andrewrob

Hey Hayley, how its going? my wife and I faced a similar sort of decision....we haven't come back with a huge amount, enough for us to settle in and hopefully put down a deposit on a house as and when we get round to buying, but not much else.
its a tough call, this whole pay-off between money and happiness, but what eventually decided it for us was that we werent actually getting that much further ahead in vancouver anyway....why not move back home and 'struggle' there? I have no idea what situation you're in though.....its easy for me to say this now, but maybe if my wife and i were in a position to work another year or so and build up a bit of a nest-egg for the future, maybe we would have done so. as i say, i have no idea if thats the case for you or not....its a tough decision though, no doubt about it....
as to the baby/parent classes....yep, my wife and i were pleasantly surprised, both at the amount of stuff going on, and how easy it was to find out about. hope you figure out whats best for you....

Hayley

Thanks Andrewrob! this makes a lot of sense. We do feel like we are not getting ahead. I'd love to say that if we stay longer then we could build up more money but something always seems to come up (a sprinkler repair and a bill for my son's vaccinations this week made things hard- esp as these are not outgoings we would have in sprinkler free NHS Britain!)

Just that 20 thou seems so paltry- and house prices are going up in my area- perhaps by next summer the equity will have increased. just in a spin at the mo.

woodyinoz

Just remember that Money doesn't buy happiness. I would rather be living simple but happy than rich and lonely.

Hayley

I'll remember that when I am living in my FIL's spare bedroom with hubs and my one year old!
All joking aside though- as del boy says "you know it makes sense!"

Always21

I can relate to everything in the last few posts. The exchange rate is so bad that we didn't get nearly as much for our dollars as we had hoped. We made a great amount on the equity from our US house but feel that a lot of it has disappeared, and it doesn't go very far in this housing market. I never could have imagined renting before but now that's what we plan to do and it doesn't bother me at all because I've come to realise that owning a house doesn't equal quality of life. We could buy a house in a run down town 60 miles away from my work and I wouldn't see my kids all week, or we can rent in a nice town and I can walk to work. It should have been a no brainer really. In the mean time, our equity will be earning interest so we'll be able to buy one day.

Yes, living in parents' spare rooms is hard! I'm in my old bedroom sitting at my old desk... feels like I'm 17 again!!!

Just an update on the job front... today was my first day and it went well. There was no traffic on the south side of the M25, I couldn't believe it! Took an hour to get there and an hour to get home, 40 miles each way. It took longer some days to get to my first job which was only 15 miles away, because it was towards London!

Hayley

Good to hear first day went well! I am worried about renting because I've heard it costs more than a mortgage in the UK?

I posted in the US forum but might as well pick your brain too if you don't mind- apart form the Realtor commission what costs were involved in your US home sale?

woodyinoz

renting is a lot cheaper than mortgage. I am not sure how people are covering their investment mortgages let alone make a profit, pay the agency, repairs etc

Hayley

Perhaps they just bought before the property price increases? Good to know it's not as much as looks like it's renting for me also.