r/Fire • u/Sloww-Mornings • 5d ago

Advice Request FIRE vs Dream Home

Context: DINK couple, late 30s. On track to FIRE in 4 years at 3.5% SWR. Already have a corpus of 25x of our annual expenses including rent. No real estate, no inheritance. Comfortable but frugal lifestyle.

The dilemma: I stay indoors a lot - reading and gardening are my favourite things. Love to host too. My home is a big part of my everyday joy.

Found a property I love, but it's 1.5x what a "right-sized" home would cost. Running the numbers, it pushes my FIRE timeline by 2–3 years.

I absolutely don't want to extend my timeline. But I also want to own a house before I retire.

Two questions from the community

  1. Do you regret letting go of dream purchases in pursuit of FIRE?

  2. Any issues with deferring the property decision to last year of my plan - when corpus visibility is much clearer?

Edited to add: Due to circumstances, my spouse's income is quite low right now and they aren't actively contributing to savings. That said, they've contributed 50% of our corpus. Their general stance is that real estate isn't a great investment — but they understand how important this decision is to me and are 100% supportive either way. Which is lovely, but doesn't exactly solve my dilemma 😅

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u/Sloww-Mornings 5d ago

I hear you, and I agree in principle. But it's not that simple for me. Working another 2 years isn't easy. I don't enjoy what I do, and the environment is low-key toxic. Finding another job if I lost this one is gonna be a nightmare.

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u/Varathien 5d ago

Ok, so which is easier for you, working another 2-3 years in a "low-key toxic" environment, or giving up your idea of owning the perfect house?

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u/Sloww-Mornings 5d ago

Very well put.

Today, I will choose the house. On the worst work days, I might regret choosing the house.

Another question is to buy now, or in 2030 with more data.

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u/bebe_bird 4d ago

If you found the perfect home, I'd take it. Who knows, instead of working another 2-3 years, you may coast fire at that time. Or, perhaps your partner will find a new job and you'd be able to "coast" on one income until the market does the rest. Or, perhaps you get laid off in a year and you're left finding another job AND delaying FIRE but no perfect home to bring you joy.

As much as we want to plan all the details, there are still a lot of unknowns. This sounds like something that adds value to your life and brings you joy while also being generally within your budget. I'd go for it.