Housing: Best Case and Worst Case and a Bridging Fund if I move

 So went through the exercise of thinking about selling the house and how that would feel.

Caveat: If I did do Tulsa Remote, I feel like I would want to keep the house because that feels very temporary somehow.

So in trying to figure out how I feel about this NC house, I charted best case and worst case scenario.

Best Case:

- I move and succeed in a more social and enjoyable lifestyle (spending up to $60k/yr)

- Work for 5 more years to support this lifestyle

- Retire with $1million dollars and enough to continue lifestyle at $40k/yr (or up to $60k/yr at 6% withdrawal)

Worst Case

- Move and am separated from work w/n a year

- Need to find a lower cost of living because am now early retired living on $20k/yr

In worst case, I would ideally return back to Cheap House because my leanFIRE budget is based on that cost of living. So that is scary if I sell the house. So the argument remains to keep the house for at least 5 years. And really in the clear light of day isn't a bad default position considering all goes well with renting it out.

But part of me wants a clean break and just kind of eliminate returning here as an option. So I got excited about receiving a $50k profit. And I realized I don't need to add the $50k to my FIRE pot, I can use that for additional housing in the event of Worst Case Scenario. 

It only needs to last for 15 years until age 55 when I am more confident I can find over-55 housing for better prices with more amenities. 

So I decided to work through the exercise of a $55k Bridge Fund for the Worst Case Scenario.

I would store it in a deposit account aimed at earning at least 5% interest a year. With CD rates the way they are, this seems quite manageable. The way I figure, CD rates will be up or the stock market will be up. If both are down, then the economy is in trouble and I'm likely to find really good deals on apartments anyway. Win, win, win. 

So based on that at a 7% withdrawal rate (ie, 1 out 15 years divided evenly), I can add an additional $300/mon to my $850/mon leanFIRE budget. At $1150, I think I'll be able to find housing as good as Cheap House in NC. 

I've been trying to think of long-term consequences - the biggest for me was not being able to find housing for my budget in the next 10 to 15 years. But I think if Cheap House is the standard, then with the increased housing budget, I have a lot more confidence this is achievable. 

Plus on the emotional side, after 1 year of renters....it stops being the new house I moved into anyway. But if I fail after 1 month, that would definitely suck.

There is the thought of rental income, but that was really not part of my plan unless some sort of easy deal fell into my lap. (For now it seems like an unnecessary struggle.)

In summary, if I really feel strongly about parting ways with Cheap House, I feel some level of comfort that I won't risk homelessness given that I walk away with $50k from the sale of the house and store it in a Housing Bridge Fund. 

As a default, I can always keep the house as a back-up until I fully retire/ reach $1million whichever is sooner. 

All in all, the move feels even less scary with that mental barrier neutralized. 

But for a girl who had previously mapped out her end of life, my future feels a little more unknown.