Staying Put

Gary started teaching at a different school this year. He moved from teaching 3rd grade at Gilchrist to teaching 3rd grade at Florida State University School. It has been quite an adjustment especially with a newborn baby. His school is completely across town and it takes him close to 45 minutes some days with traffic to get there. We have been in our house for almost 5 years now and we thought, even with the downturn in the market, that we would at least be able to sell our house for what we bought it for and look for something closer to Gary's new school, which would make it closer for me too since it takes me about 30 minutes to get to work, and give us room to grow since we are busting at the seams now. So we called our realtor to come over and discuss our situation and give us options. Turns out, after working up some comps, that our house is only worth about $1,000 more than what we owe... and that's after paying almost $200 more every month AND... it's still expected to decline some more before it gets better, GREAT :/ However, we are in better shape than a lot of people who bought at the same time. We are very fortunate to have a home. Plus, we are going through Financial Peace University and we are on our way to becoming debt free. Knowing that we really can't afford to move has actually put our thoughts at ease and has helped us focus our efforts on paying off all of our debt. So, we are going to stay put for now.