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> It ties you to a location and makes it harder to move to where the jobs are. This sentiment gets expressed frequently in these discussions. There is a hell

> It ties you to a location and makes it harder to move to where the jobs are. This sentiment gets expressed frequently in these discussions. There is a hell of a lot anchoring me to a particular place than whether or not I own the place I live. If I had to move, selling my residence would be a relatively minor consideration in the grand scheme.

scarface74 8y ago
Not if you happen to be underwater. Some places still haven’t recovered from 2008. There are parts of the metro area where I live that are still underwater. It wouldn’t be easy, but if I had a choice between staying where I am where I couldn’t find any jobs and moving. I would move. But in my case, if I can’t find any company that’s looking for a software developer with an up to date skill in my entire metro area and I couldn’t find any type of remote job or contract, I’ve got bigger issues. My responsibilities are only to my spouse, minor children, and some day maybe my parents. My parents already live in a different town than I do, but they would have to move to wherever I move to.
- vonmoltke 8y ago
  When I buy I intentionally buy well below what I can afford, so being underwater has not been an issue for me. As far as abandoning a metro area, it took quite a bit for my wife and I to finally uproot. That we owned our house was relatively low on the friction list. Hell, my wife wants to delay buying again (we rent) because she finds the act of moving so stressful.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Being “underwater” is not about buying less than you can afford. It’s about when you get ready to sell, the house is worth less than you owe if you have to move. My mortgage is less than 25% of our net pay, but if it fell in value to a point where it was worth less than $50K what we owed on it and we had to move, we would be in trouble.

scarface74 8y ago

Not if you happen to be underwater. Some places still haven’t recovered from 2008. There are parts of the metro area where I live that are still underwater. It wouldn’t be easy, but if I had a choice between staying where I am where I couldn’t find any jobs and moving. I would move. But in my case, if I can’t find any company that’s looking for a software developer with an up to date skill in my entire metro area and I couldn’t find any type of remote job or contract, I’ve got bigger issues. My responsibilities are only to my spouse, minor children, and some day maybe my parents. My parents already live in a different town than I do, but they would have to move to wherever I move to.

vonmoltke 8y ago
When I buy I intentionally buy well below what I can afford, so being underwater has not been an issue for me. As far as abandoning a metro area, it took quite a bit for my wife and I to finally uproot. That we owned our house was relatively low on the friction list. Hell, my wife wants to delay buying again (we rent) because she finds the act of moving so stressful.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Being “underwater” is not about buying less than you can afford. It’s about when you get ready to sell, the house is worth less than you owe if you have to move. My mortgage is less than 25% of our net pay, but if it fell in value to a point where it was worth less than $50K what we owed on it and we had to move, we would be in trouble.