We need to make a decision... need some suggestions/ideas PLEASE

[Serial Mom]

My husband was laid off in March and me this past week. We are in our late 50's and don't have quite enough to retire and pay for health care.

We still have mortgage on our home. Would you sell the house to get as much equity out of it as you can, move somewhere (we have found area) and pay for smaller house with no mortgage? We could look for lower paying, less pressure jobs with no house payment or stay here and and be unemployed looking for higher paying jobs in order to keep this house?

Things are not always as simple as they seem...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Depends on where you are now living

and how much of a chance there is of getting employment. Also to consider is if you can find a buyer for your house and if they can get financing. If I were you, I'd put house on the market while at the same time checking for a rental you could go to on short notice at the place where you wish to relocate. Keep eyes open for job opportunities where you are now, even if they are short term. That will help tide you over until your house sells. Good luck!

[walkaway]

2. What do you want to do? n/t

[Serial Mom]

3. Unsure... that is why I ask for thoughts

it is scary to up and move to new area in different part of country after living most your life in one region.

[Nay]

4. It would depend on how much you owe on your present house, what

you could sell it for if you decide to sell, how much a smaller house would cost, and if you have a reasonable expectation that you could get other jobs where you are. May I ask how much you owe, and what you could sell your house for? Mr Nay and I have considered downsizing for a while (even though we are not unemployed) and we face the same questions. Have you done some realistic figuring on house prices?

[Mopar151]

5. Do you have family/friends in your possible new spot?

What do you do besides work? Church? Cars? Garden? Read? Do you want a change in the weather?

Basically, would you be moving closer to the center of your lives?

[Serial Mom]

7. I appreciate your reponse...

We have one daughter near us now who has been close to us most of her adult life. We would end up being far from her.

Our son and his family now is about 4 hour flight away due west of us and it would be about a 3-1/2 hour drive away if we moved.

Our other daughter is about a 4-1/2 hour flight away southwest of us and it would be about an 8 hour drive away if we moved.

And yes we do have things besides work... exercising, gardening and we could volunteer too! We would still need some income to pay for property taxes and either work to have healthcare coverage or make enought to pay for it.

There are advantages to moving, but the decision is such a big, final one it is very difficult.

Our house would sell - the area we are in houses are selling in average of 67 days and about 5% less than 1-1/2 years ago, so it is not a severe depressed home market here.

[Mopar151]

13. OK - so how do your kids feel about it?

Is your prospective digs divided by money, or more egalatarian? Are there any public sector jobs (lo bux, good bennies, low stress?) Many of the Vt. State Park Rangers are military retirees, and a friend of mine spent a sabbatical as a Ranger on the Pikes Peak Auto Road. I bumped into a former co-worker who's minding a rest area for the State of NH "Perfect retirement job!" he says" Less work than stayin' home, and I get my insurance. Don't need no more..."

Check the Craigslist for your prospective area for jobs and the like - maybe make a scouting trip. Don't get stuck in the bad (not necessarily poor!) part of town, with hostile/crazy neighbors, or 40 miles from a decent food store or farm stand.

[Serial Mom]

14. I think we will take a scouting trip...

we know somebody who has a cousin in the area and before we would even scout, we would like to inquire if she would let us know of any parts of town to avoid. (I had to look up egalatarian - good word!) - and I think the area orginially was socially just, not sure any more - it grew rapidly and then the town has suffered huge job loss and huge home value market loss. We checked and there are some very good deals on some nice little homes.

I see you are in VT - that of course would be a lovely choice for us, but on the wrong coast and put us further from our kids! And really, thanks for the thoughts about what to look for and to remember Craig's list.


Kids - daughter here understands it may be best for us, and would miss as but not as much as we would miss her. Daughter who we would be closer in distance to likes it and says do it. Son is unsure of us moving to a depressed city where unemployment is very high - but if we are unemployed here we have mortgage, if we are unemployed there, no mortgage.

[fasttense]

6. We are in a similar situation.

We are in our 50s and I retired, at least we have a pension coming in. We have the benefit of both being military and so our medical is mostly covered. My husband lost his job a year ago and the unemployment just barely covered our expenses. If we thought we could get some money out of our home, we would sell it. But with 25 foreclosed homes near by very similar to ours, we knew we didn't have a chance in hell of getting any money out of it. So, we took the last of our savings and started our own business.

My husband was a manger and supervisor of 40 people for a distribution warehouse. He applied for assistant manger retail jobs, making a third of what he was making, and has been turned down. I've been turned down for simple sales clerk jobs. We gave up expecting to find someone to hire us and decided to work for ourselves. It is a whole hell of a lot of work for very little return. It brings in as much as the unemployment check and we are just barely getting by.

If you wont get any money out of selling your home, I would hold off and try to find jobs or start your own business where you are. Check the internet for bank rep-os and foreclosures in your area. It will give you an idea of what the real estate market is like in your area.

Good luck and keep us posted. Sometimes just talking to others about your problems helps.

[Serial Mom]

8. I know we are not alone in situation... sorry about yours too!

And yes we will get money out of our home, probably enough to pay for a little house in new area of country. We thought about opening a business, but like you too, we knew it takes so much work for so little and no time for yourselves.

We do have savings to pay for current house mortgage and COBRA now, but I hate to begin to let that get smaller cause it will just mean working longer if/when we find jobs.

Thanks - and you are right, sometimes just talking to others helps - gives us insight to views we may not see by ourselves.

[Warpy]

9. Depends on your market

How fast are houses selling? How much under the comps would you have to go to sell quickly? Would that net you enough for a small retirement home in a cheaper area plus enough money in the bank to tide you over?

How are job prospects in your target area? Remember, if you think you'd like to retire there, a lot of other people have also had the same idea and WalMart and 7/11 are able to absorb only so many people.

If job prospects are any better where you are, can you consider downsizing there?

Getting out of debt is a wonderful thing. It could be an essential thing as we roll into our 50s and near our corporate expiration date, relegated then to a patchwork of subsistence jobs while we wait for Social Security to kick in.

Good luck. BTDT.

[dgibby]

10. I don't know what your job skills are, but Verizon is hiring

here in the SC Low Country, so I suspect they may have openings across the country as well. Good luck!

[livetohike]

11. I would sell the house and go for living debt free

It sounds like you are already firming up some good plans :-). Perhaps you will be able to find jobs that provide health insurance, or depending on how fast the health care reform bill gets moving, we will all be able to afford a plan.

My husband and I left So. Cal in Jan 2007 to move back to PA. We hoped to be retired (no pensions, just our savings) and we are in our mid-50's so no Social Security yet. However, it looks like we will have to find some work out here in rural PA due to the market downturn. Health insurance is our biggest monthly expense :-). If we could make enough to cover that, we'll be okay.

Good luck! Everything will work out okay.

[Serial Mom]

12. We had hoped to be retired in 2 years ... but the tanked 401s

made that look like we'd have to work til about 65. But unemployment changes your plans and ideas of how to finish a career, so maybe something like a Costco or Starbucks or ???, IF we could get hired someplace like - with less pay, but less pressure might be the way to go.

And yes, a healthcare plan from the government would make us worry a hell of a lot less!

And I know, there are so many people worse off than us, I know we will be OK... I am thankful for our health right now because I know that is what makes so many people worse off!

[newfie11]

15. I vote for selling the house if possible.

Just be sure you can afford the move to another area, taxes, etc. Are there lower paying less pressure jobs available in the area you are considering.
I grew up moving every three months so I am probably not a good one to answer. I am already to move and a new adventure.

[Serial Mom]

16. We are having a top selling RE Agent come over tomorrow to give us analysis

We have 3 communities we are looking to possibly move to - 2 have job possiblities - regular and lower paying, lower pressure, 1 has really low housing prices, but prospects of any employment for next year or so looks slim, but if housie was so low, we could use our unemployment to pay for utilities/food, and maybe some savings for healthcare.

Nothing on the job market here except rejection letters after interviews or no call backs at all (it is obvious they see we are "older" and there is some age "bias" (if you know what I mean) going on.

So we will be in one area middle of July visiting my daughter/son-in-law/grandson and our NEW granddaughter and may take a drive to that area to check it out. Once we return, we may take a road trip to another area in fall (unless our house sells quickly, then we must pack and possibly rent a place for a month/month)

[2Design]

17. IT depends - if you want to get out of the cold and have that yearning

for something new - then maybe it is ok to jump off the cliff into Faith

Or find a job where you want to move first

Realtor will lie (they really can't tell you the truth about areas because it is against the law} to you because they make their money that way (check out www.patrick.net) about the home market

So what to do

Meditation and ask your high self what is best
See an astrologer to do both of your charts to see what they have to offer you

Job markets for older workers are tight even when there is an advertised job you qualify for

Less stress job - lower paying jobs have higher stress than higher paying jobs because of the rules and people running the shops

Check craigslist.org for rentals and go look at them and look at homes in that area too
Do this also in the area you currently live in to see what is renting and what is selling to have an idea how realistic the move would be

Your son's concerns of moving to a depressed area have merit since the town and neighbor could deteriorate.
Moving to an area because you love it is one thing

Bottom line
Follow your heart and inner guidance - you know what is right for you
Following your heart sometimes take a Leap of Faith


Moving to an area because it is more affordable may have a lot of hidden costs
Florida is supposedly low because of no income tax - well that matters if you are a star making billions of dollars but if you live here the tolls, taxes, and other cost brings your day to day living higher.