My 2nd Home - Location! Location! Location!

Another thing that has been keeping me busy is focusing on my next home.  I have becoming more and more disillusioned with where I am living.  Part of it is because of how expensive my neighborhood is and how much more expensive I believe it will become.  

I am feeling squeezed.  Not literally.  Clearly I have excess funds to invest in savings and investments and overpay my mortgage.  But I have this feeling of not being able to breathe well.

My original plan was to buy another cheaper (much cheaper!) home in the same county.  This was important because it was still somewhat close to my job.  My commute would have worsened but I would still be close - especially on weekends when I used my car.  The town I was looking at was also a really nice low-to-middle middle class town which had a sense of community.

However, the more I thought about it, I have become more concerned about property taxes.  The proximity to a neighboring city means that this town will eventually be in demand and property taxes will go up.  A lot more people will also look to live there.

So I've started to look further away.  In fact, I have started looking as far as 90 minute drive away.  But a place that still has transportation so that I could get to my job.  I've recently done a scouting trip.  I am feeling good about this.  In addition to property taxes concerns, I also just want to ensure that my community is peaceful.  And I believe I will need to move far away to ensure that it remains peaceful.

As part of this plan, one idea that I have is actually moving sooner rather than later.  But I won't do it until I get my mortgage down to a certain reasonable level.  What is reasonable?  That is the question I still have not answered.  I believe the answer is an emotional one and I'll know it when the mortgage reaches that amount - I'll just be in a position to sleep better at night.  Hopefully by the end of this year I will reach my *reasonable* number.

Pru