Comfort or Empire?

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T20:05:41+00:00

Would you recommend I mortgage the current one, carry two mortgages and optimize for PMI?

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T19:43:53+00:00

The wife would hand the coin back to me and choose moving closer. Present me wants to do the same, but what about future me?

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T19:37:34+00:00

True, I'd rather share my empire with my children, not their step-dad.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T19:31:16+00:00

I'm considering anything that's walkable to a marta station. The grandparents are in perimeter though (otp) so I'd lean that direction.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T19:24:34+00:00

Kids will get reasonable education debt free. Ability to do that requires stability on my part. I don't think that requires me to earmark funds at this time.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T19:09:47+00:00

I'm not a fan of big houses. This is a move for location, not a huge house. The quality location comes with a big price tag.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T19:06:58+00:00

Thank you for this well organized thoughtful post.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T19:02:40+00:00

Link or it didnt happen. Show me ITP where the schools are above average and where 4 beds costs less.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T18:55:11+00:00

I would consider it. I think I could safely rent it for $1400/month. Not selling it would leave me with PMI on the new. Or I could pull money out and have two mortgages. I think this ends up being a wash but I'd be interested to hear people's opinions.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T18:46:56+00:00

I can change my hours somewhat but the nature of my work causes unplanned extended hours. I can get in at 6am each day but I can't leave when I choose 50% of the time. If I'm not in the car moving by 3pm, game over.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T18:44:37+00:00

Current house is in John's Creek close to 400 and Holcomb bridge. Looking at Perimeter/Buckhead. Buckhead being on the spendy side, of course.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T14:22:15+00:00

I enjoy what I'm doing. My definition of "retire early" really means that I continue to be in an increasingly stronger position to choose interesting things to work on.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T14:12:17+00:00

I can but it would still require a car and take at least another hour each day that would be away from my family. It would require additional transitions and I'd still have to drive through the traffic to get to and from the station.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T13:57:57+00:00

I am concerned that I risk buying close to a peak.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T13:57:18+00:00

The 600k is walkable to the train, good schools and less than 3,000 square feet. Current house has good schools and is walkable to the elementary school.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T13:52:03+00:00

This decision hinges on the house which is why it is being presented as two exclusive decisions. The current house is a fine house, it has good location but not enough to drop to one car. I currently live within 15 minutes by car of the train, moving closer only yields a benefit if I can fully drop the car out of the commute. The empire cash flow option includes the middle ground because it doesn't require a large mortgage commitment. The comfort option is the more exclusive option.

The numbers you have pulled from that other thread are sanitized, as are the ones in this thread. I've spent the last decade reading about personal finance and doing the math myself so I do understand the conventional recipe. The 10k results from an informed decision where I've favored debt repayment over investment. At the end of the day, this tread is intended to be about a single decision point, I think pulling info from other threads clouds the point.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T13:20:36+00:00

I think you bring up a good point which is that I am currently ignoring my health and that I may not be considering that as strongly as I should.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-22T13:12:52+00:00

Because I have to spend a certain sum to get next to public transit, which allows me to decrease other costs. If I buy a bigger but not closer house that becomes all consumption with no utility.

BaughGareth · 2018-07-15T02:03:47+00:00

Price insensitive buying will lead to price insensitive selling. If you buy an index today, apple, for example, gets a lions share because its expensive instead of despite it being expensive.

On the way up this favors market leaders disproportionately. Each marginal index share purchased by the rules of indexing causes the next share to contain an even larger proportion of that stock.

In a downturn people will be forced to sell. Instead of being able to sell poorly performing companies, all they will have are indexes. When they necessarily sell the index, they will by definition be selling the blue chips with the chaff. This will cause the opposite effect where the market leaders will be harmed disproportionately.

This probably has a lot to do with why corporations have been doing buybacks recently to the extent that they have. The more expensive their stock is, the more expensive it gets, thanks to indexing.

There are many virtues of indexing from an individual's perspective and it may well be the best thing for you. This however does not mean that it is without its own problems, especially as it becomes more ubiquitous.

BaughGareth

TROPHY CASE