Now that location doesn't matter, should we rethink buying a house?

Post date: 2020-09-28 04:12:02

We've been saving to buy a new house in DC. But if the "new normal" means working from anywhere, should we even bother?

My husband and I never had reason to doubt DC would be our home base for many years to come. A decade later, we still like the city and we're fortunate to have good, stable jobs here. So naturally we've been taking steps to buy a bigger, better home in our nation's capital.

Then COVID-19 hit and obviously changed everything. There is no end in sight to home-based work. The city feels unsafe and its high price tag, unwarranted. Our condo seems smaller than ever. Our friends have decamped to other areas and the ones who stayed behind are, like us, mostly steering clear of social interaction.

So this begs the question: now what?

Do we stay the course in hopes that most things will return to some sort of normal in 2-5 years? Or do we hold off on buying in DC for a couple years or for as long as this lasts to seize a once-in-a-century opportunity to test-drive other parts of the country or world (we have 4 passports between us)?

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