myrkridia

My wife and I have been wrestling with this question for a bit. Bought a house before getting hired at a legacy, locked in our mortgage at a cheap 30 year fixed rate and now I commute for Delta. The common conventional wisdom is to live below your means so a pay cut would not be some devastating event should an economic down turn occur, but if there ever was a reason to subject our family to such risk it might be living to base.

We are restricted to where we can buy. We live in a nice area with good schools for our kids and frankly don't want to give that up. Looking at comparable living situations, we'd be almost tripling our monthly mortgage expenses, likely forcing me to upgrade or work the system more than I am currently as a fairly senior FO.

I don't mind the commute so much, but obviously not having to commute anymore would open up a ton more possibilities in this line of work.

EAFF95

Financially it's really easy to calculate. I am not at Delta, so I'm not privy to your work rules.

Living in base generally for me, over a career, corelated with about a 15% increase in credit per month. Do the math on what you're missing out on with commuting schedule vs a modest schedule of picking up premium/open time trips that you otherwise wouldn't in base.

QOL is pretty self explanatory, sounds like you have kids, and driving to/from work and being able to change your trip mix could produce pretty tangeable results in being able to spend more time with family. This in addition to not having to commute.

Triple the mortgage is a tough pill the swallow. As a counter point, perhaps renting in the interim could be an option (and invest your equity from your house, so you're not losing out). As you get more comfortable with the location maybe you can find an area that is lower COL but still provides you what you need. Someone on here will say "Mortgage rates will drop!", which is probably true, the question is how much and for what reason. That being said, if that decrease in Mortgage rate coincides with an economic downturn (likely) then you're really not much better off unless your seniority insulates you properly.

As a "Senior FO" the tradeoff of living in base versus upgrading might be a little more digestable vs commuting to reserve as a captain.

TOGALOCK

Always, always, always do what’s best for your family, not yourself. It’s part of being a husband and a father. If that means commuting for the remainder of your career, then that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

If you can make both goals (best for your family AND live in base) align, then you've won the lottery!

Also, remember that living in base as a new hire FO may not mean living in base later in your career depending on your other goals (upgrade, widebody, etc.).

Where do you have the most family and family support around? Where are your friends? Where are your kids’ friends? How are the schools? Would moving to live in base mean your entire family starting their lives over? All questions to ask.

Excargodog

A totally individual decision, based on a lot of things unknowable from the limited information given.

Some commutes are easy - depending on base of assignment and frequency of flights. Especially with the seniority that allows you to get commutable lines. Living in Boise and commuting to DET or NYC - not so much.

Keeping your current house as a rental is likely a good long term investment in some places to take advantage of that cheap interest rate. And being a junior CA living in base might not be all that bad. Severing local relationships can be traumatic - but for military families it's a way of life and most survive it pretty well.

Just make sure you have spousal buy-in, whatever your decision. Divorces are expensive too.

myrkridia

It wouldn't even be a question if my wife wasn't open to it or it meant a worse QOL for my family. For the sake of framing this question, let's just say the last paragraph is not a factor whether we stay or move.

Under normal times, I wouldn't have had a meteoric rise in seniority the first 2 years at a legacy and the median price and interest rate of a home wouldn't have doubled, but here we are!

The QWL comparison is somewhat tricky to balance, seeing as how I'd have to credit more to be financially comfortable but I'd also have more schedule flexibility. Right now I'm a min credit kinda guy spending more time at home commuting than I ever did living in base for my previous carrier.

tnkrdrvr

As you know there are a lot of moving parts to this decision. Will this remain your preferred domicile until the kids are out of the house? Could you rent your current house for a significant premium over your mortgage/property taxes/insurance? Could you sell your current house for a significant windfall without generating a tax liability? How does your spouse feel about living near your domicile? Etc.

Living in domicile is amazing for your QOL and ability to be there more for your family. However, the housing market and overall economy is in a weird spot that may make it worth deferring a decision for a couple years. Finally, consider whether you prefer the advantages of in state tuition in your current state vs the prospective one. At the end of the day it’s a judgement call

nene

Dont let the golden handcuffs of a cheap rate control the decision. If housing prices have doubled then use that newfound equity to begin living where it makes sense long term. With kids though once they get to HS age it gets a lot harder to change locations. Lastly like an infamous podcaster says "marry the house but date the rate" meaning you can always refinance but generally prices seem to go sideways or up over time.

myrkridia

I hear what you're saying. It's the rate in combination with the increased price of housing. Renting out my current house from another state just sounds like a giant PITA I would rather live without, not to mention my portfolio would be almost entirely real estate between two houses once we finally buy wherever we decide to live.

A 6% interest rate is high compared to what we locked into, but it's not that high from a broader historical perspective. What's tough is 6% on more than double the house.

nene

Totally understand, think I was misunderstood, in fact I was stating is sell current house, use all the equity to mitigate new loan to value as much as possible on new home and have built in equity on new house from day one. Then take best rate you can get and IF rates fall in the future, refinance.
Long distance landlord can be a PITA and generally the juice is not worth the squeeze especially if you have high income as tax law prevents taking losses on current taxes.

JulesWinfield

How old are the kids? If they're in their teens, I say stick it out until they're gone and then decide. If they're younger, it's a tougher decision. Tripling your mortgage might sound bad at face value, but if you are still comfortable and can still afford it if you go out on LTD, then it isn't that bad, especially if your quality of life goes up.