Where Do We Go From Here?

[spazzyfry123]

I'm racking my brain trying to decide what to do here to make the most of a good situation. I'll be taking a new job and relocating in the upcoming months. Relo package includes everything on both the sale and the buy side - closing costs, moving, commissions, etc. We'll do just fine on the sale, but I'm worried on the buying side with interest rates that'll bring a tear to your eye. Of course, if we don't buy, then we don't see the buy-side of relo benefits. This has me thinking of alternatives, and I'll forewarn that I'm scattered across with a ton of ideas and this will be a bit of a ramble. We knew the job was coming, so my wife and I have been having what seems to be the same conversation repeatedly for the past year - still without a definitive answer. Naturally, turn to the internet.

Job is home-based regardless of current socioeconomic situation, but I will have scheduled site visits and customer meetings throughout Atlanta and the surrounding metro area once a week on average. In short, I'm not tied to any specific area just as long as I relocate somewhere within Georgia that's north of middle Georgia. Wife is a stay-at-home with soon-to-be two kids and we intend on home schooling. Both her family and mine are in the Atlanta area along with friends (we moved to Florida from Atlanta some years back). We're young, but boy are we ready to settle down. I think we've moved 7 or 8 times in the past decade. I'm itching to get some roots and stop talking about where/how we'll live and JUST LIVE.

Our interests have us longing to be near the mountains or within a reasonable drive with no interest in living in the city (been there, done that, no thanks). HOA life doesn't shake our tree - we're doing it currently and the nit-picking of trashcan placement, keeping up with the Joneses, and passive aggressive Facebook messages because someone forgot to lower an umbrella at the pool have us wondering why we're here. We'd love to get some chickens for eggs and have a garden to keep the kids busy (don't worry, Mama will still be going to Target plenty...).

Not sure what the intent of me posting this is other than to write out my thoughts in a single place and provoke a conversation with others that may have some experience. I recall seeing someone in each of the below buckets at some point on here.

Option 1
Rent a house in suburbia for the foreseeable future to be used as "home base" that will be near family and easy for live/work/play. The reduced responsibility of upkeep and repairs can reel us back to focus on other life things. While this doesn't go towards any equity, it frees up cash and allows us to purchase a piece of land to be used as a getaway and slowly build a cabin on at a rate that could very well make us mortgage free at a young age.

Route 1A) Secondary property will be within confine of job boundaries allowing us to relinquish the rental and permanently move into the secondary to make it primary at ??? time frame. May also be able to work coverage of closing costs with employer.

Route 1B) Secondary property will be outside of the job boundaries making it purely - and intentionally - a getaway location, but close enough (Tennessee, North Carolina) so that if I decided to work there for a week and something popped up, I could easily drive back. This would perpetuate the rental.

Route 1C) Secondary property will be well outside of the job boundaries and be more of a destination. Extreme situation is to buy a few hundred acres in Wyoming with added logistics and infrequent visits, but much cooler on the GTFO scale. This would also perpetuate the rental.

Option 2
Buy a McMansion at a higher-than-anticipated price with the intent to refinance from the currently high rates. If I'm buying, I'm going to make it as much of what I want as I can, so it will carry a heavier invoice. This will allow us to build equity assuming no large downfall of home prices and also be close to family. Will likely be getting into another HOA and treat it as a five-year-plan of sorts, but I'll plan to tie all house-related funds to this sole property with no getaway.

Option 3
Jump in with both feet and make it a difficult couple years but with long term fruit. Buy the land with a construction loan to build what we want where we want with supply chain issues be damned with us renting a small something-or-other during construction. Downfall is associative costs within the region - everything is expensive within the job boundaries. While I'd love to do it, I'm terrified of the juggling act. Anyone that I've talked to that is building has a heck of a nightmare story. My buddy here in town ordered his windows for his garage this past June with the best arrival date yet being April. Neighbor a few houses down just finished his build with his garage doors coming in at 400% of budget, a dishwasher that won't deliver for another 10 months, and the completion was finalized about 9 months after schedule. Nevermind the permit headaches...

Option 4
Rent something and invest "extra" money into an exit strategy by starting another business. Current job surely isn't a bad gig, but the hours are long and the stress is through the roof. If I'm doing that, why not transfer the load to something that's my own. A brewery sure sounds nice...

[Alfisti]

First question, how's the relationship with the wife and how is she as pressure builds and problems escalate?

[overcoil]

just curious, have you ever done a custom home before (maybe parents) ?

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

First question, how's the relationship with the wife and how is she as pressure builds and problems escalate?

Cool as a polar bear's toenails. As far as you can get from picky, so really the decision will lay on me and she'll support however we decide to go.

Originally Posted by Caravaggio

just curious, have you ever done a custom home before (maybe parents) ?

For us, we've only purchased existing homes. My dad owned a residential building company many moons ago dealing primarily with spec homes, but much has changed since and nothing custom was ever done by them personally.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

Cool as a polar bear's toenails. As far as you can get from picky, so really the decision will lay on me and she'll support however we decide to go.

Got any photos to share?

Jokes aside, second question is how long do you plan to stay in new location and where are you folks and in laws.

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Got any photos to share?

Jokes aside, second question is how long do you plan to stay in new location and where are you folks and in laws.

She's a catch, I won't lie. This is a permanent move. I've declined who knows how many offers that had me going to various areas around the country with the sole reason to find our way back to the Atlanta area. Both sides of the family are in the ATL area.

[Alfisti]

If permanent, and you're sure of it, take the most painful short term route that yields the best long term situation. That's finding the perfect lot and building a great house. Do it once, do it right but it'll be painful.

[mthused]

Terrible time to buy a house right now, with prices still quite high but dropping in most places, and lousy interest rates. Might be some really good bargains when the bottom is found, so renting for at least a little while might be smart.

I've been counseling my young adult children to do the same- 2 of them with their young families are itching to get into house purchases and settle down around Kansas City Missouri, but I think it might be smarter in a year or thereabouts, and even then I think interest rates will not be good.

Interesting situation though with lots of flexibility in your options- a great problem to have!

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

If permanent, and you're sure of it, take the most painful short term route that yields the best long term situation. That's finding the perfect lot and building a great house. Do it once, do it right but it'll be painful.

If it weren’t for the supply chain + interest rate variables, I think we’d do it without question. Quick glance looks like construction loan rates are about 0.4% higher even still.

Originally Posted by mthused

Terrible time to buy a house right now, with prices still quite high but dropping in most places, and lousy interest rates. Might be some really good bargains when the bottom is found, so renting for at least a little while might be smart.

I've been counseling my young adult children to do the same- 2 of them with their young families are itching to get into house purchases and settle down around Kansas City Missouri, but I think it might be smarter in a year or thereabouts, and even then I think interest rates will not be good.

Interesting situation though with lots of flexibility in your options- a great problem to have!

Couldn’t agree more. The only reason it’s even being considered is the loss of benefits from the company. Closing costs on the purchase could be 10s of thousands missed. Definitely a great problem to have!

[dreamingat30fps]

I don't have much to add, but if considering building from scratch maybe go peruse over this thread first.

https://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1808634

[dreamingat30fps]

Actually I thought of something else. I saw you mentioned buying something in Wyoming. Before buying our second home in NC I was looking at homes in the Flagstaff area. I am very glad I ended up going with NC because even the 11 hour drive from FL to NC is a pita and I wish it was shorter.

We have dogs so flying isn't really an option. I only do it when we are in NC and I need to go to FL by myself for a couple of days for business. However even if we didn't have dogs and could fly it's still a pita. Because our house in somewhat in the middle of nowhere (1.5 hours away from major airports) it's hard to get a rid to and from the airport.

I feel if we had gotten something further away we would rarely go there because of the hassle. Even though Wyoming is probably one of my favorite places in the country. Also keep in mind the weather. I heard you mention being from FL and/or GA... Wyoming gets colder than a witches tit and their snow piles up taller than me. Sure I could leave for the winter (which is looooong in WY) but they I would be worried about the property all the time and if something were to happen it's far away.

Another option is instead of buying a mcmasion you can buy a modest home to live in for now while you find your land/forever home then rent it out when you are ready to move into the other home. Could be a source of income if/when you decide to do your own thing.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

If it weren’t for the supply chain + interest rate variables, I think we’d do it without question. Quick glance looks like construction loan rates are about 0.4% higher even still.

Worth it, just get it done. It'll be a 2 year process, the longer you delay the more upheaval in your life. Once the home is built it's not a lot of maintenance for about 10 years so just get it done.

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

I don't have much to add, but if considering building from scratch maybe go peruse over this thread first.

https://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1808634

DETRoadster's ongoing saga is a certain detractor for me

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

Actually I thought of something else. I saw you mentioned buying something in Wyoming. Before buying our second home in NC I was looking at homes in the Flagstaff area. I am very glad I ended up going with NC because even the 11 hour drive from FL to NC is a pita and I wish it was shorter.

We have dogs so flying isn't really an option. I only do it when we are in NC and I need to go to FL by myself for a couple of days for business. However even if we didn't have dogs and could fly it's still a pita. Because our house in somewhat in the middle of nowhere (1.5 hours away from major airports) it's hard to get a rid to and from the airport.

I feel if we had gotten something further away we would rarely go there because of the hassle. Even though Wyoming is probably one of my favorite places in the country. Also keep in mind the weather. I heard you mention being from FL and/or GA... Wyoming gets colder than a witches tit and their snow piles up taller than me. Sure I could leave for the winter (which is looooong in WY) but they I would be worried about the property all the time and if something were to happen it's far away.

Another option is instead of buying a mcmasion you can buy a modest home to live in for now while you find your land/forever home then rent it out when you are ready to move into the other home. Could be a source of income if/when you decide to do your own thing.

Thanks for the insight!

[Our03z4]

Option #4. You kept it for last for a reason, I have a feeling it's your real goal but you are too nervous to make the jump. Not sure a brewery is the best idea in the world, as I think it's over saturated and a fad but I could be wrong or you have some kind of original idea.

Wish the best of luck to you, follow your heart and dreams. Might cause short term pain but will be worth it in the end.

Love the home school idea btw.

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

DETRoadster's ongoing saga is a certain detractor for me

I'll be sure to post up photos next week of what $17,000 buys you when a certain civil engineering city contractor decides to take the most stringent interpretation possible of storm water management regulations. Spoiler alert, it's 3 big holes filled with water and an engineer to sit there for 2 days watching the water level.

[floridaorange]

Slow down. Rent. Moving is a very emotional process. Do not add on additional big life decisions at the same time. Let the best decision surface organically. Get to know the community you are moving via local organizations. Make new friends. Put serving the community ahead of anything else and let the rest of your business decisions flow through that mindset.

Good luck

[UncleWede]

Only .4% more for construction???

At least back when I did it about 20 years ago, I held a construction loan at 8.75% for 366 days. Refinanced, took out 25K equity, built a custom motorcycle (I still ride it) and refinanced at 3.25. Have refinanced a few times since then, and in February it will be all ours!!!

At the time, after all the paperwork was nearly done on the construction loan, THEN the agent came back and asked where was the 10% cash contingency. Dafuq???? You know my accounts, I don't have that. Off the local H-D dealer, sold my 1-year old Fatboy, and then they STILL bugged me to prove I got the cash from sale of my motorcycle.

LOVE my house!!! And my custom softtail!