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Dumb Move?
Hi Ladies,
I was hoping you could give me some perspective. Two years ago, my DH and I bought a house in the suburbs. We love the house and we thought we would like the change of pace from the city to the burbs.
Yeah...so we are totally city people. We miss being near all our friends, we miss being able to walk to places and we miss a 15-minute commute to work. As of right now, we spend over 3 hours a day driving - so much lost time! We just feel so isolated and now we are so dependent on each other since we commute together and share a car. We miss out independent lives. Lastly, the house is too big for us - we literally have an empty, unused basement and several unused rooms. We don't plan on having kids anytime soon.
Is it a totally lame to sell the house and move back to an apartment near the metro and our friends? The reason we left our apartment originally was because we thought we might as well buy a house with how much rent costs. But honestly, now I feel like an apartment is worth the cost because it saves us so much time and we were just happier in the city.
I know there is a bigger picture I should be looking at. For example, it's probably best to keep the house to make some money off of it down the road. I know this isn't a smart financial move but idk...we just aren't home people like we thought.
Has anyone else done the move from a house to an apartment? Do you think we should stick it out?
Re: Dumb Move?
This is exactly what I was thinking. I would wait it out a bit if it meant not taking a huge loss. Did you look at condos in the city when you were looking to buy? It sounds like that would be a better fit for you while still allowing you to build equity.
The house has actually gone up in value so that's good. We would get a gain in that sense. But we may have to pay back the 8,000 first time home buyer credit we got.
We considered renting it out but we have been landlords before and it wasn't the greatest experience. If we did rent it out, we would do it through a management serve.
We didn't look at condos in the city when we were looking to buy since we planned to move to the suburbs. That was a mistake.
can you afford a condo/townhouse in the city?
i would love to live in the city but we "had" to move to the burbs b/c there was nothing we would even consider living in that we could afford in the city. and don't think of it as a mistake. you just made the best decision with the info you had at the time.
I think if you've lived there longer than two years you don't have to pay back that credit.
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This is coming from a city person: Move and don't look back.
We lived in the burbs for three years when we moved back to the DC area. We had a great apartment with all new furnishings and a very comfortable set up. But it really wasn't for us. I hated driving to work. There was very little we could walk to that wasn't cookie cutter, and it was all a long haul. Spending over an hour in the car made me miserable. It just felt far from everywhere I wanted to be. It was convenient b/c many of my friends are in the suburbs now, but it wasn't for us. When we moved back downtown two years ago, it felt like home, and I felt my whole self get lighter.
Last year, we bought a 1200 sq ft 2BR/1BA house. It's not big at all, but we have outdoor space and love our house, so we're thrilled with our choice. I'd like more space one day, but it's fine for now. When we were walking around our neighborhood just yesterday, my husband said, "It would be nice to have more space, but I'm so happy we live here where we can walk to everything."
Some people just aren't cut out for the suburban lifestyle, just like others would hate living in the city. Think of it this way -- you did an experiment, and now you know exactly what you want. If you'd never moved out, you might always wonder.
Such a great point!
Thanks everyone for all your great insights! You all made great points. I definitely don't regret getting the house because I know there was no other way to learn more about what I want for my life. It was a necessity even though now it's a pain haha.
I guess it's time to look at some places in the city!