Feeling stuck in starter home TH

[Anonymous]

How do you deal with being stuck in a starter house that you can’t let go of due to the insanely low monthly payment? Technically can afford a more ideal home (2x the value of our TH) but the monthly payments will be 4x due to taxes/mortgage rates. I cannot wrap my head around paying 4x our current amount for housing, even though technically our income would allow it (would still be under 35% after tax income).

[Anonymous]

You're not "stuck" because you can afford to move.

Either it's worth it for you to move or it's not. Make a choice.

[Anonymous]

As someone who has stayed in her starter home for 17 years: It now feels like the smart thing to do. If there’s no super urgent reason to move, don’t move. The security is priceless.

[Anonymous]

What don’t you like about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone who has stayed in her starter home for 17 years: It now feels like the smart thing to do. If there’s no super urgent reason to move, don’t move. The security is priceless.

+1. We can’t justify tripling our mortgage payments so we are staying in a house this is just fine, even though on paper we could afford a house that we would adore.

It’s making me a bit more willing to invest in upgrades, nicer furniture or decor that makes me happy, to make the best of a house that wasn’t meant to be forever.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think you understand the word “stuck.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who has stayed in her starter home for 17 years: It now feels like the smart thing to do. If there’s no super urgent reason to move, don’t move. The security is priceless.

+1. We can’t justify tripling our mortgage payments so we are staying in a house this is just fine, even though on paper we could afford a house that we would adore.

It’s making me a bit more willing to invest in upgrades, nicer furniture or decor that makes me happy, to make the best of a house that wasn’t meant to be forever.

So do that. You'll be very happy to have all the extra funds down the road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you understand the word “stuck.”

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're not "stuck" because you can afford to move.

Either it's worth it for you to move or it's not. Make a choice.

+1 You're not stuck. If you want to move, then save as much cash as possible so you're borrowing less.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand the hostility. Probably makes sense to wait for interest rates to decline. Will make your TH easier to sell and a new home easier to buy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you deal with being stuck in a starter house that you can’t let go of due to the insanely low monthly payment? Technically can afford a more ideal home (2x the value of our TH) but the monthly payments will be 4x due to taxes/mortgage rates. I cannot wrap my head around paying 4x our current amount for housing, even though technically our income would allow it (would still be under 35% after tax income).

I deal with it by thinking of the people who would enjoy the starter home and be grateful that I moved on.

[Anonymous]

You can rent out your current house to save the good rate and then buy a new one, refi later.

[Anonymous]

We are in a similar situation. We can afford another house but can’t justify tripling our mortgage, with majority of it going toward interest. As PP suggested above, we decided to do some updates and decorate to help us like our current house more. I am trying to see the positives. Can’t beat the location and we really do not need that much more space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can rent out your current house to save the good rate and then buy a new one, refi later.

That would imply they are sitting on enough cash for another down payment. They could also rent and rent. Rentals make currently much more financial sense than buying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in a similar situation. We can afford another house but can’t justify tripling our mortgage, with majority of it going toward interest. As PP suggested above, we decided to do some updates and decorate to help us like our current house more. I am trying to see the positives. Can’t beat the location and we really do not need that much more space.

Interest is deductible