In November 2019, my husband and I were looking to buy a house bigger and better than our starter home. Our first place had been a beloved space to start our family, but with three young sons, we’d outgrown it.
After navigating the hot housing market in our Cincinnati suburb, we ended up with a four-bedroom home in a family-friendly neighborhood and 2.5% rate on a 30-year mortgage.
We had no idea we’d likely never see such a sweet rate again, or how lucky we’d been to have moved to a bigger space right before the pandemic would leave us stuck at home for months on end with a bunch of little kids.
We also didn’t know our family wouldn’t always be that size, and we’d think about moving again a few years later.
Unfortunately, our once-in-a-lifetime rate has left us feeling stuck. Now, we’re working with what we’ve got.
We’d love a home with more space, but giving up our rate feels impossible
For a few years, we were quite happy in our house — but then three kids became four, which became five. Eventually, we had seven people and the dog living in this space.
By the time we began looking to move into a place with more space, rates had risen back from the historic lows. We’ve yet to see a rate comparable to what we got in 2019.
Rates for a 30-year mortgage fell below 6% earlier this year for the first time since the fall of 2022, but that’s still too high for us.
Every few months, my husband and I check the interest rates again, calculate what a mortgage for a slightly bigger house, maybe one with a pool, would look like.
Then, we look at each other with big eyes — to add a few bedrooms and, most importantly, forgo our sweetest of sweet interest rate, we’d look at doubling our mortgage from about $2,300 a month to over $4,000.
If the rates were even close to what we’d paid in 2019, we’d likely be able to justify moving and budget for the monthly payment on a bigger space. For now, we just can’t do it.
We’re trying to focus on making the space we have work for our family
So, instead of Zillow, we turn back to our own space to see how we could make the most of it.
A few years ago, we glanced around a “bonus room” upstairs, and back to the two bickering preteens trying to kick each other out of their shared room, and had an answer.
We added a bedroom, which wasn’t as expensive as I’d feared because we only needed to install a fourth wall and a closet.
For a while, we lived in peace with everyone able to spread out a bit more. Then, the backup was the laundry mountain, which largely hung out on the couch since it didn’t fit into the tiny laundry “room.”
So, we glanced around at an extra little garage that held a few bikes and lots of junk, cleaned it out, and converted it to an epic laundry room.
There are now two washers, two dryers, lots of counter space, and lockers for each kid to have a “drop zone.” This room alone would make me reconsider ever wanting to move, regardless of our interest-rate dilemma. I love it.
Once we got momentum from those two bigger remodels, we looked to smaller spaces. The bottom of the coat closet? Great for a kid with a blanket who wants a “hideout” where they can read or play on an iPad in peace, away from siblings.
The basement? A large playroom where we can shut the door and not worry too much if a kickball hits the unfinished walls.
Our house isn’t perfect, but our mortgage rate has me thinking it’s our forever home
I never knew that a mortgage rate would be the reason we considered a place our forever home, but that’s exactly what happened.
Though we’ve become quite savvy at using every corner — and I do mean every corner — there are days when it still feels like we could use more space.
For example, the home office needs much more room for my business projects, another pair of kids complains about sharing a room every few years, and we struggle to create enough seating whenever we host a get-together.
However, it’s character-building and a bonding experience to figure out how to live together, deal with a sibling who’s too close by, and handle other small inconveniences for financial safety.
Unless anything major changes with mortgage rates or our budget, we’ll continue making this space work for us.
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