95 C4 993

I own a 2nd home/vacation rental in Park City, UT (have had it for 3 weeks) and debated a the car situation. Considering my 2nd home cost 2x as much as my 1st home and now I have 2 mortages, I can know the feeling.

My goal is to have several homes up in Park City area, quit my day job, market my vacation rentals, and work like can I have for the past 10 years every day and thats in my boxers. One down, several to go.

I'll sacrifice it all as long as I can work in my underwear every day. No home or car can take the place of working in my boxers. My hats off to my fellow underwear workers out there who drive 993s!

Cactus

You are too funny! Not even a question of what to do here. As a casual observer I'll give you my opinion on the matter. You want the best of both worlds but don't have loads of cash to support it so something has to give. My wife and I live in an 1800 Sq. ft. townhome, we drive a 96 Accord and an 02 Civic and probably between us make less a year than some of you guys make in a bonus but we have a sweet 993 in the garage so life is good. Sure a bigger house would be great and a nice DD but mint condition low mileage 993's are sweeter!!! Also going back to some of your previous threads, being a car enthusiast and having a wife you have to beg to let you maintain or mod your cars doesnt mix well.

Streetfighter

I understand what your going through. My opinion sell the BMW, way to much money spent on maintaining that thing. Buy a Lexus LS400 or something of the like. Also you have to think in the long run, what is worth more? A house or a car? Everyone here loves Porsche's, but you have to spend your money wisely and see what benefits you.

chris322

I think Catcus has nailed it perfectly. You can either make more money or reallocate what you spend your money. I am a homebody so I built a nice house. In return, I take less vacations and don't spend a lot of money on other things beyond my cars and my hobbies. One of the tough parts about not being really wealthy and owning a 911 is the sacrafice you make somewhere else. The first 3 years that I owned my 911 I drove a 9 year Acura Legend. It all comes down to something has to give. I sense that you know this already and have been down this road before. I know I have.

Turbodan

houses come and go every day. good porsches (993s) are much rarer commodity. housing market is dropping. sell the beemer keep the house and buy another 911!
whatever you do (with the present state of economy) do not overleverage. keep some cash on side for rainy day. what is wrong with your house now? is the new one better location?(3 top things for real estate: location location location) obviously it has enough room for your cars from the pics.

TRINITONY

There be two WB 5 miles apart now. Have yet to see one in the area.

melman911

Keep the cars, the house and sell the wife. j/k

ppashley

I'd be weary of being overleveraged in this housing market.
If the 3-4k bills p.a. would be a worry as a result of upsizing the house, then I'd consider if that is too much of a stretch. There are plenty of other non-car maintenance things that might come up for 3-4k too, aside from the car... hole in the roof, new furnace etc.
just my 2c.

Cactus

Another thing would be to sell the "7" and get a reliable car. That is too much money to keep dumping in that car. I know a BMW service advisor that would never own a BMW out of warranty.

Quadcammer

Cactus,
Some people would say that you have priorities that are not quite straight. To most people, a house is more important than any car. Housing prices in PA are also cheaper than maryland.

The older 7 series is not bad reliability wise. The new ones are disaster.

993Brendan

Cactus- like you, I live in a 1560 sq. ft. house, but have five cars in the driveway. My priorities are absolutely crooked, but because it is just me and my wife, we have enough space for now. I laugh at the other attorneys in my office who slave away to pay mortgages on houses that they can barely afford as they "keep up with the Jones's" and try to placate their increasingly demanding wives. All my cars are paid for, I have no credit card debt and live on a fraction of what I make...all of which feels damn good.

That said, buying my house is the best thing I ever did. In the past 5 years it has nearly doubled in value. Can't say the same thing for any of my cars, although the 993 seems to be holding steady at the low 30s mark!

Cactus

I should have stated that we have no children nor do we plan to so no "need" for a bigger house. As Brendan stated we definitely have our priorities twisted but when it comes down to it cars are the only thing that i am interested in as a hobby. Better start saving my pennies now cuz that new GT2 that is coming sure does sound tasty.....

Berkley

Your post is not about really about Porsches, BMWs, Rolexes, jewels per year(?) expensive vacations......it is about your station in life, your spouse, her daughter and what makes the marriage bed palatable in the evening..... and keeping a reservation at the Marriage Inn....A bit to heavy to on my part ?...Sorry if it is.....

I would advise you to get some professional help; individually and or as a couple.....As Pong stated so well, family is everything with a true partner for life....to me at age 58 and a half, I had a great run in the real world in a young man's game and I have paid the "piper" due to personal convictions and beliefs over the last ten years.

I am debt averse these days......I am attempting to buy a farm as I write; albeit 50% more expensive than my home, it will be without debt....( i.e. No Porsche in consideration ).....My whole thinking is collective in that I have a ten year old little girl adopted from Russsia with ADD and new "older" bride who joined our life two years ago...we made a decision as a family to pursue a country life....But that is just me! We can only share our experience , strength and hope with you in a thread such as this.

From my perspective, a bigger house, better proximity, and mtg debt .....it is like wearing blinders....Step back and be fair to yourself for a change.

Best of luck as you ponder

I really do wish only the best for you

race911

That was exactly my first thought!

Steve 96C4S

Ok, some clarifications. We both want to move to this area:

http://pages.montgomerycountymd.com/kentlands/

that is very close to my wife's daughter. I married my wife 7 years ago when her daughter was 6. The daughter lives with her daddy due to the school district being 10 times better than we're I live now, and ... well, that's just the way the situation worked out. It's a long story, but I'm not going to go into it. Bottom line is, we LOVE this "planned community" and whether my wife's daughter moves out in 5 years when she goes off to college and we hardly ever see her again, this new neighborhood is exactly what we want and where we want to be.

So, we're moving. We put a contract on this house today with a contingency that we sell our house first and then pay them "X" dollars for it when our house sells and buy their home from them. I think it's doubtful that they'll take our contract but it's possible if nothing better materializes for them. They've already come down $300K in 170 days on the market on this house so we doubt it'll last much longer at this price, but you never know.

I've come to the conclusion after pouring over all your responses that I'm keeping the Porsche for sure, for now. My wife agreed that I could use her Acura AWD when I need to haul something and I plan on keeping the BMW on a month by month basis for now too. I hear ya about "stretching too far" to buy a killer house, but to us, it's worth it to be in this planned community with such a great pool, tennis courts, great neighbors from what we can see (we know a bunch of families in this area through my stepdaughter) and lovely setting.

Yeah, living mortgage free was nice for the past 4 years, but we want what we want. Bottom line is, for now, I'm hanging tight and see what happens with the sale of our old home and if our contract is accepted on the "new" one. It's a 10 year home, the one we want to buy, and only 3 minutes walk from my stepdaughter.

Good news for Steve.

Thx everyone for their replies. They were very helpful as usual in putting this all in perspective. I realize I can drive a used Honda Accord, cheap Volvo wagon or older Subaru WRX wagon instead of my 740i, but ... I don't want to. I'm a Toy's R Us kid and always will be.

Steve R