Farmhousegirl,

The national average used to be that families moved approximately every 7 years. For the most part, when to move is purely a personal choice, unless you are being transfered or have some other life event that dictates a move - new baby, new job, divorce, empty-nest,unemployment, etc. Of course, if you are "upside-down" - meaning if your house is down in value and the mortagage is more than the house is going to sell for- you might want to consider staying a bit longer until the market goes back up and you will not have to bring money to the closing to cover your debt.

Sounds like you want a challenge and are not concerned about the financial side of it. Go for it and enjoy your new kitchen project!!

Might be cheaper to re-remodel your current kitchen than to move. :) Just saying.

Seriously, though, I'd base it on how much you like your current house and (especially) its location. If it suits you in every way except the kitchen, that would be a reason to stick around (also depending on how much $$$ it'd take to get the kitchen the way you want... new countertops/backsplash vs ripping out a bunch of loadbearing walls and rearranging your entire floorplan). If it's cosmetic only, you could probably resell a lot of your 4-year-old things to relieve some of the guilt (if any) about redoing a redo so soon.

I know what you mean, though. I get the impulse to move every time we think about changing something here. As if other houses had no problems, lol.

To answer your actual question: I sold my first house after only 2 yrs, but that was because I got married and we decided to keep DH's house (where we still live). The market was going up then, so it would have made more financial sense to hang onto it for a while; but I have no desire to own a rental so I was happy to sell. (I probably about broke even; I'd done some improvements but the house sold for a little more than I'd paid.) OTOH, DH has been in our current house for over 25 yrs, despite all its old-house problems. It's all about location.

DH and I have bought 4 houses since getting married in 1997. We were in house #1 6 years, #2 3 years, #3 1 year and current house we've owned since 2008. I agree that it's the fees and associated costs that kill you. There's moving costs, even on a local move, you're going to get boxes, rent a truck, or make tons of trips back and forth. If you've got a lot of stuff, you might need a temporary storage which adds to your costs too. Don't forget that certain items might come up on an inspection that may need to be fixed by you.

There's a couple of things you might want to do before you decide. Check with a realtor to find out what has sold in your market recently. How long are houses staying on the market? If it's averaging a long time like 6 months or more, you'll need to consider whether you want to keep your house in "sale" condition that entire time. That is having it staged and clean. If you've got children and pets, this can be challenging.

Get your house inspected by a professional. A lot can happen in 4 years. It's best to see if any major items need to be addressed rather than have it be a deal killer for a potential buyer.

If you still have a good relationship with a previous realtor, see if you can negotiate a discount in fees especially if you use them as both your sellers agent and buyers agent. It doesn't hurt to ask. Pro realtors, don't flay me for saying this, please.

If after considering these and you decide to sell and buy another house...

Don't make an offer on a house until yours is well into contract. Even if you have to rent back from the new owners for a few days or week. It will be a lot cheaper than getting into a situation where you're in escrow on a new house and the buyer for your house falls through and/or you get stuck carrying 2 mortgages.

Here's a NY times article about housing...

Here is a link that might be useful: Housing prices continue to fall

Thank you all! The funny thing is that financially it probably won't get any better the longer we stay here....since housing prices are deflating rather than inflating. We are fine on our mortgage..not upside down by any stretch. ( Sorry to confuse with the upside down term..I was talking about the market.) I think people are so used to homes appreciating...instead the market is going backwards. This make moving trickier than it used to be. At the same time, interest rates are starting to creep up...which makes me want to act before they are much higher and fewer buyers are able to afford to purchase. Higher rates also have effect home prices in a negative way. So much to consider! Maybe my husband will get transferred and that will solve a lot of things..especially the real estate fees!

I'm with the others who say if you like the house and location, just tear out the kitchen and start over there. We are just into our 50s and have lived in 5 houses in our 26 years of marriage. Dh would like to think about retiring in 12 to 15 years, but have 27 years of a mortgage left, and our biggest yet. We are so envious of those our age who stayed put 20 years ago, and their mortgages are, by today's standards, quite small, and have little duration left.

The closing costs on the mtg and the costs of moving make it worthy to do for serious reasons, but not for a whim. Each time, you lengthen how long you will be paying. I am sure your kitchen is not awful and is quite workable as it is. Perhaps a few cosmetic spiffs would make it feel even better. There will always be someone with newer, bigger and better. The goal is to use your house and live your life. A nice kitchen is lovely, but not worth messing with everything else for. You just went through this a few years ago. I'd wait at least 5 more before doing anything big to it. The hassle involved in moving and then renovating a kitchen is no minor thing. Assuming most houses need other tweaks for each new family moving in, you will be spending a lot of time getting that squared away. If you have kids, it is an upheaval for them as well. It is easy to become addicted to renovating just as some people can't stop with cosmetic surgery.

Just like getting a new cars every 2 years, it will cost you, big, to keep switching. You will pay an atty, engineer, taxes, realtor fees, etc.... every time you think of selling. With mortgages as high as they are these days, closing costs are quite high. Just to refinance our mtg, we are paying approx $10k. Uncle Sam, federal and local, takes a bigger bite than he used to. In our case, it is still worth the costs to get the lower rate and consolidate our 2nd loan for the reno with the first. The rate is lower than the first by some but lower than the 2nd by a lot. We will save over $500 a month. It will extend our first payoff date by approx 2 years and the 2nd by 1 year. The interest saved will be worth it.

Our new kitchen is great but there are a few things in it I wish we did differently as well as in some other rooms. It is all so much better than before that I will choose to look at the glass as 90% full and go on to enjoy my free time and not spend it painting and dealing with contractors once I can help it.

Unlike, Rhome, I have lived in our house during all of our marriage. (most people end up moving a lot not by choice but by circumstances that are beyond their control) Every time we looked to move-up our house, the cost of moving was too high and we have opted to stay. I am not yet 50 years old. We have no mortgage. This is a very liberating thing.
Because we have no mortgage, I can opt to work part time and my husband has opted to be retired. These are choices that we have made by living below our means.
Most of all, you need to be realistic that your house will even sell. This is a battle front that most do not want to venture readily into at this particular time.
Farmhousegirl, you need to see what else your money needs to do for you til retirement and after retirement. Only you can answer how much your kitchen is worth to you in lieu of new car, retirement, vacations, kids college etc. You and your husband are the only people that can answer this.

you might want to consider staying a bit longer until the market goes back up
Crystal ball working ok? There isn't much reason for housing to go up anywhere in the US, except maybe in a few land locked very desirable areas (SF, Manhattan, DC maybe etc).

Wages decreasing to equalize with other parts of the world, banks sitting on way too much real estate, national debt at a trillion plus, health care crisis, social security problem with more and more elderly and less folks putting in $ - all great reasons to believe the housing market will rebound. Yeah, and we need to extend those Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. That will help.

fhg, if it is something you want to do and have the $ such that you are not sacrificing something else, go for it. You'll be doing your part to keep someone employed. Might even be a socially better thing to do than to leave your $ getting a half percent in a big bank.

DH and I are married for 25 yrs.. and I'd have to stop and think about how many times we have moved (just because of wanting to change houses!). We have never lived in a home longer than FOUR (4) years!! It is however expensive to move, and through the yrs we have done exceptionally well financially. We built the house we are currently in 3 yrs ago, it's a beautiful home and the style of decor fits the house, but it's just not my style (even though I designed it!) Anyway, the neighbor has crashed, and we will lose a ton of money on this home, but we could stay here 10 years, and we'll never recoup the money we spent at the height of the over inflated market. So, last month we closed on a new/old house.. that I love and that I see myself really staying put for longer than 10 yrs. We bought it at a price and location that we know for sure will increase, so in the end.. we feel the money lost on this home will be gained, plus some.. on the new home, plus I'll enjoy the location much more!