We love our small house. A few years ago we were looking to move. It was hard to find a bigger house that offered everything we currently have in our little home. Our house is small, but it functions beautifully. We have no wasted space. It really is a well-designed home. The process of trying to find a new house made us truly appreciate our current home.
If we lived in a great neighborhood, I would not consider moving again. Unfortunately, our neighborhood has been deteriorating for years. Additionally, now that we have our mortgage paid off, I have become painfully aware of how much we pay in taxes. If you’re not aware, New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the country. To cover our taxes and insurance, we still have to save $800 per month. It has definitely taken the fun out of being completely debt free.
John and I have discussed moving to a better neighborhood, but unfortunately, those neighborhoods have even higher property taxes. Like any rational person, we don’t want to spend all of our money on taxes. We have decided that if things get too bad in our community, if the taxes become too much to handle, or if the homeschool laws change for the worse, we would like to move out-of-state. Unfortunately, we can’t move too far from our current location. Although John works from home, he still has to be within driving distance of his customers and co-workers.
Due to our specific situation, the only logical place for us to move would be Delaware. I hesitate to make that leap, because of our children. New Jersey has homeschool friendly laws, which is a major perk for our family. Additionally, there is a big homeschooling community in our area. We have access to so many programs, designed just for homeschoolers. It’s really hard to give that up and head for the unknown. Plus, all of my babies were born here. It hurts my heart to think that I’d be taking them from the only home they’ve ever known.
For now, we are going to continue monitoring the situation in New Jersey, while also keeping an eye on the real estate market in Delaware. At this point, we are not in a rush to move. Finding that elusive move-in-ready 5 bedroom house with a finished basement in a good neighborhood (within our price range) is a tall order. For now, I am content to just wait to see what happens.