of your neighbors and kids’ friends are considering the same questions and how many of them will choose to leave?
After reading your post, my first gut reaction was "wait the two years", but then I got here and started reading the other posts "Children are resilient", and I agree, they are and will be, especially since the options you're suggesting will have lots of positive benefits.
Wait the two years? I take it that was still only a guesstimate, and.. I think finding good stable certainty now is a positive thing for everyone. I applaud you thinking of the kids. I guess it's not too far to set up a visit to old friends if desired.
I say ride it out. If you guys are comfortable in the rental, let things play out, put/keep your money in the bank and see where the world is at in 12-18 months. This isn't a great time to make a big move (this obviously doesn't apply if Mother Nature makes that move for you). Melissa and I only picked up and moved to SD because of family. It wasn't the optimal move financially but family is much more important right now. We've settled into a comfortable spot and are keeping our powder dry for the time being. Do I think the world will ever be without its challenges? No. However, I do feel like this is an extreme time compared to the chaos that we usually live in.
Having moved from CA to TX with our (at the time 14 and 8 yo) kids two years ago, I can only add that kids are very resilient and they will find new friends easily. Plus I believe it's a good experience to learn how to deal with new situations (new school, new friends, etc). But I totally see your point, we were concerned about the kids when we decided to move to TX, but the kids have been 100% fine, not a single issue (they miss some of their old friends of course, but it makes it special when we visit or get visitors). We have also never had family close by, so I can't compare with that option.
An option I thought about for you would be to buy a smaller apartment/house now, not your dream place, and once the world is in a stable place you could build your dream house and convert the apartment into a rental for additional income (you most likely could tap into some equity as well at that time).
I didn't know you moved to Texas. Crazy. And I appreciate the context around resilience. Some of our neighbors are doing what you said -- buying a smaller place, living there, then planning to rent it after they build back and move in.
Yup, it was time to leave the bubble and let our kids experience more of the world (since Frida and I moved from Sweden, then FL, CA and now TX, we wanted to share some of that experience with the kids as well, they've only lived in San Diego). Now we have a property outside town with chickens!
Yeah, if it makes financial sense to you then it's almost always good to own property and rent out (we have a condo in SD that we rent out). So many options in the future, the kids can stay there, you can use it to build equity that you put into a newer place for yourselves, etc. If you can find a smaller place to buy close to your family then you can "test it out" while still having options in the future to rent it out while you figure out if you want to build/buy close to family, or if it didn't turn out to be what you thought it would be. I like to have options in life ;)
Amazing. I'll check this out. My concern is our lot is to small to support a livable shed given the scope of the rebuilding project and the space heavy machines will need to get around. But I have heard of people buying trailers and living on their land while they rebuild. I know folks who did this after the Malibu fire, for example. Stay tuned.
While I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of staying connected to your community, experience has shown me mostly-guilt-free resets like this become exponentially more difficult as your kids get older. It’s a tough decision but also a real gift. If it were me, I’d be putting even more radical changes on the table. For example, did you know that university in Germany is just about free? Perhaps find a community that has German language skills available through school that could enable that option in your kids (and wallet’s!) distant future. While that’s a very specific example, the idea is the same: think big, because this may be the last move you make for 20 years!
Germany! Florida also has almost free university (although I don't think Emily wants to move back). But the thought of a more radical reset is a super interesting one. Often, after one or two bottles of wine, Emily and I become almost serious about this option.
Free college sounds great on paper, but there's nothing free in the world, so you pay for it through much higher taxes (I know first hand, income tax in Sweden goes up to 60% and sales tax upwards 25%).
715W Louis Ct is a new listing as of 17 minutes ago. I imagine these are all going for over asking, with multiple back up offers... rates have been on a hiking spree too, I'd be so stressed out. Best of luck in your decision, you guys are rock stars.
Will your Louisville community be there in 2 years? How many of your neighbors and kids’ friends are considering the same questions and how many of them will choose to leave?
If it were me, I’d buy an existing house.
After reading your post, my first gut reaction was "wait the two years", but then I got here and started reading the other posts "Children are resilient", and I agree, they are and will be, especially since the options you're suggesting will have lots of positive benefits.
Wait the two years? I take it that was still only a guesstimate, and.. I think finding good stable certainty now is a positive thing for everyone. I applaud you thinking of the kids. I guess it's not too far to set up a visit to old friends if desired.
I say ride it out. If you guys are comfortable in the rental, let things play out, put/keep your money in the bank and see where the world is at in 12-18 months. This isn't a great time to make a big move (this obviously doesn't apply if Mother Nature makes that move for you). Melissa and I only picked up and moved to SD because of family. It wasn't the optimal move financially but family is much more important right now. We've settled into a comfortable spot and are keeping our powder dry for the time being. Do I think the world will ever be without its challenges? No. However, I do feel like this is an extreme time compared to the chaos that we usually live in.
Having moved from CA to TX with our (at the time 14 and 8 yo) kids two years ago, I can only add that kids are very resilient and they will find new friends easily. Plus I believe it's a good experience to learn how to deal with new situations (new school, new friends, etc). But I totally see your point, we were concerned about the kids when we decided to move to TX, but the kids have been 100% fine, not a single issue (they miss some of their old friends of course, but it makes it special when we visit or get visitors). We have also never had family close by, so I can't compare with that option.
An option I thought about for you would be to buy a smaller apartment/house now, not your dream place, and once the world is in a stable place you could build your dream house and convert the apartment into a rental for additional income (you most likely could tap into some equity as well at that time).
I didn't know you moved to Texas. Crazy. And I appreciate the context around resilience. Some of our neighbors are doing what you said -- buying a smaller place, living there, then planning to rent it after they build back and move in.
Yup, it was time to leave the bubble and let our kids experience more of the world (since Frida and I moved from Sweden, then FL, CA and now TX, we wanted to share some of that experience with the kids as well, they've only lived in San Diego). Now we have a property outside town with chickens!
Yeah, if it makes financial sense to you then it's almost always good to own property and rent out (we have a condo in SD that we rent out). So many options in the future, the kids can stay there, you can use it to build equity that you put into a newer place for yourselves, etc. If you can find a smaller place to buy close to your family then you can "test it out" while still having options in the future to rent it out while you figure out if you want to build/buy close to family, or if it didn't turn out to be what you thought it would be. I like to have options in life ;)
Have you considered a Pre Fab pad that you can plop in the backyard area while uncertainty rides out its course?
One of our clients at BusinessOnline is Studio-Shed https://www.studio-shed.com/ and they are located in Boulder, Colorado.
If you are interested, I can reach out to my CEO whose good buddies with their CEO to get you an introduction.
Amazing. I'll check this out. My concern is our lot is to small to support a livable shed given the scope of the rebuilding project and the space heavy machines will need to get around. But I have heard of people buying trailers and living on their land while they rebuild. I know folks who did this after the Malibu fire, for example. Stay tuned.
While I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of staying connected to your community, experience has shown me mostly-guilt-free resets like this become exponentially more difficult as your kids get older. It’s a tough decision but also a real gift. If it were me, I’d be putting even more radical changes on the table. For example, did you know that university in Germany is just about free? Perhaps find a community that has German language skills available through school that could enable that option in your kids (and wallet’s!) distant future. While that’s a very specific example, the idea is the same: think big, because this may be the last move you make for 20 years!
Germany! Florida also has almost free university (although I don't think Emily wants to move back). But the thought of a more radical reset is a super interesting one. Often, after one or two bottles of wine, Emily and I become almost serious about this option.
Free college sounds great on paper, but there's nothing free in the world, so you pay for it through much higher taxes (I know first hand, income tax in Sweden goes up to 60% and sales tax upwards 25%).
715W Louis Ct is a new listing as of 17 minutes ago. I imagine these are all going for over asking, with multiple back up offers... rates have been on a hiking spree too, I'd be so stressed out. Best of luck in your decision, you guys are rock stars.
That's our experience. All-cash offers are winning every time (less risky for the seller), and houses are going for ~20% above the asking price.