2020 has been…indescribable… In addition to the pandemic and the tragic murder of George Floyd, I got a call from my mom at the end of April, saying “Come home now, your grandmother may be dying.” I broke quarantine, drove 300 miles, and worked side by side with my mother to move my grandmother into a higher care assisted living facility. Stubborn woman that she is, my grandmother’s physical health has rebounded. Unfortunately, dementia has set in. There’s a whole series of posts to be written on this situation.
At the same time, we’ve been really trying to make our home work for us. Increasing privacy, fixing things, installing solar. Then at the end of April, someone broke out our next door neighbor’s truck windows, and in response another neighbor fired off nine rounds. One of the bullets lodged in the side of the house. He’s lived in this neighborhood for six years, and I moved in four years ago. This is only the latest in a series of shootings, thefts, and vandalism.
When we had to install piers under our foundation in 2017, we said that it was worth it, since we would live here for another 5 years. Our Denver Bungalow had so many things going for it!
- An easy commute to our jobs downtown by public transit, bike, or car
- A big fenced in yard for our dog
- 10 minute drive to an entertainment district
- 5 minutes to the grocery store
- A big walking trail just a few blocks away
- A 1 bedroom apartment in the basement that we rented out to a dear friend
- Decent neighbors
- A rapidly changing neighborhood
After the latest incident, we started questioning, does this house still work for us. Then a drone started flying over our neighbors’ house. Turns out the owner of the house on the corner is planning to sell. Two blocks over, developers have put up 10 narrow townhomes, and another lot is being prepared for something. Could our darling Denver Bungalow become the “UP House” sometime soon?
My husband started looking at houses in a nearby suburb, with a unique downtown/city center area. We have friends who already live in this area. He found this house – a four bedroom, three bath house, with a fenced in back yard (patio, garden, and shed included) listed for $515,000. Further searches have found comparable houses in the $475K-$485K range. Redfin estimates that our current house could sell for $530,000, so if that’s true, we have $321K in equity to work with. It’s possible that we could sell our current house, buy a new home that has been recently updated, and lower our mortgage substantially.
A big downside is that by moving, we may lose our housemate. He’s being very silent on his needs/desires, although we’d be willing to take that into account. If we lose the income from him, we’d need to reduce our expenses by $800. On the flip side, a newer/more updated home, means that we’d need to put less aside each month for capital maintenance.
This seems very different than buying our investment property. It means we’re leaving our home. When we were looking for our rental, everything seemed stable, and we wouldn’t have to move anytime soon. In these pandemic times, I don’t even know where to start. Is it time to retain a real estate agent? Can you even look at houses? I’m unemployed, so does that hurt your chances of getting a mortgage? Ugh. It seems like the FI thing to do, but seriously…can I phone a friend?