Is there even a good time to sell and buy anymore?
Sorry for the long context in advance.
We currently have just over $290K mortgage at 4.99% (house bought in 2021 at 2.28% interest) on our 3-acre home.
This used to be their family home that he bought so we were lucky to have bought it for the price. We both work full time in the same company now (I used to work from home as a VA but the earnings aren’t very secure for and just doesn’t help a lot with our expenses) so we have been thinking about moving nearer to our workplace as we have to be there by 7am. On top of that, he has experienced quite a few traumatic experiences here (after buying it, I know) that makes it harder for us to love the home even with how good our mortgage is. We are both on a $75K+ annual salary plus $20K annual for my side income based on my earnings this FY.
We do not have children and not planning to have them anytime soon but we do have 2 active dogs, 3 indoor cats, 10 chooks so we if we don’t really want to move to a smaller block and house but can reconsider if it’s half the size smaller than what we currently own. Because of these factors, we are currently looking at about $1.5M and up prices for the neighbourhood we are considering.
Our interest renewal is due again for next year as this was the sweetest spot that we could lock in with our bank - less than 5% and locked it in for 2 years and really thought the rates and market wouldn’t get worse while we find a new house we could move into.
I guess now my question is, seeing that we will be forced to have more than 5% interest by next year anyway, will it be worth selling and moving now or sooner than later? Any advice?
Edit: no formal appraisal but accdg to the real estate au app property value is between $980K - $1.5M (low confidence); monthly expenses is about $4.5K (mortgage, utilities, food, pet needs/food)