Question: Why do you feel there is a need to move up?
Are you (1) absolutely running out of space and need a bigger place for a family???
Or (2) do you feel that somehow you need to purchase another house to “makeup” for the loss on this one.
If the reason for your motivation to trade up is #2…Save it…This is a situation in which imho you’re just throwing more good money after bad and going from a ok situation to worse.
It absolutely makes no sense imho to move from a fixed rate mortgage to an ARM/leg, when we all now eventually interest rates have nowhere to move but up
Second…The “loss” on your primary home is already done..At this point, if prices go up, the new home and the old home both go up. And if they continue to fall, they both go down. So if you trade up simply because you think you’ll get more money out of it, I don’t think that is the case. In addition to commission of selling your old place, you’re restarting a new loan so factor in the extra payments you are now extending to be in a new home. Also, unless you find a turnkey home, you’re going to be spending money on making it liveable by your standards.
.Personally, I hardly consider primary residence an “investment” from that perspective because in this market, you wont be able to sell it at an appreciable gain to cover the extra costs of your mortgage payments above what you would have paid if you rented anyway….Moving up to a bigger place just makes this difference greater imho.
