We are in the process of selling our house. We will walk away with about $15,000 after one year of ownership. However, homes are sitting on the market for longer, and we had to lower our price by $6000 before we got an offer.
So, we are moving back to Olympia, WA. We will be renting a house there. The house is in a great neighborhood (think "STOP THE WAR" posters in our neighbor's windows), it is old and not updated, but it is affordable and where we want to be. Right now, we are paying over $1000 a month in mortgage (our mortgage is actually $1036, but we have been in a payment arrangement for a missed payment-and we have been paying $1298) our new place is $850. It is smaller, so it should be easier to heat. DH right now has a 30 minute commute, and gas is over $3 a gallon and we get 20 miles to the gallon. We will be close enough that he can walk or bike. We are going to go almost completely car free, we are looking into alternative bike options so the whole family can bike around town, and bus passes will be less than $100 a month.
So, we have been talking about buying some land and putting a yurt on it. But I am just not sure that this is the right thing to do. I am in school and I will be in school for 5 more years. It seems like building our own place (even a yurt) and all that goes with it will be really time consuming. Also, there are all these other costs that I dont even know about. And it looks like in order to buy land anywhere near where we want to be, it will be $100,000 or more. so, not much of a savings really.
Another thing we can do is spend about $25,000 to get a piece of vacation property and put a yurt on that. But is it dumb to buy the second home before the first?
My main concern is that we are already well into our thirties and wont own a home.
If we were to buy an existing home, it would be close to $200,000.
I don't know that this is coherent, but if anyone has any insight, I would love to get it.
I want to have an idea of what we are doing next because I want to be able to plan to be in the rental for a few years, roll up my sleeves and plant a garden, or only be there for a year and so we leave stuff in boxes, yk?
So, we are moving back to Olympia, WA. We will be renting a house there. The house is in a great neighborhood (think "STOP THE WAR" posters in our neighbor's windows), it is old and not updated, but it is affordable and where we want to be. Right now, we are paying over $1000 a month in mortgage (our mortgage is actually $1036, but we have been in a payment arrangement for a missed payment-and we have been paying $1298) our new place is $850. It is smaller, so it should be easier to heat. DH right now has a 30 minute commute, and gas is over $3 a gallon and we get 20 miles to the gallon. We will be close enough that he can walk or bike. We are going to go almost completely car free, we are looking into alternative bike options so the whole family can bike around town, and bus passes will be less than $100 a month.
So, we have been talking about buying some land and putting a yurt on it. But I am just not sure that this is the right thing to do. I am in school and I will be in school for 5 more years. It seems like building our own place (even a yurt) and all that goes with it will be really time consuming. Also, there are all these other costs that I dont even know about. And it looks like in order to buy land anywhere near where we want to be, it will be $100,000 or more. so, not much of a savings really.
Another thing we can do is spend about $25,000 to get a piece of vacation property and put a yurt on that. But is it dumb to buy the second home before the first?
My main concern is that we are already well into our thirties and wont own a home.
If we were to buy an existing home, it would be close to $200,000.
I don't know that this is coherent, but if anyone has any insight, I would love to get it.
I want to have an idea of what we are doing next because I want to be able to plan to be in the rental for a few years, roll up my sleeves and plant a garden, or only be there for a year and so we leave stuff in boxes, yk?
