Refi vs. Dump & Buy

[CortileHomeOwner]

New guy on this forum so thanks in adavance for your feedback.  I currently own a 1,250 SF Cortile home in Woodbury.  I recently started refi process w/ the plan of...staying at Cortile for a long long long time...however, since the appraisal indicated +/- 20% lower value than what I paid...it will require +/- 80K for me to refinance.  Additionally, I have two small kids and I can imagine the need for more space.  So...I am debating putting a hold on the refi process (hold on to 80K cash I had put aside for it - why put more money into it if I plan to get out of it in near future?) + sell the Cortile home (I can probably just walkaway after closing costs/fees, etc...losing my initial $120K down pmt) + look to buy a SFR home in the $750K - $800K range in Irvine (that has hopefully come down in price by a range similar to my home, if I find it) + and understanding that I will have to find an additional +/- $250K to have a mortgage I am comfortable with.  What are your thoughts?  Unrealistic thiniing that I have?  Should I stick w/ refi and existing home or stop refi to dump it to buy another one?  Thanks!

 

[rkp]

the key statement is:  understanding that I will have to find an additional +/- $250K to have a mortgage I am comfortable with

is that something you can easily do?  if so, then moving isnt a bad idea as you arent losing or gaining anything.  the downpayment is already lost on paper so you are just trading for bigger place. 

personally, i have a bad habit of not letting go of losing investments like stocks and with $120K into a property, i would look at ways of hanging on to it.  would renting it out cover your current expenses?  then you can hang on to it and buy yourself the larger house

also keep in mind that if the larger SFRs comes down in price, then your property is probably falling as well so only way to really capture that decline is to sell and rent for a while but the decline has to be greater than your rental amount and moving expenses.