Know when to hold 'em
I'm not really the gambling type. This summer, though, Sarah and I are having to take some financial risks that certainly aren't sure bets. Here's the goal: we'd like to make the move out of our home into student housing. This is a financially motivated decision--I'd like to go to grad school starting in Fall '08, and moving could save us $800-900 a month when all is said and done. However, at the start of the summer, this relied on two things: 1)Selling our current home in a very bad market and 2)Getting a spot at student housing, where we were not at the top of the waiting list.
This situation got either easier or more complicated when we got a call at the end of May offering us a 3 BR townhome at student housing. We said yes, even though our house was not currently on the market. From past conversations, I knew that there were several names ahead of us on the waiting list, but many would not be available until later in the summer. Our best chance would be to get something early and hope for the best. This has since added a new twist: in order to get the 3 BR, residents should have two kids. At the time we were offered a spot, we were pregnant with the second. That unfortunately ended with a miscarriage. Since the offer had been made, though, we were still able to sign up for a 3 BR.
Today, our home has been on the market for two full weekends. Not one showing, though. The fact that a high profile shooting (a tragedy in its own right) happened a block away from our house hasn't probably helped any. There's just not a lot of interest right now, even though our house is unique and gorgeous (even according to objective observers).
So here's the gamble. As of this Friday, we will officially be paying double rent. Given the savings we could expect moving into student housing, if our house does sell in the next couple of months, it's a price worth paying. But will it sell? We have some negotiability on price, but can't (and probably shouldn't) go so low as to ensure a quick sale. What do we do if in a month, at a reasonably low price, there's still not much interest in our house? Do we give up the spot at student housing and potentially go back to the bottom of the waiting list? What if our house sells in September after we've done that? Do we look for an apartment at that point?
The real quandry here is the double rent--it ensures we'll go where we want to, but it's a risk I worry about daily.
Anyway, no real point here, and I hope readers will forgive the belly-gazing nature of this narrative. But we're jumping into the deep end of the pool in a number of ways: I'd be giving up a financially solid job for a few years of very lean living, hoping that we'll be able to pay off whatever debts we accrue at the other end. We're giving up a house we love. It's a gamble all around, and we're walking in faith (more on that in a future post?) that it pays off.
Image: http://www.dwphotoshop.com/photoshop/3d/dice16.gif