23109, when you talk yourself into something there’s no talking you out of it so just walk away after your free rent period. Your wife wants a bigger house, if you recall i hounded you about resisting her urge to buy because you were planning/expecting more kids and would outgrow the place, now you have. I remember writing extensively on the psychological influence of female nesting, those were good times.
Most of us, self included, have been upside down on houses before. I made a down payment in 1991 and was still underwater until about 1998. It didn’t hurt too bad, my payment was managable and I survived because i didn’t sell while I was underwater, I just had too small of a house. The one regret i have about that house is that i sold it, I really wish i had kept it as a rental, even in this market it would have equity and the rent is double what the payment was. You might think about getting the bigger house and keeping the current one, renting it out. It might sting for a few years but in time it will work out and you have the income to support it. R/E is funny like that, this last cycle twisted people’s mind thinking it goes up quickly, prior to this bubble, if you stayed in a house less than 3 years you lost money, keep it 20 years, you make money, those rules still apply today.
