Recently I was made aware of the research triangle in NC, which is a fairly hot biotech/pharma job market with really low housing prices (150-300k for a 3bed/2 bath) and a fairly mild climate(important as I'm from socal and can't handle too much snow!). I am extremely tempted to move and am trying to figure out if it makes sense now or if I should wait a few years
Cons of waiting : housing prices are expected to rise ~10%/yr there . If I wait too long I could be priced out since salaries are lower there
Me: 85k/yr salary in San diego
Currently have 200k of stock options (at our current stock price) that are in the process of vesting thru 11/22; I get 4k/month worth up until that date
Companies stock is volatile since we are a biotech startup in the midst of 4 clinical trials, no products on the market as of yet. Stock could shoot up if trials succeeded, or go down to 0 if they all fail.
Currently save 40k/year (25.5k year between 401k & IRA, remaining goes into mutual funds. I have a 10k emergency fund in a HYSA)
Of the 45k I don't save each year, here is the monthly breakdown;
~1.4k to uncle Sam (T_T - something else that would be nice is lower income tax in NC)
1.15k in rent (boyfriend pays the other $900 as our 2bd apt is 2k/month. He is going to continue paying $900/month into our house as I'll be paying the entire downpayment, so I'd only be paying anything over that as far as monthly housing expenses would go)
150 utilities
100 household supplies
120 transport (mostly gas for my car)
100 alcohol
100 eating out
250 groceries
25 gym
100 car insurance
40 phone
300 free spend
Anyway, if you get rid of rent and taxes my monthly expenses are around 14k/year.
Moving to NC would involve a paycut, but if I manage to snag ~60k salary I'd basically only cut my savings rate a bit while paying into home equity instead of throwing that money into a black pit (my landlord).
If housing prices really do rise there 10% each year that is guaranteed money vs risky stock, but at the same time the stock is already something I have guaranteed, whereas I could move to NC and not manage to get a house, or get one that ends up having a lot of issues.
TLDR; Trying to decide if it makes financially more sense to stay in Socal renting while I wait for risky stock options to vest, or move to NC and get a house there in a rapidly price increasing market where I'd take a paycut but be building home equity
Thanks!
Submitted February 11, 2021 at 07:04PM by Dragonfiremule https://ift.tt/3qcYn2N
