我的房子梦 - 想听听大家的建议

搬到了寸土寸金的地方， 住了一个小黑屋

Felt depressed for a while. Always remember the good old days when I lived in a huge house in AZ. So I have kept thinking of moving to a larger house. Every time, I thought about moving, other higher priority such as commute distance, schools, etc. came up. So I always ended up in the black little house.

The other day I saw a $2M house for sale, and the house is probably worth $2.5M, and it is in the same area where I am living. So I thought about putting a bid.

Then,

1) My son said that he likes the black little house. It is close to schools, and he can go to/back from schools all by himself, and plays with his friends at play grounds. If we move to this huge house with view and it is up on the hills. It won’t be fun anymore. I need to find someone to send him to/from school

2) LD said that we need to put down $500K and borrow $1.5M. The cash –flow is negative $100K a year. We can use this money/credit line to generate rental income of positive $100K instead. If I want a larger house, then remodel the little house we have and add 1000 square feet for $200K. LD thinks the real estate tax itself will be increased for more than 10K/yr and we can use it for food and vacation.

3) My thinking - The house is a bargain. Maybe I can buy it and then sell it in several years. I can live a good house for several years. If the housing market is good, the house will worth $3M. Could I make money for sure? Not 100%, since the commission for transaction will be $100K and every year I need to put in $100K. If I don’t buy the house, that is probably the end of my luxury house dream.

4) The other thing LD worries that the house would be one of the most expensive houses in the area, not many people can afford it. If the housing market is not picking up, then we will end up holding the house for a long time. While if we remodel the little house, we can sell it at a good value around $1M.

想听听大家的建议

If it is not a good idea, hit me with the sticks/bricks so that I am back to reality