MTS: The bad thing is the housing market is CRAP right now and we would need to sell our place first, so until then it's simply wishful thinking! But one day........
I feel your pain - the recession caused us to abort a similar plan to move last year.
Then again, we've seen similar houses sell in our neighborhood this year and that's given us the hope and confidence we need to put ours on the market. Granted, we're looking at significantly less ROI than we might have collected two years ago. But based on our circumstances, we're willing to take a smaller profit to get out of Dodge.
If anyone could reliably predict that the housing economy would bounce back in the next couple of years, we could tough it out. But I don't expect that. And we've decided this is one of those things in life where waiting for ideal conditions may prevent us from ever acting on it.
For the moment, we have a pseudo-Chris McCandless (Into the Wild) philosophy... not to any extreme but a little more daring:
"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure."
— Chris McCandless
And then on the other hand, we want to be rational and make sure we're not just romanticizing the idea. That's a tough conflict, though. We've sacrificed a lot at the altar of rationality but we're not machines. So now should we go with the most logical, rational move? Or roll the dice?
Of course, I'm saying "roll the dice" but this is a 1-2 year plan and, if nothing else, I'm pretty thorough. A long list of requirements must be met before we set sail, not limited to gainful employment, zero debt, and school applications accepted.
After much discussion with my wife (who desperately wants to move), it comes down to this: We might regret moving to Colorado. We certainly would regret never even trying it out. At least if we go and have to bail, we'll have the satisfaction of knowing the outcome. There are too many questions in life that do not afford us the luxury of an answer. This is a question I'd like to mark off our list. At least, that's what I'm telling myself right now... in my sultry, romanticizing voice.
Of course, there are always an infinite number of derivative what-ifs.
