Originally Posted by
myrkridia
My wife and I have been wrestling with this question for a bit. Bought a house before getting hired at a legacy, locked in our mortgage at a cheap 30 year fixed rate and now I commute for Delta. The common conventional wisdom is to live below your means so a pay cut would not be some devastating event should an economic down turn occur, but if there ever was a reason to subject our family to such risk it might be living to base.
We are restricted to where we can buy. We live in a nice area with good schools for our kids and frankly don't want to give that up. Looking at comparable living situations, we'd be almost tripling our monthly mortgage expenses, likely forcing me to upgrade or work the system more than I am currently as a fairly senior FO.
I don't mind the commute so much, but obviously not having to commute anymore would open up a ton more possibilities in this line of work.
A totally individual decision, based on a lot of things unknowable from the limited information given.
Some commutes are easy - depending on base of assignment and frequency of flights. Especially with the seniority that allows you to get commutable lines. Living in Boise and commuting to DET or NYC - not so much.
Keeping your current house as a rental is likely a good long term investment in some places to take advantage of that cheap interest rate. And being a junior CA living in base might not be all that bad. Severing local relationships can be traumatic - but for military families it's a way of life and most survive it pretty well.
Just make sure you have spousal buy-in, whatever your decision. Divorces are expensive too.