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Held Back by the House
"If we knew then what we know now, we would have stayed where we were," said Jill Divine, who moved with her husband, Ed Drouhard, to the Washington area from Florida.
(By Lois Raimondo -- The Washington Post)
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They may have to take on more maintenance costs, but they can make up for it in other areas, Fegani said. "It's going to cost you less to move once instead of twice. You also may have additional deductions if you're owning a house."
Also, some lenders provide slightly more favorable borrowing terms to a person being relocated because they figure that person must have job security, Fegani said.
If the down payment is an issue, home buyers may want to consider using an existing home-equity line of credit to come up with the cash, Fegani said. But do not take out a new credit line for that purpose and misstate your intentions about living in the house. That's fraud.
Another, more costly option would be taking out a bridge loan, a short-term mortgage secured by the equity in the home you own. They are not widely available, but they're an option for well-qualified borrowers who can handle multiple loans, Fegani said.
Phyllis Hassani hopes to avoid having to make all these decisions.
Hassani, a database administrator with the American Red Cross, listed her Springfield house for $370,000 after her job was eliminated in Washington.
Her choices were to transfer to North Carolina or leave the Red Cross. She chose to move, and now she's worried about finding a buyer for the house.
She's unhappy about the asking price. A year ago, she could have probably asked for at least $100,000 more, she said.
But on the upside, Hassani figures the move will probably be a wash in North Carolina. "You can get a lot more for your money there," she said. "Otherwise I don't know if I would have considered going."
