Mortgage killing future hunting adventures?

[Weldor]

What I have never understood is the people willing to over pay for a house or second home. We paid just under $80,000 25 years ago for our mountain place. A neighbor sold recently for for 1.7. (They bought for around $300,0000)That's for a second home Crazy. Spend if you got. LOL. The market here is stalled now and prices are dropping some. Real hard to predict where things will be 30 years from now. I can't imagine being in my 20's trying to buy a house in todays world. I built my first house in 84' with a VA loan for $54 grand. I guess $350,000 plus is low today. Glad I'm not in the housing market.

 

[Hnthrdr]

What I have never understood is the people willing to over pay for a house or second home. We paid just under $80,000 25 years ago for our mountain place. A neighbor sold recently for for 1.7. (They bought for around $300,0000)That's for a second home Crazy. Spend if you got. LOL. The market here is stalled now and prices are dropping some. Real hard to predict where things will be 30 years from now. I can't imagine being in my 20's trying to buy a house in todays world. I built my first house in 84' with a VA loan for $54 grand. I guess $350,000 plus is low today. Glad I'm not in the housing market.

It’s a giant issue and uphill fight for sure, the wife and I are trying to save her family ranch outside of Prescott , which her mom and aunts will inherit and probably sell , but with a 2.5-3.5 million price tag it’s a huge up hill fight for us in our 30’s…

 

[Mike D Texas]

Hunting memories and all that, blah, blah, blah.

For me hunting memories will never trump family memories that you make in your home.

My wife and I had kids very young and didn’t make much money at all. But I still managed to hunt, fish, camp and all the other luxuries that I wanted to do. But I would NEVER sacrifice the memories made with my wife and kids in our home over a stupid hunting trips and such.


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[Snowwolfe]

New house, new loan, new loan origination fees, spending more to get the house set up the way you and wife like it.
Stay put, suck up the high interest rate and wait a few years and hope to refinance down the road. Then you will win on numerous counts, you will owe less and have a lower rate and be at a place you like

 

[PredatorSlayer]

I have made hundreds of thousands of dollars on appreciation over the years. We just relocated for work from TN to texas. I made 400k on my home in TN. It doubled in value over 7 yrs and gave me a chunk to put down on a really nice home in Texas.

Also, interest rates will likely come down and you can refinance. I would relax and enjoy your home.

 

[DapperDan]

Yeah…. It sucks. Wife and I live in a house that we were renting and bought for a great deal from the owner. It’s not a forever home by any means but location is great. I probably have $80k in equity and would have another $20k if I finished a few exterior upgrades and put it on the market. But hell, 100k ain’t crap when buying a new house these days…. We would love to buy some land and build farther out but land an hour from Houston is stupid expensive. We can’t get too far bc she works down town. Truthfully, I’m getting sick to death living in Houston. I have been. It’s a shit hole and traffic is miserable any where you go. To make matters worse, it’s forever and a mile to get to any decent hunting or mountains. Our mortgage is around $1200. Her car is paid off and my truck note is $410 a month. All of our credit cards are paid off. We have a 7 month old daughter which costs on Mother’s Day out day care at the church down the road. My wife is a mechanical engineer PM project manager for Kinder Morgan out of their headquarters in Houston. I have a small business as a general contractor. Im about to turn 40 and she is 33. We do well combined but it’s still hard to get ahead. I’ve had to start increasing my profit margins due to costs (need to anyways bc I undervalue myself).

My issue is trying to figure out how to scale my business. I’ve been struggling with that for 2 years. If I can’t scale my business my income will ultimately become fixed. I can only juggle so many hats. And if I can’t scale I’m forced to work all the damn time. It’s been 6 days a week all summer so far with no end in sight.

My wife and I have enjoyed traveling for the last 6 years on vacations and going on hunting adventures. We always travel/vacay as cheap as possible. If we had a $3k month mortgage we wouldn’t be able to do a lot of those things. Hind sight 20/20, if we had all the money back we spent we could probably afford a nicer house with a low mortgage. But who knew we were going to go through the last 5 years.

So, the conundrum is as follows. Do we keep saving and move farther out? She loves her job so getting her to leave won’t be easy not to mention she’s well over 100k a year salary. I damn sure don’t want a bigger house in a neighborhood but this house isn’t going to work if we have a second kid. Or, do we say eff it and just relocate entirely? I would have zero issues moving to a state like Alaksa. We’ve been twice and love it up there. She works in oil and gas so I’m sure she could easily find work. But in doing so we would be leaving our families here.

I’m sure my rambling isn’t helping the op but hopefully he has a little love of mind knowing he isn’t alone when it comes to juggling life.

 

[WaWox]

...

Mechanical Engineer and Contractor sound about as geographically mobile as you can get, other than maybe car mechanic and nurse!

I think your real question is how much family is worth it. You will be able to find good jobs -- maybe better ones -- elsewhere, so figure out if say a quiet and cheaper place in Missouri (if close), a more exciting spot in a big hunting state, or maybe even something "not obvious" like a way better paid set of opportunities in a more expensive place (say Washington or CA ) is the right move. But family is the other side of the equation for all of these.

In my opinion you need to make that decision soon-ish. It gets harder to move as kids gets older, and even more importantly, it's expensive to move when you already have a well established business. But if you haven't scaled it , it should be possible to rebuild a client base quickly elsewhere -- and maybe you will even have an easier time scaling it elsewhere! But do make the call soon.

 

[DapperDan]

Mechanical Engineer and Contractor sound about as geographically mobile as you can get, other than maybe car mechanic and nurse!

I think your real question is how much family is worth it. You will be able to find good jobs -- maybe better ones -- elsewhere, so figure out if say a quiet and cheaper place in Missouri (if close), a more exciting spot in a big hunting state, or maybe even something "not obvious" like a way better paid set of opportunities in a more expensive place (say Washington or CA ) is the right move. But family is the other side of the equation for all of these.

In my opinion you need to make that decision soon-ish. It gets harder to move as kids gets older, and even more importantly, it's expensive to move when you already have a well established business. But if you haven't scaled it , it should be possible to rebuild a client base quickly elsewhere -- and maybe you will even have an easier time scaling it elsewhere! But do make the call soon.

I appreciate the advice and know exactly what you’re talking about. Surely it’s not too much to ask to live in Alaska, own a super cub, and fish/hunt all the time…. lol


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[Snowwolfe]

Dapper,
I can pretty much promise you one thing. If you decide to move to Alaska you will have family members trying to visit you all summer long.
And friends you hardly knew in the lower 48 will now be kissing your ass telling you how much they would love to come visit you

 

[ianpadron]

Stay dude.

Your mortgage is currently as high as it'll ever be. If/when rates come down (they will for sure be coming down by Q4 and into next year) you can refi and put the extra $$$ towards your principal.

Ask your folks what they thought about their home purchases at year one vs year 20. Financing appreciating assets is totally different than paying 10% on a car or 20% on a CC.

If you turn around and sell right away, you're going to fork out 6-7% off the top in commissions, closing costs, taxes, etc.... now THAT is the definition of pissing away money.

Signed, a real estate agent.

 

[ianpadron]

It’s all relative.
Interest rates and whatever.

Stay where you are at. Put sweat equity into your place and you’ll be okay. Just don’t try to keep up with ‘The Jones’
You should average 6% a year in value.

I’m in the same place I bought in 1989 at 11% for $55,000.
Refinanced whenever I could drop 2% points.

It’s worth over $600k now.

Stay the course

Every young fella in this thread should read this post twice.

 

[BrooksRanger]

I am a commercial pilot, my wife is a lawyer. We own our own house here in Alaska.
We ask ourselves all the time how it’s possible for people here to own airplanes, side-by-side, four wheelers, river boats, ocean boats, air boats, etc….
We have two young children, and can afford to pay for our mortgage, daycare, and put away a little bit for retirement. We have no idea how how so many people up here can afford to have all these toys.??!!
Don’t believe that moving to Alaska and getting an airplane is going to open up the world of hunting to you. This state is filled with people who have every mechanical means necessary to reach all parts of the state during hunting season. It’s nothing short of amazing, that there’s any game left up here that survives.

 

[DapperDan]

Dapper,
I can pretty much promise you one thing. If you decide to move to Alaska you will have family members trying to visit you all summer long.
And friends you hardly knew in the lower 48 will now be kissing your ass telling you how much they would love to come visit you

As long as they pay their way!


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[csbackcountry]

Life is a constant balance of living the high life now or having that delayed gratification down the road (unless you make enough money for both).

My wife and I are in Iowa and bought a nice house on an acre lot on the edge of town. It's unique in that there is a wildlife pond and good browse so the deer and turkey move through regularly, and I can bow hunt it. We have no other debt, however, our mortgage rate is 7.25% and our loan is around 340K even after our 20% down payment. The way loans are amortized, the interest payments these first couple years have been a real kick in the junk. I knew that going in, but dang.

The seclusion and thought of hunting this little cool property sold me on it, but I can't help but think a smaller home in town might be better. I could have taken the 25K I paid just in interest last year and invested it instead for our future. We pay an extra 200 a month just towards principal, but we still end up paying about twice the houses value in the long run! This seems dumb to me.

I like adventure, some of the best hunts I've been on were on public. And with the price of land (especially in Iowa), and these rates, I might throw in the towel. Just stash cash, retire early, and go on diy and guided hunts until I'm blue in the face. Unless you can buy land in cash, the interest rates bleed you, and you still have to invest time and money on managing it, equipment / repairs, taxes, and the stress that goes with all that.

I enjoy managing the tiny parcel i do have. Getting prairie established, planting native hedges, and getting a food plot going. I know this feeling has value. But will my 60 year old self look back in regret?

I know similar topics have been covered in the past, but I'd love to hear what other people's opinions are. Am I over exagerating things and not seeing the big picture? Or do you relate to what I'm saying? Thanks!

Understand for sure, after shopping for my refi Rocket mortgage beat all the local lenders by a long shot. just a thought if you get to that point, good luck

 

[406flyfish]

We bought our house before Covid at 2.5% at 700k. Ended up selling it after 5 years for 1.5M. Thats Montana for you.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

We bought our house before Covid at 2.5% at 700k. Ended up selling it after 5 years for 1.5M. Thats Montana for you.

I need to do that a couple of times.

 

[Boarmaster]

Do things when you are young. Your health in your older years is not guaranteed. If you do things when you are young you have your whole life to remember them.
If I could go back on time I would buy a nice
Smaller house on enough property for a small barn/shop and go on more hunting and fishing trips.
I did and still do more hunting and fishing than most of my friends but I would have traded the high association dues, yard maintenance costs, country club fees and high mortgage payments for more trips.
I was healthy my whole life up to age 60.
I had some issues. I can still hunt deer at my
Lease and fish with my buddy’s on the weekend for a morning but I’m never going to Africa or on the Elk hunt I had always figured there would be plenty of time to go on.
Again, I’m lucky to be able to do as much as I get to do.

 

[B Harrison]

My advice, ( our home on 3.25 acres is almost paid for)…

Stay with it, maximize your Roth, stash cash away as you can, and keep working.
You aren’t likely to retire at 60, I’m 45, and my retirement will not be where I need it in 15 years…

Refinance when you can and be ready to take the cheap trips when they are offered.
It’s still loads of fun when your bills are all paid.


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[MacJenkins]

My advise if your young work yourself almost to death the first decade after highschool. I am in the trades and took every bit of overtime I could get and did lots of side jobs. Had my first starter home paid off by 22 and the much nicer forever home I am in now paid off by 28. About the only hunting I did through those years was a 3-4 day annual deer hunt if I could draw a tag.

There was downsides, had a marriage fail early on, looking back probably doomed from the start. The other downside was I did not start having children with my current wife until I was 30 and she was 37. We have two kids but would have liked to have had more.

But at 28 with two homes paid off you can really start to sock away serious cash for retirement. I'm 46 now and am able to hunt 70-100 days a year. Done a lot of hunting in the US and been to Africa 11 times now. On track to retire at 55.

This plan has worked for me, with some bumps alog the way of course. I have never mentally been able to hadle debt well. When I watch the cash that comes out of my account it really makes me consider if I really need/want something.

 

[MacJenkins]

My advice, ( our home on 3.25 acres is almost paid for)…

Stay with it, maximize your Roth, stash cash away as you can, and keep working.
You aren’t likely to retire at 60, I’m 45, and my retirement will not be where I need it in 15 years…

Refinance when you can and be ready to take the cheap trips when they are offered.
It’s still loads of fun when your bills are all paid.


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Great Advise on the Roth! I did not even know they existed until I was 30 or so. I think they were available about the year after I graduted high school and did not even know it. What a missed opportunity. Had my daughter start one when she was 16 and got a job last year. The return over 50 years for her should be incredible. I really wish I was more more up to speed when I was younger on some investment options like the Roth.