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Advice on a Lifestyle Block Given Current Conditions
Hi Everybody,
Long time lurker here but would love to draw on the collective views and opinions of the many bright minds on a decision I'm not sure is best delayed.
My wife and I want to make the dramatic lifestyle shift from living in Auckland(which we hate) to living in rural Canterbury.
Here's the full story, but have put a tldr at the bottom and I know time is precious:
I'm a 30 year old with a wife of similar age, one toddler and a baby on the way. I'm a tradesman, and have been a hard worker most of my life, working 3 jobs in my mid 20's and buying rentals, gradually selling them off for various reasons. Now I have a business focused on repairing, installing and maintaining industrial machinery up here, the customers I'll give to my father when I go.
I earn the bulk of the income in our family, with my wife being a stay at home mum while helping run 2 small e-commerce businesses we started from nothing which earn us enough to eat and pay bills from, but not enough to service a new mortgage and continue to build investments comfortably. I'd love to give them more time, but my electrical work earns far more than these do.
We have 2 properties, a tiny unit in a bad area of Auckland which we live in and a 4 bedroom home in a very nice area of Rotorua, which is rented out to tenants for 25% below market. We're trying to sell it but a combination of current conditions and tenants intentionally making it difficult is complicating the process. Funny that the tenants are living in a nicer home than us in a much nicer area, but...I digress.
These properties are worth approx $1M combined(according to bank), with a combined mortgage of in the early $200s
We also have (what was to us) a sizable share portfolio, but uhh, let's not go there right now...
Essentially we want to make the move down to Canterbury, with negotiations on a property in progress in the mid $500s. We have approval from bank and would take on approx 450k of debt to purchase. The serviceability wouldn't be viable if we moved as I would give up the majority of our income by handing business over. Ideally we'll sell all our properties to make a fresh start, as I'm really over being a landlord frankly(I have a lot of stories there).
TLDR - Pregnant, married couple just turned 30 with 1 toddler. Have side hustles that will feed us wants to move to Lifestyle block but will have to give up core of income. Have to take on 450k of debt which we'll struggle to service without work or(ideally) sell up and have minimal debt, or a small hoard of cash.
Want to get feedback on timing, whether now is a good time(in life and in the economy) to make a lifestyle shift like this, given our side businesses are also feeling effects of constraints on consumer spending(given one caters to small businesses and the other to end consumers).
Have been working towards this my whole life, we're finally about to make the plunge, then covid-19 hits and throws a spanner in the works. I know it's not a new thing, been following since early Jan, but didn't think it would get this bad, frankly.
I'm also worried about missing buying opportunities in other markets(shares, namely), and paying too much for a property that might be cheaper later. There's also the downside of having to sell what we do have for far less , meaning we'd lose there as well.
Just hitting my 30s, I don't want to leave our dreams until we're too old to enjoy them, nor do we want our kids to miss out. I don't want to get a job if I can help it, so I can spend time integrating into a new community, building our businesses and helping my wife after the baby is born.
TLDR - Basically I just don't want to get hit on all fronts(buying selling, and surrendering income) if I can avoid it - mostly due to current economic conditions.. But it might come at delaying a better lifestyle I've been aiming at(on and off) for 12 years.
Any input is appreciated. Perhaps it'll help others looking to make dramatic life decisions as well. Reason I'm asking strangers over friends and family is because nearly all people around us are against us moving their own reasons leading got very biased opinions.
Thanks for your time.
Sorry if this has been too long or not enough info, hard to sum the collective efforts and thoughts of over a decade into a single post. Happy to add or summarize if required. Thanks again.
Long time lurker here but would love to draw on the collective views and opinions of the many bright minds on a decision I'm not sure is best delayed.
My wife and I want to make the dramatic lifestyle shift from living in Auckland(which we hate) to living in rural Canterbury.
Here's the full story, but have put a tldr at the bottom and I know time is precious:
I'm a 30 year old with a wife of similar age, one toddler and a baby on the way. I'm a tradesman, and have been a hard worker most of my life, working 3 jobs in my mid 20's and buying rentals, gradually selling them off for various reasons. Now I have a business focused on repairing, installing and maintaining industrial machinery up here, the customers I'll give to my father when I go.
I earn the bulk of the income in our family, with my wife being a stay at home mum while helping run 2 small e-commerce businesses we started from nothing which earn us enough to eat and pay bills from, but not enough to service a new mortgage and continue to build investments comfortably. I'd love to give them more time, but my electrical work earns far more than these do.
We have 2 properties, a tiny unit in a bad area of Auckland which we live in and a 4 bedroom home in a very nice area of Rotorua, which is rented out to tenants for 25% below market. We're trying to sell it but a combination of current conditions and tenants intentionally making it difficult is complicating the process. Funny that the tenants are living in a nicer home than us in a much nicer area, but...I digress.
These properties are worth approx $1M combined(according to bank), with a combined mortgage of in the early $200s
We also have (what was to us) a sizable share portfolio, but uhh, let's not go there right now...
Essentially we want to make the move down to Canterbury, with negotiations on a property in progress in the mid $500s. We have approval from bank and would take on approx 450k of debt to purchase. The serviceability wouldn't be viable if we moved as I would give up the majority of our income by handing business over. Ideally we'll sell all our properties to make a fresh start, as I'm really over being a landlord frankly(I have a lot of stories there).
TLDR - Pregnant, married couple just turned 30 with 1 toddler. Have side hustles that will feed us wants to move to Lifestyle block but will have to give up core of income. Have to take on 450k of debt which we'll struggle to service without work or(ideally) sell up and have minimal debt, or a small hoard of cash.
Want to get feedback on timing, whether now is a good time(in life and in the economy) to make a lifestyle shift like this, given our side businesses are also feeling effects of constraints on consumer spending(given one caters to small businesses and the other to end consumers).
Have been working towards this my whole life, we're finally about to make the plunge, then covid-19 hits and throws a spanner in the works. I know it's not a new thing, been following since early Jan, but didn't think it would get this bad, frankly.
I'm also worried about missing buying opportunities in other markets(shares, namely), and paying too much for a property that might be cheaper later. There's also the downside of having to sell what we do have for far less , meaning we'd lose there as well.
Just hitting my 30s, I don't want to leave our dreams until we're too old to enjoy them, nor do we want our kids to miss out. I don't want to get a job if I can help it, so I can spend time integrating into a new community, building our businesses and helping my wife after the baby is born.
TLDR - Basically I just don't want to get hit on all fronts(buying selling, and surrendering income) if I can avoid it - mostly due to current economic conditions.. But it might come at delaying a better lifestyle I've been aiming at(on and off) for 12 years.
Any input is appreciated. Perhaps it'll help others looking to make dramatic life decisions as well. Reason I'm asking strangers over friends and family is because nearly all people around us are against us moving their own reasons leading got very biased opinions.
Thanks for your time.
Sorry if this has been too long or not enough info, hard to sum the collective efforts and thoughts of over a decade into a single post. Happy to add or summarize if required. Thanks again.
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