Should I move: The Financial Side

I am desperately wanting to rent out my home and move to a certain luxury downtown apartment complex.  Sigh… but we need to crunch the numbers.

1.       Rent $1,300 max.  The actual rent ranges from $1,248-$1,299

2.       My mortgage payment is ~$860/month.  That would be approximately $440 increase.  (I am going to rent it out to my sister and I probably wouldn’t charge more than the mortgage payment)

3.       I currently budget $200/month for gas.  I would save atleast $100/month from shortening my commute. 440-100=$340

4.       My heating bill which averages at $90/month would be gone.  340-90=$250 increase over mortgage payment

5.       but my electricity bill ($80) would increase probably by $50. $250 + 50=$300 increase over mortgage payment

6.       My home insurance should decrease from $1,200 to at least 1,000 year.    $16/month.  300-16= $284 (I have to get a quote)

7.       Water bill would be the same.

So If I get the apartment I’m taking away $284 that could go towards my efund or retirement.  Tsk, tsk.  But we’ll come back to that later.  If I do decide to move

I’m gonna have to cut my discretionary spending:

1.       Cut efund contributions from $500/month to 400/month.   I set my goal at giving $300/month ($3,600/yr).   I over estimate because life happens and  I want to stay on my five year 6 month of expenses efund goal no matter what.   $284-100=$184

2.       Cut fast food from 130 to 100.  $184-$30=$154

3.       Home maintenance fund from $250-$200. $154-$50=$100

4.       Cut car fund from $75-$50. $100-$25=$75 increase over mortgage payment

 

Man, that’s a long list just get an apartment.  I’ll be setting myself back in terms of money.  That is a big no-no in the world of personal finance.  But It’s a dream of mine to live downtown. I was gonna wait until my kids were grown and out of the house.  But with them both going to school downtown I can live that dream much sooner than I thought.  And with a lot of discipline I can use the amount of time that I save on the commute to work on earning money from blogging and writing.  Of course this is all dependent on me passing my PE exam and getting a raise.  I took the test in October and I won’t know until the middle of December if I passed it.  If I passed the test, I’m still not sure if it would be worth it.  ------ Needs more thought and research before I make a decision.  Right now I’m feeling too lazy to move anyway.