This post is written a few months ago, prior to the transactions of selling 1st home and buying 2nd home have taken places. Actual figures approximate estimates below & will be updated once all finalized.

Say what? DWM purchased 2 homes and sold one in 2 years? My highly esteemed mentor WCI would have shaken his head at my decision if I had asked him, which is why I didn’t this time*.

Financially, buying a home as MS4, then selling it & immediately buying a 2nd home as PGY2 are 

the most financially costly and unwise moves one could take bedsides

attending medical school on 7% student loans.

 

Yet mentally, emotionally, & spiritually, this is the single best decision I have ever made for Mini & myself since her inception.

Perhaps Dr. Wise Money is not as Money Wise as you thought.

I hope though, for this and other major forks in the path of life, to be Life Wise.

After all, money is a means; life is an end.


Monetary costs:Dec2015_300x250_b

  • Closing costs of 1st home (BBVA doctor’s loans), May 2014: $5,733.74
  • Refinancing costs of 1st home (Conventional loans), January 2015: $495
  • Costs of living in 1st home, May 2014-May 2016: $25,697
  • Mortgage payments: $1,088.69 for 9 months, $975 for 15 months. HOA’s: $480/ Property taxes: $3,700/ Home insurance: $720/ Rural metro: $74
  • Grand total, living in 1st home for 2 years: $31,925, $1,330/mo. (Zillow zealously says my 1st home rents for $1,500/mo.)
  • Closing costs of 1st home sales, May 2016: nominal**
  • Closing costs of 2nd home purchase, June 2016: estimated $6,000
  • Costs of living separately, June 2016 and on:
    • Child care: estimated $300/mo
    • Utilities & household expenditures that used to be shared to various degrees: estimated $200/mo more
    • Higher mortgage due to higher LTV & more expensive home. (2nd home will be our home for at least the next 4 years. If I stay in town for my attending job, which I plan to, it will be our home forever as we don’t need to upgrade above it.)

set for life ad 2


So I basically rented my 1st home for $1,330/mo the last 2 years, then now starting over in regards to home equity and living with Mini on our own as a single parent. The financial damage is not as bad as I thought, though if it were just Mini and me 2 years ago, we would have happily lived in a $500/mo condo to save money ($830/mo à $19,920/mo) for a down payment to buy our dream home today. That is a nice chunk of down payment which I don’t have today.

The past is in the past. Let it go.

In order to come up with the closing costs & 5% down payment, I’m borrowing short term from family members and my Roth IRA. That will get me from my current debt free status to $10,747 on credit card debt (as I plan to pay my family back immediately with Chase Slate Balance Transfer check after closing on my 2nd home). I will also be down in my Roth space by $10,300, irrecoverable Roth space.

While I certainly have no qualms about carrying 10k 0% credit card debt (I used to carry 100k during medical school), I am indeed sad about losing 10k in Roth IRA space.

I can’t put price tag on the collective & individual happiness of Mini & me.

You won’t either, right?


300x250_10_143Un-quantifiable benefits:

  • Mini always wanted a pool. 2nd home has a pool; 1st doesn’t.
  • Both Mini & I love visiting family & friends. 2nd home allows for a permanent guest room.
  • We both love meeting new people. 2nd home allows for an Airbnb room.
  • We get to sing & dance throughout the house whenever we’d like.
  • Mini gets to have lots of playdates and sleepovers.
  • No one will say his peace & quite is disturbed by excited & giggling girls.
  • I get to throw parties like I used to a decade ago! Potlucks, pool parties, movie/board game nights.
  • No one will interrogate me about why I didn’t put things back in the refrigerator as they were found.
  • No one will tell me to put up with his mess & wait for him to get organized for a decade (granted the 8 moves in 10 years are not conducive to staying organized.)
  • I get to do chores when I want & the way I want. I won’t be told that my efforts were subpar & the chores I completed need redoing.
  • I get to live a minimalist existence. Materially, I need nothing beyond some clothes, my 4 year old laptop, my iPhone & a few essential pieces of furniture.
  • There will be space, not filled with stuff in my home.
  • I no longer have to bear the unbearable hoarding & dumpster diving.
  • Mini’s dad gets his peace & quiet. He has sacrificed a lot trying to be supportive to Mini & me. He now gets to have 1,730 square foot to himself & the serenity of our neighborhood (no sounds other than birds chirping and javelinas grunting) as he has always wished for.

 


What more need I say?

peace
Yes, I believe these peaceful & joyful eyes would return.

 

*I have run my major financial decisions by WCI since I met him (@ whitecoatinvestor.com) since I was a finance-naïve MS3. Not consulting WCI on something that costs more than $100 is atypical of DWM. **Mini’s nana is buying my 1st home, we are not using a realtor. I proposed to walk away with zero equity as Mini’s paternal side of family has been extremely generous with helping with the down payment and refinancing of the home.

The Cost of Buying 2 Homes in 2 Years.
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