Hey guys (and CG!), I have a dilemma and I seek your sage advice.
The facts - My wife and I bought a house for 175k last fall. Since then we've put about 15k into to for things like radon system, new water heater, new entryway tiles, and paint. Some of this is general maintenance and personal preference...don't expect to recover much if any of this. Sucks to have to do that stuff but doesn't always add to value. When we bought the house it was great for what we wanted - nice split level layout, 4 bedroom, room for band practice, 1/3 acre, and a huge garage. After our 20% down payment our monthly costs are about $1,100 which is more than manageable.
Now the bad stuff - we have two bedrooms upstairs and two down in the basement. My wife wants another baby but doesn't want our current son in the basement all alone when he gets old enough. In addition, our heating is electric which makes the basement very, very cold in the winter as the system cannot heat above about 69 degree. This means the basement is like a meat locker when we go down there or even walk by the open entryway. If we put a child down there he will freeze because the temp is about 57 degrees according to my room-by-room thermostats. And yes, we've tried every trick with vent system and space heaters.
So the question - There is a great 3,000 SF ranch (walkout basement also finished) being built down the street with an asking price of 281k. We could pick out all the finishes. 20% down would be 56k which would bring our mortgage to about $1,100/month + ins and tax and $1,700/month after tax abatement ends. This is a huge difference in monthly payments but something we can still afford. This is subjective...a lot of advice here on cost, size, etc...but really, it's what you want. If you can afford it and you like it, need it, want it...buy it. I really don't get the thought process that someone else might be able to help you understand your daily lifestyle desires??? Everyone has a different opinion. Some like to save money until they retire and some like to spend the money they make now. There isn't one way that is better than another.
To fix our current heating problem we would need to run natural gas into the utility room and buy a new furnace. This would cost about 8-10k. In addition, we have one bathroom that is halfway built (long story) but it would cost about 4-5k to do it right or 2-3k to do it quick. Looks to me like you're out similar money in any case. If you don't see yourself staying in your current home long term, why sink the money into it?
At what point do you sell the house, take the 6% commission loss, You could try selling it on your own. I recently sold a $395k house on my own and didn't pay a cent of commission. take the 15k of improvement loss, and buy the new house that has a better layout and better HVAC system or do you make a go of it in the current house. All of the work we would do would be paid in cash so there wouldn't be financing - but a new furnace doesn't solve the 3rd-bedroom-in-the-basement issue nor does the installer guarantee it will fix the drastic difference in temperatures.
I could be talked into both options: staying and making it work or taking a hit and moving. What would you guys do?
