We sold our house 6 weeks ago or so ago (significant cash out) and moved across the country, and we decided to rent for a bit and gamble that the market would collapse more. But we hate renting and we are already capitulating and putting an offer on a house we found and love. Even with our cash the mortgage will be about the same as before, due to the interest rates. So now we will be gambling that the interest rates will not continue up for long, and that they will decrease below their current level within a couple years. It feels wrong from an investment perspective, but it feels right from a life decision perspective, and it feels right from a security perspective (owning a place we can secure, and where we can grow a garden, etc.), and in the event of a currency crisis it would be bad to be super long cash. Side note: we don't have kids or pets, so it's just my wife and me; and we both have family nearby.
What would you do? And why?
Thanks man. This has been weighing on us also. We came from an HOA and we swore we would never get into another one because it was exactly the nightmare that you're describing, we spent thousands of dollars getting a front door that we liked and then the HOA tried to get us to fucking change it because it didn't match the original guidelines, even though everybody loved it and it matched the neighborhood perfectly, bunch of fucking liberal weasels sneaking around behind our backs trying to Wreck us. We thought back and won, but it put a really bad taste in her mouth. The problem is, sometimes the trade-off is worth it. Even though it was a fucking nightmare dealing with those assholes, the neighborhood was great and the green spaces were great and there was a lot of good things about it. It's really tough trying to figure out what to do. The HOA that we are looking at now is very cheap, just like how you were started, whereas ours where we left was seven times more expensive per month.
BTW, I just calculated, the HOA where we were for five years went up over 25% in that five years, and when we got there it included cable Internet and TV, and when we left it did not.