Planning to sell but family nervous for us
We bought a single family home in San Jose in 2022 with a good mortgage rate. My wife and I make decent money but it is about the most that we can afford - it's tight but not uncomfortable. We can probably sell for 2.45-2.65M depending on how the market heats up over the next month or two. At 2.5M we will essentially "break-even" minus property taxes which is roughly what we probably paid in rent somewhere.
I thought I would have more time and energy to do my own work with the house but with a full-time, stressful job and a two year old that is not panning out. Every day all I see is the projects I planned to do but don't have the energy to get to. I thought I would love having projects to do but helping out friends and family with small jobs as a hobby is much more fun than the weekly grind to make your house what you want it to be. Let's just say I don't really enjoy owning a home and I find it stressful just waiting for the next thing that needs fixing (its a 100 year old home so there are plenty of things).
We plan to move in with my in-laws in Los Altos and rent their 1 bedroom ADU for privacy AND the 2bd 1ba upstairs in the main house. They main house could EASILY house a family It will cut our commute travel time by 60+ minutes a day for each of us based on traffic patterns. This is closer to our family, friends, and church community. We will have easy access to simple childcare (grandparents in the home). We all get along fairly well and our daughter would spend time with her two cousins of the same age likely multiple days a week.
As I am writing this it seems like a no brainer. Owning a home simply wasn't what we thought it was and the location didn't work out the way we wanted. We have an "out" without any financial loss and potential for significant gain. We will all likely be more joyful, less stressed, better fed (more time to cook), and more time with family. Plus with the childcare my wife and I can easily go out on a walk after our two year old goes down.
But we won't own a home! Which we are "supposed to," and with how the market works in the BA it will be difficult to own a home in the future (save inheriting it).
We're not crazy right?