Pengeknipe

Ack! Our finances, and all the unknown variables and the state of the market right now are really keeping me up at night. It's not like we're in money trouble or anything like that. We have no consumer debt at all, but we do carry two mortgages--one for the house in Norway and one for the house here in the US. The Norway mortgage, taxes, and insurance are covered by our rental income, so that takes care of itself. Our house payment here in the US is at a great (fixed) interest rate that we can easily afford on one salary (which is all we have). Yet still I lie awake worrying. Here are some of the numbers and scenarios that are keeping me up at night...

1. We figure we'll have a little over 700,000 NOK left on the Norway mortgage by the time we make the move. That figure used to be about 100,000 USD, but right now with the phenomenally weak dollar, it's about 140,000 USD!

2. Originally, when we made the plan to move back, we figured we might easily make around 100,000 USD on the sale of this house. Now, with the market softening here in the Northwest, that is probably not realistic any more. And even if we do make a goodly sum (we have a pretty good chunk of equity), that money may be essentially useless to us overseas. As the housing market gets worse, I begin to worry that we may not even get our down payment out of a sale, if we can even actually sell.

KE is admirably sanguine about the whole thing. He reminds me that I have made extremely good profits on the sales of the two houses I have previously owned, and that the hit won't do more than set us back a little. But it has been one of my primary life goals since about 2001 to become totally debt free. I dream of that day like other people dream about becoming a star or winning the lottery. I dream of being able to direct every penny or øre that I earn (other than taxes and such) to what I believe in and what I think is best for my family. I have been so eager to achieve this, and for a while it looked like it could happen simultaneously with the move. Now it's looking less and less likely, and I'm bummed about it.

3. Jobs. We have no idea what we'll be doing, whether one or both (or neither) of us will find work, or what kind of income we'll have. Since the house is a duplex we can always rent out half of it to help cover living expenses, and since we live very frugally our expenses won't be very high, but still we do need at least some kind of income stream!

4. Market timing. We don't have to move in June 2009. We just want to for symbolic reasons: we originally agreed to 5 years in the US, and it would also mark the completion of KE's bachelor's degree. It would give E the chance to go to pre-school in Norway and make friends there before real school starts for him. I moved to the house I grew up in when I was 4 and stayed there until I left for college, and I guess it seems natural to me that E would have a similar experience. But given how bad things are with the housing market (and how much work this house needs) and given that I have a good job with great job security, it might make sense to push back the move date a year or two. I'm leery of doing so because I know after a certain length of time inertia sets in, and it gets harder and harder to uproot.

Sigh. There are no answers to any of these issues, no clear indicator of what is smart and what is stupid. Meanwhile, at 3 o'clock in the morning the crushing weight of two mortgages and an uncertain future can really get to me!