You also bring up another issue that many home buyers don’t think about…how much it costs after you move in–even to a new home. At least you can do projects “in time”. Houses can be “one big project”!

All my best to you and your family.

Hope you’re well! This is Joe Buyer (hint hint!). I was just checking out your writings, and while we have no plans or need to get out of the 30-year fixed rate mortgage you so excellently provided, I would add to this conversation that I think a key contingency plan is to keep the house in a ready-to-sell condition. The time you live in the house, even if it’s 30 years, you get to live in a nice well-kept house with the landscaping up to date. If you skimp on these things and you need to sell fast, you neither have the funding or the time to make your house ready to sell, which could cost your tens of thousands in reduced sales price for a house that doesn’t present well. The house we bought was new, and many things, especially the landscaping, but a ton of other stuff wasn’t finished properly. The garden will be a large project, but we’ll do it now, because should we ever need to unload the house for whatever reason, all that needs to happen is that it’s cleaned up, clutter removed, and staged. In that case we wouldn’t be faced with an overwhelming and expensive task that could take months. So by keeping the house read-to-sell, we have an exit strategy should we ever need or want one. And in the meanwhile, we get to live in a well-kept house!