[TreeChange?]

Well, we have put an offer in on the country house and now are just waiting to see if it is accepted.Very nervous but excited too! Thank you all for your amazing input, you've been a great help





I'm a long time user gona anon as I have close friends on here.

I will cut a long story short, but was hoping a fresh set of eyes on this big decision would help me see if I'm missing anything.

We are a family of 5 in our early 40's. Our youngest is 2 our oldest is 8.
DP is on a reasonably good wage doing FIFO work, but we have ended up with a what we see as a large mortgage of $450K. It isn't feasible for me to go back to work, childcare would be basically eat up any money I could earn.

We have worked out that after mortgage repayments, all expenses like rates, insurance, healthcare, electricity, gas and phone, we end up having only $500 left over for food, fuel, clothes, school supplies, entertainment.

We already live quite frugally, don't have foxtel etc, I make all our food, don't get takeaways. We are feeling like we will never get ahead like this.

So, we are considering moving an hour out of Perth and swapping our $450K mortgage for basically no mortgage at all. We can buy a house on 1/2 an acre in a great little country town for $300K, which is roughly what we will have left over if we sold our current house.

So, would you swap a big house in the burbs for a little house in the country? Are you someone who has already done this and how has it worked?

I have lived rural before and love it. So has DP. The more we think about it, it seems we would be crazy if we didn't. To be mortgage free vs paying off a big house for the next 25 years?

This post has been edited by TreeChange?: 13/02/2013, 12:10 PM

[minimae]

Sounds like a dream to me, and only 1 hour out of a big city!! Go for it.

I wish we could do something like that, but unfortunately my partners work is tied to Sydney so we are stuck.

[dolcengabbana]

It sounds great to me except a family of 5 in a small house with the kids growing would make me nervous that in 5 years time when kids start becoming teenagers the wish for alarger house may become very strong.

I would see if a compromise was available in the rural setting a slightly larger house with a very very small mortagage maybe see what the extra $50,000-$100,000 can get you and then the change really just about geography.

I would also make sure that the extra money that becomes available was saved wisely and put away in case for whatever reason circumstances change.

[AllyK81]

My parents did this when I was small. We moved from the City to the country (2.5 hrs away though) where living costs were much lower. It helped my parents get ahead and it was nice growing up in the country.

You would need to satisfy yourself the schools would be OK and that the particular town suited you. An hour out of town is a perfect distance - my DH gew up around an hour out of town and he has a mix of city and country friends.

The only downer was when I hit 18 I had to leave home as there were no universities where I grew up, but leaving home at 18 is not necessarily a bad thing.

Now my sister and I are grown, my parents are back in the city.

Perhaps you could try renting for a year to decide if the lifestyle is for you first before making a big committment?

Good luck with your decision.

This post has been edited by AllyK81: 11/02/2013, 09:10 AM

[TreeChange?]

The house we have looked at has the potential to be extended for around $50K, so that would solve the space issues. The location of this house is ideal, it is in the town centre, walking distance to a great school and shops, it's a great town with a great school. The block is huge too, at 1/2 an acre!

[TheGreenSheep]

Id say to be only an hour out of Perth Id do it.

We have done the tree change and its tough, but it was interstate and starting with new friends and jobs all over again. So if I were only moving an hour away I could do it in a heartbeat.

[JoIsMe]

I am not sure what is stopping you? What do you think the cons are for doing this change, as your post shows only the positive (in my opinion) of doing the move. That might help you to address what is holding you back.

[Therese]

I would do it in a heartbeat.

[blondie82]

We have worked out that after mortgage repayments, all expenses like rates, insurance, healthcare, electricity, gas and phone, we end up having only $500 left over for food, fuel, clothes, school supplies, entertainment.

Is this per week or per month? I'm only asking this out of curiosity but in all honesty, making a move like this needs to be about more than just the dollars and cents.

8 months ago I moved from inner city Melbourne to a town just an hour away. We have kept our house in Melbourne (renting it out) and are renting in our new town to get the feel for it and to see if we're ready to make the big 'tree change'. From my experience, I have gone through every scenario in my head trying to work out what will be best for us. One week I want to move and another one I'm ready to sell up and buy in our new town. This week, I'm ready to move back to Melbourne

For me, I'm working through what is really important to us as a family with all the money aside. At the moment, seeing our extended family and friends is what is most important and living an hour away is seriously dappening that for us. We seem to be the ones doing all the travelling to see people whereas before, our family was literally a 5 minute car ride away.

Like you, we could sell our house in Melbourne, buy something in our town and be virtually mortgage free but then what - spend the additonal funds on petrol to see people?

It is such a tough choice but maybe you could try it out first by renting somewhere in the new town to see if it works?

Good luck.

[Toodee]

While I like the idea, it would depend completely on the town you are planning on moving to and what the community is like. Having grown up in the country not too far out of Perth there are some country towns that I would rather poke my eye out with a fork than live in.