If you are both in good health, go for it. Sounds great!

Gayle

Good luck to you. You sure seem to like it a lot. When are you going for a second look?

Linda

Risk is a four letter word.

I'm thinking your home is paid for. If not, two mortgages are out of the question in my mind. There is no way of knowing where RE values will be at any given time. Twenty five years ago I sold a house for 6 times what we paid for it. Five years ago I barely broke even on the one I sold.

You could move now and rent your present home, but that can be risky too. How much of a commute would it be for DH if you go ahead and move now? That seems like the sensible thing to do.

When in doubt, don't. On the other hand he who hesitates is lost.

I don't think you want to lose the new house.

Good luck.

Sue

Sounds perfect for you!
That price difference is the same as what our house started on the market. Homes are not selling in our area so it isn't working for us, but it sure sounds like a great idea for you.

I hope it all works out, and enjoy your new home.

I know you really want that house, so this time check these things:

Take your camera and take lots of pictures to look at later.

Windows. Are the tight fitting? Have screens? Condition?

Heat/Air. How old? Make sure they work.

Fuses or breakers? That can tell you a little about the wiring.

Do the appliances all stay? How old are they (water heater, too)? Window treatments?

Look at the ceiling and walls--see any cracks?

I sure hope you get that house. Your other posts sounded so excited about it. If your DH is handy, some of the above won't be important. Know I'm forgetting some important stuff.

When we look at a house we tend to look at the good points instead of the important ones. Like this place we bought in September. Had I looked up and seen popcorn ceilings, I may have thought twice.

You are so right - it is scary when considering property values. I think we both live in somewhat similar towns, different counties perhaps, but in the same general area. The local papers have been reporting for the last year that our area of South Jersey and Philadelphia hasn't been hit with reduced home values the way most of the country has. Of course the prime reason is that the values never inflated as rapidly nor as high as many other areas.

I hope you go for it, providing of course that the house passes inspection and the owners accept your offer. My husband and I will be following your lead in the not too distant future. So I wish you luck,

that is scary, isn't it, to think of buying a new home, etc.?

I like the ranch idea--all on one floor, since you want to retire (i.e., grow old) there.

So I'll pass on my mother's must-have when she was looking for a similar home:
She HAD to be able to put a laundry on the main floor. Because when she gets old enough that stairs are hard, she does not want to have to go up and down stairs w/ laundry

The place she & dad bought has long closet along one side of the hallway that's perfect (so perfect, in fact, that there was a laundry hookup already, a bonus).

You might see what you can do w/ the main floor of your new place--even if you don't put it in right away, that's the kind of detail that will mean you wouldn't have to buy another house.

I'm curious why you'd buy a home now if retirement is several years away yet. So many things can change! (You may have said in a post I missed...sorry if that is the case.)

Let's see if I can answer a few questions (in random order--LOL)

We're going tomorrow afternoon, and will probably make our decision tomorrow evening.

Dh can retire any time, but he's hoping to put in at least another year and a half to bump up his pension. He's very handy--but the 'new' house is in tip top shape (it's our 'old' one that needs some spiffing up before we sell).

Photos--took tons last time I was there, and plan to add to the collection tomorrow!

The new place is about 40 miles away. That's busy NorthEast Suburban driving--takes a good hour, much longer during rush hour. Not a commute he'd want to make for more than a month or two, and definitely not in winter if roads are bad.

Yes, 'old' house and cars are paid for , so our only expenses here are the taxes, utilities, etc. That helps a lot.

We actually want the lag time between buying and selling. Time to move and organize 35 years worth of stuff. Time to perk this place up. Which will be a lot easier, once some of our stuff is out of here.

Thing is, mortgage rates are really low right now (and not supposed to go much lower), selling prices are low. The house we're looking at would be at least $100,000 more in our area if we found a comparable one. In a year/two I suspect that property values will be rebounding. As long as we come close to breaking even, we'll be happy, but with a little luck, we could come out way ahead.

Another reason to buy now--I think I might have mentioned this before, but this home had everything on our 'must have' list, everything on my wish list, and a whole bunch of things I'd never even dreamed of. If we let it slip away from us, every other property we look at will probably be measured by it, and either come up wanting or be way out of our price range.

We're still young enough to be very active--but we are looking at this from the point of view that at some point that might not be the case--this house has everything you need on one floor, and only a couple of steps in from the outside (plenty of room for a ramp, if needed).

And we like the area. Tired of living like sardines in the suburbs. I've always wanted to move to 'the country'--this is the best of both. More open, less traffic, cleaner air, but lots of shopping, cultural events, medical facilities, etc in the city. Actually, it's sort of odd. Geographically, it's the largest city in our state. But a lot of it is very rural--farms and industry, no high-rise office buildings. Nothing like what most of us think of when we hear 'city'. It's no NYC, or DC--LOL.

Sounds great.
A good glazier can reglaze that tile in the bathroom. Ours is all ceramic tile, and we had it done a few months ago. From 1950's pink into white...tub and walls.

first and foremost a home inspection! make sure about electrical and plumbing are in working order...roof. etc...

now comes the hard part...do you really want that much home to take of when dh retires? and if you want to take vacations, who will care for all that yard, etc? you may not have any medical conditions NOW, but what happens down the line? i got a rude awakening when i had my hyst..suddenly havn't the strenth i had...dh is stuck with more than his fair share of maintaining our home, where i would have jumped right in and painted or mowed, he has to do both...

I say go for it. Like you say, mortgage rates are low, and this house has everything you wanted in another home. I had a year to work when I bought this townhome. My commute was increased by 15 miles (15 min. too), and it was a pain in the winter, with snow and icy roads. If it was to bad, I'd call in. I knew I could do it because it was only for a year.
It was scary for me too. I'd been a widow for only 3 mo. when I put the old house on the market, and it took 7 mo. to sell. But that was from Oct.- March. Nobody wants to move in the winter in Nebraska. But I went from a really small house that would be needing repair work before to long, and yard work, and snow removal to a brand new one, yard work done, and snow removal done. I haven't regretted it, and it's been exactly 8 years (geesh already) this month.
Leslie

Good points, that we've considered very carefully.

We are both very healthy and have good genes on our side. His parents lived well into their 80's (his father worked as a plumber right up until a few months before his death). My mom kept going like the energizer bunny until the day she died. My granparents lived into their 70's and 80's and had a property MUCH larger than this one, with a rental unit on it, that they cared for themselves--grandmother had a huge vegetable garden and did all her own canning and preserving.

Actually, when I say this property is larger--you have to understand that what we have now is only 40 X 100, with much of the back yard taken up by a 2 car garage and 2 extra parking places. New place isn't huge--it's only a third of an acre, but it looks big to us! No, I wouldn't want anything much bigger than this, but I definitely don't want another house where you sit in the dining room having dinner and holding a conversation with the next door neighbors in their kitchen (we can and do do that now).

I don't imagine we'll die in this house--I expect we'll probably stay there for 15-20 years, then head to a senior citizen apt. building. But it will be a lovely place to enjoy for the next decade or two. And we HAVE to get out of this county--way too expensive to live here on retirement.

We also have friends and family in the 'new' area, so won't be totally without resources there. And unfortunately, we have fewer and fewer friends/family where we are now--between folks dying or moving away.
Guess that's a sort of morbid consideration, but there it is.

As to vacations, we don't travel a lot anymore, and really, this place is going to seem like a vacation home to me--partly because we'll be there parttime to start with, and partly because it's so different from where we are now. When we do travel, it's rarely for more than 4-5 days, so I don't anticipate that being a problem.

As to 'that much' home--it's about the size of the one we have now, but more conveniently arranged, easier to care for.

There's an added advantage to this home. If, in the future, our health would necessitate having live-in help, we could definitely do it with this house. The basement could very easily be converted to a wonderful apt. for someone (it already has a bedroom, full bath, large family room). Basically it would need a kitchenette, and since I plan to put in a summer kitchen at some point....

We've definitely thought this through. This house is exactly what we've been looking for. And I love that it's in super great condition, and that the materials in it are all super easy to clean (there's tile EVERYwhere--I'll be buying a lot of windex, but it will look great with very little work).

And, of course, this is all assuming that we decide to make an offer and that it's accepted.

Would you rent out your now home? Talk to a tax advisor. New rules on rentals. If you rent out, are you prepared to do everything the person breaks, destroys, paints etc--you can tell we have had rentals, no more--change a light bulb at midnight etc. Most renters are great, but remember this is NOT their home so they don't care of it as theirs.
Capital gains when sold???
Good luck

I'd love a deal like that in another 5 or 6 years. You might get lucky, buy the new house now when prices are depressed, sell the old house in a year or two when prices rebound a bit ... or, well, you could get unlucky too. What's the worst that could happen, what's the worst that's likely to happen ... and can you deal with it?

I hope it works out for you, it sounds really exciting :-)

No, definitely won't rent. That's a headache we do NOT need--LOL (my sister rents out an apt. in her house--no way!) The whole point of the 'lag' time is to give us a chance to move and fix up at our leisure. Once we've got this house in order, it will go on the market, and DH will retire soon after it's sold (we're figuring maybe 1-2 years total time at the very most). That will put him very close to 2010--which is when he was hoping to work till.

I've spoken to my tax accountant about the capital gains thing already. As long as we don't change our address on our official stuff, this is still our legal residence and we'll get the capital gains exemption when it sells.

I love that you're all bringing up such great points--and feeling really good that we've pretty much thought most of them through already. But keep going--there surely is something we haven't yet thought to evaluate!

Have to add--this one floor house is looking better and better after the past week and a half that DH went through. He had a terrible attack of gout--one of the worst yet, and his old medicine didn't touch it (he had to get a different, stronger prescription that had nasty side effects). I'm sure being on one floor would be easier for him on those few occasions a year when the gout visits.