My wife and I are both 36 and have been married for 14 years. I have been working for 3 years as an associate university professor. My wife is a real estate agent. I earn about $115k (soon to be $127k) per year and my wife earns $100k or thereabouts, both before tax.
We have 4 children, 17M, 13F, 13F, and 2F. Also living with us are my wife's parents. We have a large dog and a cat. In total there are 8 people and 2 animals in our house.
We live in the suburb north of a big city. Three years ago, we bought a 4+1 bedroom, 5 bathroom, 3300 sq ft house in a good neighbourhood close to the best public high school in our province. It cost 615k at the time (it is a corner lot).
I really like the house. It was renovated before we moved in. Hardwood floors, nice walls, a renovated kitchen. It was big enough for us at the time but as our family expanded, it filled up. My wife's niece will be coming from abroad to stay with us in a few months. She will be going to high school here.
Currently, the living arrangement is: my wife and our youngest daughter in the master suite, my in laws in another suite, my son in his own room, and my twin daughters in one room. Now with my niece coming, my son will move to the basement room and she will share his room with my toddler.
My wife and I just finished the last mortgage payment on our house. But now she is thinking of moving. She wants us to upgrade to a house in the next neighbourhood over, which is known to contain very large houses with 5+ bedrooms. Many have a pool in the backyard. We're looking at houses in the 1.2 million to 1.5 million range and with 4000-4700 sq ft.
I dont know about this. I personally do not see a need to move, even with an additional person coming. Besides, my son will go to university in 2 years. In another 4 years, my twin daughters and my wife's niece will also move out and go to university. The house will suddenly be more empty.
There is a bit of a squeeze, but its not bad at all. I think my wife also wants to "upgrade" us to a more affluent neighbourhood with better amenities and more white collar neighbours.
What advice would you give me? Do you think a move is justified and a good investment? My wife is positive that the housing market will experience a boom in the next year or so and wants us to act quickly.
TL;DR: Currently have a 4+1 bedroom house with 9 ppl in it, wife wants to upgrade to a 6 bedroom house. What to do?
Submitted August 02, 2017 at 09:15PM by perplezities http://ift.tt/2vkmgMN
