Needing some advice!!

[boba]

Just figured i would throw out there my place is 1000sqft....i think the issue is definately price and not the property....the place is the nicest most rennovated place in the area...also the most expensive property on the street...i just dont know if i can afford to drop the price much more as i would like to have a decent downpayment on my next place...Berubeland thanks for your input...i am always intrigued by your posts regarding warrants!

So you have an answer to your question. Somebody already answered, in a post , for a townhouse complex it does not matter to much how many improvements you have done, price is the most important.If your neibour with no improvements done in the last 20 years puts his house to sell on the same price as your of course the buyers will look at yours. But if you price your house tens of thousands more than your neighbour you are out.
Remember one thing, it's a small townhouse, so your buyers will be first time buyers with a limited budget, price come first. If somebody has the money it will most likely look to a bigger place (like you do).
Any potential buyer is not really interested in how much money you paid or how much money you spend in improvements , at the end is purely the price of a comaprable house in your complex with very little extra for the "nice" factor.

[Four Pillars]

Camping certainly is fun - we started doing it recently with our kids and it's great.

I'm not going to write much, since I think you are dead set on buying that bigger house (even though you can't afford it) and just want to know how to make it happen.

I would suggest talking to a mortgage broker or your bank about that. They can give you exact info about different scenarios like how to buy a 2nd house and keep the first house as a rental or getting a bridge loan until you sell the first house etc etc. With that proper information, you can make an informed decision about what to do (or even what not to do).

[Echo]

We recently went through something similar. We had a two bedroom starter home, and after our daughter was born we started thinking about upgrading. Instead of jumping into something right away, we made a plan to save up enough to put at least 20% down. It took nearly 18 months to do it, but we moved into our new house last summer. We're expecting our second child any day now, so we're happy to have the extra space. But it was worthwhile to wait and make a plan instead of rushing into buying something right away.

Here's more of our story - http://www.moneyville.ca/blog/post/1...worth-the-wait

[marina628]

I have many friends who have spent $70,000+ on the truck and trailer packages and most of them say same thing that they want to do this when the kids are young as usually when they hit the teen years they wont be interested.Just because you need a certain price does not mean you would get it so if you really want to move ,price your home for what it is worth .If you are short on equity pull the listing and work on getting more paid on the mortgage and consider re-listing next year.If you really want to move now sit down with your bank and see if they will give you a unsecured credit line for the $15,000 or so you will be short on your 20% ,if things go badly you can always convert the trailer to cash .

[Mall Guy]

Two properties? its not so much your age, your combined income, two future mortgagees, but think about what financial stress does to a relationship (# 1 cause of divorce ?). You have increased your equity payments, keep that up for another year or two, with kids, 2 or 3 years will fly by . . . I've seen people in the 'didn't sell, two house scenario' never seems to turn out that well . . . enjoy camping and other trip that the current house affords you . . . lots of time for a bigger place . . . lots!

[jet powder]

[
and are wanting a second child and the place just isnt big enough for our needs.



Michael[/QUOTE]


Hi, Micheal

In the above sentence it makes me wonder if your falling into the trap of buying stuff you do not need by confusing needs with wants ?

I remember reading that the 2 biggest expenses for the average person over life time was taxes & interest. (united states data)

Confuse needs with wants you could become part of the statistics of paying more interest then money collected from investments. The path many take is to keep buying a bigger house to fit all (that stuff, clutter) which some might call needs in.