Moving: buy or rent?

**MonkeyMama** · 10-29-2017, 10:36 AM

I don't know anything about the Dallas market. I would say that it depends on the market there.

You may find that your dollars stretch much farther renting or buying. If one is a financial advantage, I'd use that to my favor. I suppose the other consideration would be the average days on market (for real estate). I've never owned a home that I couldn't sell in a day. So I'd probably lean towards home ownership even for a shorter time period. I realize my experience is one extreme end of the scale.

I am guessing in most cases it's wiser to just rent in your situation, but I personally wouldn't make a decision like that without running through all the numbers and investigating the specific real estate market more closely.

**disneysteve** · 10-29-2017, 10:47 AM

I would not buy a house that I only expected to live in for 3-5 years. For that short a time frame, I'd want someone else to be responsible for maintenance and repairs. I'd want a place where I could leave cleanly and easily when it was time to go, not have to worry about prepping and showing and selling and settlement, especially if I might be in a different city by then.

**tripods68** · 10-29-2017, 03:54 PM

I would rent for at least for two or three in Dallas.

**MonkeyMama** · 10-29-2017, 04:36 PM

Originally posted by tripods68 View Post

I would rent for at least for two or three in Dallas.

That's a good point. Would I buy a home in a market I was unfamiliar with? Probably not. It makes more sense to rent initially and then figure out the rest from there. You'd probably want to live there a while before you really get an idea what neighborhood you might want to live in.

**Jluke** · 10-29-2017, 04:52 PM

At your level, shouldn’t the company be setting you up with living arrangements or housing/rental recommendations at least?

**snafu** · 10-29-2017, 05:51 PM

I hope you have a better crystal ball than mine. Before our initial purchase, DH and I agreed to a minimum 5 yr rule to buy a house as it takes us that long to fully absorb closing costs, fees, disbursements, moving, decorating incidentals and the burden of resettling.

Life's challenges hits and we fail. New build, 1st house, was 6 months late to start; we sold before 2nd delayed closing due to employment opportunity. Fast forward, years later...chose to rent when seconded, the owner passed away and the estate needed to cancel lease and sell.

What are your specific pros and cons? Style preference SF ranch, bi-level, townhouse or condo? I'd be hung up on current, phenomenally favorable interest rates and 'deal' attitude in Dallas. HR {Dallas} can tell you staff's 3 preferred districts. You can follow online with 2,000 sf, no more than $150. per sf, all in and see what you can get/negotiate for example.

What is the plan for sum garnered from home in Cincinnati? Where do you have family support? Where do you imagine you want to settle? What is your target date?

just my .02 cents

**scfr** · 10-29-2017, 07:09 PM

Will you and your wife be happy in an apartment rental? I'd think that a house rental would be a bit 'iffy' because you would never know when/if the homeowner would decide to sell and you'd have to move again.

Personally, I'd lean towards renting if it's likely to be for only 3 years, but buying if it's more likely to be for 5 years. "Temporary housing" situations are easier to tolerate the shorter the length of time.

Usually I like the idea of renting first before buying when you are new to an area, but in your case, since 5 years is a much shorter time commitment than what most people think about when they buy a house, I might just take the plunge and buy.

Definitely go for a smaller house. And look at window orientation (the fewer facing the afternoon sun the better), and air conditioner age and SEER. Here in Texas you really need to think about air conditioning costs.

Here are a couple of "outside of the box" thoughts:

1. This could be a neat opportunity to do a trial run on your retirement housing. For example, if you've thought that you might want to downsize to a condo in retirement, try that out in Dallas and see how you like it. What a great chance to try a totally different house type/size/location on for size!

2. You could think about a Dallas home purchase as a "mini real estate investment." Your company will be paying your transactional costs, which would help keep your investment costs down. There may be parts of Dallas that will see better-than-average price appreciation. (For example, if the Houston-to-Dallas bullet train gets built, will condos within walking distance of the Dallas station become more valuable?)

If it were Austin instead of Dallas that you were relocating to, I'd have a good "empty nester" home that I could rent to you, and would be willing to commit to 5 years! Not nearly as lavish as what you are used to, I'm sure, but probably tolerable enough.

**TexasHusker** · 10-29-2017, 07:58 PM

The Dallas housing market is tricky. There is constantly a "new" neighborhood with brand new homes. Let's say they are $250,000 just for conversation.

You buy it, hold it for 4 years, but it's likely depreciated. That's because they are building a new neighborhood of brand new homes just down the road for $250,000.

So your house is only worth $200K because it's "used."

I'd never buy a single family residence in Dallas unless it was in a very established area - Park Cities, Highland Park, etc., and that would cost you a fortune.

**LivingAlmostLarge** · 10-31-2017, 09:20 AM

Depends. I would be wary what if you buy in the wrong location. But I get that it's a "waste" of money. I'm like Monkeymama where we've always made money but this time I rented for 2 years and while it was a bad financial decision losing on rent and appreciation of homes, it was good for us personally because we'd have made a bad decision to buy in the wrong location if we had impulsively bought. So I can see the point of renting.

Renting really is nice.

**ndwilli6** · 01-06-2018, 05:06 PM

Originally posted by corn18 View Post

It looks like we will be moving to the Dallas area in the near future. Probably a 3-5 year stint until I retire or move up the food chain. So we are looking at places to stay in the Dallas are and whether to rent or buy. My company will cover all transactional costs on the selling and buying side, which is nice. Data:

$470k Current house value (might be higher, but this is a quick sell number. USAA says $500k. Zillow says $515k). Paid $513k in 2008.

$421k current mortgage balance

$3500 current mortgage payment (i pay $500 extra / month)

$49k in my pocket

Dallas real estate looks to be the same, price wise, as Cincinnati. We don't need another 4,000 sq ft house, so I am not sure what we would pay for an empty nester house. For now, I am budgeting $500k if we decide to buy and $3,000 / mo rent. I would love to find something my wife would be happy with for $2,000 / month, but I'd rather budget high and buy low than the other way around.

I'd like to rent. Over 3-5 years, we won't be paying a lot on the principal. The tax break is nice, but that is our only deductible.

I am not willing to rent our current home. Too big, too much maintenance.

So, rent or buy in Dallas?

Tom

I'd push for $509k for sale (and provide closing assistance), you want to earn a good profit. I'd use those funds to purchase another home-smaller-with a small downpayment (3%-to-5%). Live in the home for a year or two. I said smaller so you're able to rent it out in the future (without much maintenance). Let me know your thoughts.

**corn18** · 01-06-2018, 09:30 PM

Originally posted by ndwilli6 View Post

I'd push for $509k for sale (and provide closing assistance), you want to earn a good profit. I'd use those funds to purchase another home-smaller-with a small downpayment (3%-to-5%). Live in the home for a year or two. I said smaller so you're able to rent it out in the future (without much maintenance). Let me know your thoughts.

I have looked into it and Landlord is not a title I aspire to achieve.

**snafu** · 01-06-2018, 10:23 PM

Does your employer offer re-settlement services? That can help immensely with location issues in an unfamiliar city. You need to know exactly which relocation costs will be covered [realtor commissions, lawyer, land assessment/evaluation/parameters, registration costs, inspection costs, cancel & hook up fees of all utilities, packing, moving, unpacking, vehicle delivery.. Some contracts include cost of staging to sell, window covers, some decor and all the products you must relinquish as unsafe to move.

You and wife need to agree on what meet your needs, size/sf, # bdrms, # baths, modern kitchen including newer appliances, hot water heat, AC, garage,
commute. Certainly an opportunity to find out if you'd like social opportunities in an HOA or Condo complex.

I suggest you use stationary dots or stickers to identify items to sell, bag items to donate, recycle obsolete electronics and trash anything damaged, broken, sprung. If you don't like it, don't use it, don't need it, doesn't serve you, bless someone else with your generosity. Will employer play the price difderential of home/flooding hurricane insurance?

**creditcardfree** · 01-07-2018, 05:21 AM

We currently rent. $1,800 a month. The most we have ever paid for housing.

Yep, we sold our house and took the equity. We had lived in that home exactly three years and did make a profit. It turned out to be a growing community and the building of new homes was at a standstill, partly because there was not new lots to even buy. That has since changed. But the timing turned out to be in our favor.

We also wouldn't benefit from itemizing any mortgage interest.

We are in the southeast in a military dominant community. House prices are stagnant. Houses sit on the market longer than most major cities. Building new homes continues. We also do not want to become landlords, thus we are okay renting for the short time we are here in order to be able to move on when the time comes. I really think this will have been the right choice financially.

We've noticed that by renting we don't think about how to improve the home (thus no spending for upgrades). We love that we haven't had to deal with the cost of repairs (refrigerator, disposal, and heat and air conditioning (so many service calls!)) or the cost of pest control and lawn treatments.

We deal directly with the owners, who live four hours away. They leave us alone which is nice, but getting them to deal with some aspects of the house have been slow or non existent. Since we have owned our home in the past this is a bit frustrating.

Just sharing our experience. What have you decided to do, corn?

**corn18** · 01-07-2018, 05:39 AM

If we move, we will rent. Doesn't make any sense to buy in the Dallas area for 3-5 years.

Moving: buy or rent?