April,
do you feel where you are now is going to be a safe place for Izzy to continue growing up in ?
Will the move take her to far away from family ?

ALSO...would this take you further from medical care when you would need it ?

Can you handle the stress of building? It could add to your health issues.

I personally don't advise building unless you or your husband (1) know something about construction issues, and (2) can be on site daily to supervise work. We had never built before, and found that it was very stressful. Quality would have been improved if my husband (who knows about construction; I do not and would have been useless) could have been on site daily to make sure, for example, that the insulation around the windows was A+ work instead of B- work *before* the insulation was covered up with drywall.

Sounds as if moving might work for you.

Try checking out home prices where you are looking at http://www.realtor.com . It helps determine what you can get in your price range.

Will help you pray for the best outcome for your family.

I don't think it is unsafe for her but the one neighbor could really care less about their 5 year old son and he runs out in the front of the house and though she knows better and won't go with him but....he is heading down a bad road I think...
As far as family goes I would have to think on that. We are not near too much family right now. My parents are 45 minutes north of us and my husband's are 45 minutes south. Moving near where we want would put us closer to my parents and further from my husband's but they may be moving soon anyway....too many decisions sigh!
Thanks for your input-very valid questions I had not thought about.
Hugs
April

Given the way things are now, you could talk to some realtors first about selling and see what they have to say. Take a mid-price point, throw out the top and bottom and then try to find out if any comparables are available...recent ones. If you put your house on the market to check the wind don't shop just yet. It's a buyer's market out there and I expect that if you do sell you could find a house to buy pretty quickly. We have one set of friends that want to move and have put their house on the market to see what happens. They have had to lower the price once already.

A second couple has a rent to buy in their old house. They found a forclosure for $50,000 and he's a contractor so they jumped. Once they had got it to move in stage they got a contract from this lady who can't sell her house. She wants the old house so much she is paying their mortgage, and giving them the rent from the rental unit as well. She has taken her house off the market, bought land from a neighbor and is creating an off street parking area which seems to be one of the big problems with her house. She will be putting it back on the market shortly.

I think with the housing market the way it is, I would figure I'd be ok on the buying end and have problems on the selling end. How much do you think the slobs will depreciate your house vs the hit you'd take by selling now? The hit now is a definate if you sell, if you can ride out the neighbors, they may lose the house and you'll get decent new neighbors who will be an asset. Overall, it seems to me 2 things. You may not want to go thru remodeling again or not be able to afford it especially if you take a financial hit on this house. If you buy a different house you will need to buy one in really good shape and that might make it cost more. The most important thing is to research as much as you can ahead of time. How fast are houses in your area moving, how long are they on the market, are real estate sales picking up or staying about the same?

I dunno know, it's tough call. Good luck what ever you decide, keep us posted!

My dh and I have been married 41 years. In that time, we have lived in 17 different houses/apts. In our "settled" years, we moved about every 5 years. Helps keep the clutter to a minimum. We moved a lot when I was a kid, so a house for me is just a house. It's the people that make it a home.

Wow, April, I feel for you! Such a lot to mull over.
Too bad you don't have good neighbors. That's so important and we have no control over who moves in.
How about a really big fence!

Do the neighbors own or rent? This might make a difference here.

And neighbors do come and go.

Good fences make good neighbors. A 6 foot high (if that's the legal limit where you are) fence made from concrete blocks will make your back yard much more attractive.

I also have two beloved cats buried in my back yard, but they are dead, I do have the memories and pictures. But they are GONE. Nothing I do now will affect them in any way, and your child should be let grieve, but remember that it is gone.

An hour long commute is already too long. I don't know what your health condition is, but I do know (from my own experience)that if it becomes worse, the shorter the commute the better.

A longer commute will also cost you more; we all know that the price of gas is only going to go up in the coming years. When my kids were small, I never wanted to be more than 1/2 hour from them while I was working. Even into their teen years, I wanted to be reasonably close to home, just in case they got themselves into some kind of trouble (You can't imagine the crazy things teenagers will do!) or got sick.

Unless you move to a place where you have no neighbors, you may always have neighbor problems. Unless your neighbor is threatening you in some way, this is not a good reason to move. We've lived in the same home for 28 years. We've managed to 'outlast' our lousy neighbors and now have some really great neighbors.

If you're concerned that at some point in your life you will be unable to work, then plan for that right now. Start saving and investing. Moving is expensive. It literally 'eats' your cash reserves - think about closing costs, taxes, paying movers, decorating the new place and many other expenses. Then there is the question of whether you would lose money if you sold your home in the current market, although that might balance out when you purchase a home. Save that money, use some of it to pay off your current mortgage early by paying $10 'extra' with each mortgage payment. That $10 goes toward the principle, which will reduce the mortgage and lower the interest at the same time. When you can no longer work you will be very happy to have a reduced mortgage or no mortgage at all. Taxes won't seem so bad.

Sentimental reasons for staying - if all other things are equal (which is rarely the case) then let the sentimental reasons be the tie-breaker.

In the end, you will make the best decision for you and your family. Just think long and hard about it first.

Save that money, use some of it to pay off your current mortgage early by paying $10 'extra' with each mortgage payment. That $10 goes toward the principle, which will reduce the mortgage and lower the interest at the same time.
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Each month, write TWO checks, the smaller one clearly marked "FOR PRINCIPLE and NOT FOR INTEREST". Then check each month to make sure this has been done. Mortgages are sold so often that you can not be sure that each new owner will do the bookwork.

Each month pay as much as you can on PRINCIPLE and you will pay off years sooner.

Check out that horrid BALLOON PAYMENT that might be due if you do pay off the mortgage sooner than stated.