Hore a property manager, it's less of a PITA. I have 3 houses as rentals (collected due to job changes). Thanks to low interest rates, they all turn a fair profit. I really wouldn't worry about your portfolio being heavy realestate since you're new at your major your 401k balance will increase rapidly when you're dumping close to the overall max into it between you and your company contributions. You can always throw money from your monthly cash flow and your profit sharing checks towards the new house to pay it off early also.

Even the easiest commute is still a commute and commuting takes every job down a peg. A great job is a good job, a good job is now a moderately crappy job, etc. With that said there are always going to be reasons to suck up the commute. Something to think about though is while you are wise to consider being able to still afford where you live in a downturn, would you still be a senior FO in that case and able to make the commute tolerable (eg being able to bid commutable trips, or have enough days off between blocks of work, being able to hold lower line values, etc). The first day I didn't commute to this job is the day I told my wife that going forward if we were to ever move, pick a domicile city and we will live within a 2 hour drive of it. Even when junior I can get a pretty good schedule be being able to "bid weird". Since I don't need to worry about commutability or minimizing out of pocket hotel rooms I have a lot more leeway in how I "restrict" my schedule. I'd look at a few things like how much premium do you miss out on not living in base and would that make a difference at your current seat/rate? What are the schedules of those at your seniority who have upgraded look like? Would those be tenable for you living in base? What is the likelihood of your commute getting harder? Do you have a current drive option? Is there an option close to the domicile but maybe a 2-3 hour drive that you'd consider? I will say, nothing beats driving to this job. My car is never weight restricted, oversold, or has a senior/first in line for the jumpseat. Even when I end up flying some of the crappier/less desirable trips it just means I got a block of days off I wanted and nothing better came along to trade. I took some trash to get some treasure if you will.

Driving to work is convenient and is a game changer as far as the job goes. The biggest factor is where your family really wants to live, and where you want to be on your days off. I have to allow 7.5 hours for my commute between leaving the house and show time, but it's worth the ability to live exactly where we want to. Others are perfectly happy living close to airline hubs and enjoy a great life as well. The bottom line is that your life is at home, and this is just a job.

My kids are grown, it is cheaper to live in base and I still commute. This job lets you have tons of flexibility, let your life be the driver. You can make the money work either way—only you can decide what is best for your family.

The reason to not commute is that it frequently makes people miserable.

You do not sound miserable.

It is unclear to me what problem would be fixed by you moving.

Also “mortgage tripling” can mean a lot in relation to senior FO pay. Is it going to go from 1500 to 4500 or 3000 to 9000?

~2k to ~6k. Rough numbers.

tough call. I’m locked into a good rate as well. don’t commute but was toying with the idea of moving closer to the wife’s family on the opposite side of a 1:30 drive to NYC. Would go from 3 to 8 for the kind of house I would want. Could make it work as ER A but never in my life did I ever think I’d be contemplating an 8k mortgage payment.

How old are the kids?

That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me on this site.