I’d like to say I don’t have any debt, but for now my desire and reality are not one and the same. $600,000 is an enormous amount of money and it’s roughly how much I currently owe. In fact, it’s such a large sum that it’s difficult to wrap my head around.
How on earth do I owe so much money and did I ever think I would be this indebted? Well the debt is made up of two mortgages. No credit card debt, student loans or debt of any other kind. Just two simple, fixed rate mortgages.
The first mortgage is on our primary home. The second is on a rental home near the shore of North Carolina. The first house was purchased when housing costs were relatively low. The second was purchased at the height of the housing boom. Despite buying when prices were high I don’t regret that decision in the least. In fact, I’d do it all over again if I had to.
People often ask me about owning a second home. I tell them to buy a place you’ll love and want to visit often. My beach home is a place of physical and spiritual healing. Despite it’s hefty price tag I can say without a doubt that it’s brought my husband and I closer together and made for a healthier marriage. After all, you have to communicate when you spend six hours driving to the beach next to one another.
When we had two high paying jobs paying the mortgages was never an issue. Now that I’m considering staying home with my son things will get a bit trickier. I know we could sell our beach home to help me stay home, but that would be a last resort. In fact, I’d be more inclined to sell my primary home then to cut ties with North Carolina.
I’m happy that we don’t owe any other money, but I would be happier if our overall debt weren’t so high. It’s interesting how my ideas change as I age. When I was working I thought nothing about paying those mortgages, but as my goals and desires change to focus on my son I look at those numbers and wonder what on earth I was thinking.
This post is part of Women’s Money Week 2012. For more posts about debt see the Debt Roundup.
Have you thought about renting out the beach house when you aren’t there? A friend of my parents has a home in Georgia that she rents out all year long, except for the weeks when she’s staying there. She brings in around $1k a week just from rental income, which offsets the cost of the property manager she hired to deal with scheduling rentals. Just a thought!
Unfortunately the rental market isn’t that strong for our house in the off season. I looked into this and found that we would actually make less renting it year round then just during the summer, because summer rates are so high. We earn about $15,000 from rent, but after you take out taxes, commissions, etc. it turns out to be more like $9,000 or $10,000.
I was going to ask the same thing as Curiosity.
Thanks for the comment. See response above.
I know how you feel! Currently I’m on a one year break from work so I can stay home with my baby boy. He is almost 7 months and I hate to think about going back to work. What made it possible for me to stay home was planning it while I was pregnant.
Good luck!
Planning will definitely help us through the first year, but the more I’m home the more I know I’ll want to stay home for awhile. I’m sure you feel the exact same way!