OK, my turn. Do you think I should move my family to Austin? (Bowie: rental, condo) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

bulldog15 · 10-08-2010, 10:56 AM

I suppose I will start this off by saying I used to live in Austin and absolutely loved it. My wife and I lived there for 4 years (98-01).
We've been in the Philly area for the last 6 years. We have good jobs, but I cannot stand the city of Philadelphia. My wife isn't the biggest fan, but I think she tolerates more than I. We grew up in Western PA, so being in this city is being closer to family I suppose.

Anyway, we still, to this day, talk about Austin and recently went there on a week vacation. Still a fantastic place.

The reason for the thread is that I coincidentally have been offered a job in Austin. It is with a private company, whereas now I work at a University.
The salaries are basically the same, but with Austin's lower cost of living......

It is hard to beat University benefits, so I can't lie, I'd be leaving something on the table here. The are offering a pretty fair relocation package as well.

The big hurdle, that my wife has the biggest issue with, is that we actually bought a place here. In Cherry Hill actually and we have almost no shot at getting it sold for what we owe.

The question I guess I pose to you guys is that am I nuts for thinking about trying to move in this economy with a condo that probably will not sell.

Anyway, any opinions, thoughts, advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't have a lot of people to use as sounding boards, so I've turned to the great people of the internet.

Willsson · 10-08-2010, 11:02 AM

Pros and cons - Philly/Austin. I'd be in Austin in about a half second.

The condo? Have you considered an agency to handle a rental scenario until it can sell?

bulldog15 · 10-08-2010, 11:24 AM

Yeah, we definitely talked to some people. They actually said it would rent no problem, but we wouldn't get what we owed every month, so we would still have to throw probably $4-500 at it every month.

jobert · 10-08-2010, 11:24 AM

Have you considered swapping houses with someone (leasing)?

bulldog15 · 10-08-2010, 11:31 AM

I cannot say that we have. I'm not real familiar with that process.

I guess another thing I should add is that my wife does not currently have a job in Austin, so I suppose that factors in as well.

Bo · 10-10-2010, 10:44 AM

Not sure that members are recognizing that there are questions and requests for advice in your post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bulldog15

The question I guess I pose to you guys is that am I nuts for thinking about trying to move in this economy with a condo that probably will not sell.

Anyway, any opinions, thoughts, advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't have a lot of people to use as sounding boards, so I've turned to the great people of the internet.

bulldog15 · 10-11-2010, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bowie

Not sure that members are recognizing that there are questions and requests for advice in your post.

Sorry. Thanks.

sliverbox · 10-11-2010, 09:06 AM

This is just my personal opinion... But it sounds like the more economically sound decision for you would be to stay put. I say this as someone who was laid-off last year and it took almost 4 months to get a new one. That was with my wife still working and even so, having only one person working changed our finances drastically. We have no kids, rent cheap, live frugally and so on. But even so, having only one person working was definitely a big change and we had to be careful with our finances.

In your case you have an underwater mortgage and will have to pay all the costs associated with moving and so on. Also, you mentioned that you last lived in Austin in 01'. The cost of living has gone up dramatically since then. You might want to do some research on housing and see just how much the kind of home you want has gone up and see if its still worth a move.

I guess something to consider is that the recession isn't going to last forever and sooner or later the condo you have will become desirable again and you'll be able to sell it and perhaps be in a more favorable economic situation.

I'm just saying this as someone who experienced the recession firsthand and I'm perhaps a tad overly cautious.

bulldog15 · 10-11-2010, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sliverbox

This is just my personal opinion... But it sounds like the more economically sound decision for you would be to stay put. I say this as someone who was laid-off last year and it took almost 4 months to get a new one. That was with my wife still working and even so, having only one person working changed our finances drastically. We have no kids, rent cheap, live frugally and so on. But even so, having only one person working was definitely a big change and we had to be careful with our finances.

In your case you have an underwater mortgage and will have to pay all the costs associated with moving and so on. Also, you mentioned that you last lived in Austin in 01'. The cost of living has gone up dramatically since then. You might want to do some research on housing and see just how much the kind of home you want has gone up and see if its still worth a move.

I guess something to consider is that the recession isn't going to last forever and sooner or later the condo you have will become desirable again and you'll be able to sell it and perhaps be in a more favorable economic situation.

I'm just saying this as someone who experienced the recession firsthand and I'm perhaps a tad overly cautious.

I appreciate your response. That is the biggest hang up for my wife is that we wouldn't be able to unload that condo without using some kind of credit destructive method. They are offering a relo package that pays for the move.

I have been looking at the prices down there. It is higher, but kind of what I would expect. We would probably just rent for the immediate future. I can't imagine jumping into another home purchase after our first experience.

Ultimately, the salaries are equivalent, but it goes a little further in Austin. So it would be a matter of where we would want to live. Obviously, I love Austin and would love to live there again, but it may not be the best time.........I'm just afraid the opportunity will not appear again.

Some say if the money is close....stay where you are.

sliverbox · 10-11-2010, 11:01 AM

Bulldog,
In some ways I'm in the same boat ( sort of) as you. We live in the SF Bay Area and trust me- Austin and just about anywhere else- Pennsylvania included- is a LOT cheaper than where we live. We could in no way afford to buy anything remotely reasonable here. We visited Austin last year and loved it. If it were up to me I'd move there tomorrow. But like you and your wife- me and my wife both have goods jobs. We don't own a house or anything, but after having seen firsthand what the economy is like the idea of moving with both of us employed seems like a risky maneuver. Then again we're pretty conservative with our finances and we're probably going to buy our first house with cash outright. In the meantime I believe we're probably going to stay put and save up some more.

But I totally get where you're coming from. There are some days I simply cannot stand living where we live as dong so seems so totally fruitless and pointless versus moving on with our lives and living where we can at least have a better chance of having something close to a decent middle class lifestyle.