One House, Two Locations and Three Possible Decisions

After Steve Hutchison’s wife had been given a new job offer, the couple were very excited. However, the excitement did not last long. The new job location was about 90 minutes from where they lived and was essentially in a much bigger city. There were several significant decisions that they would have to make shortly. On the very top of their list was the decision on whether they would want to move to the bigger city. If they decided to move, it would then be followed by two more decisions: one would be whether to buy or rent a new home while the other would be whether to sell or rent out their current home. While Steve was searching for information related to these decisions, he kept asking himself whether it would make more financial sense to stay put living in the current smaller city or move on to live in the bigger city. He was also wondering if there were anything else, other than financial factors, that they would need to take into consideration in making their decisions. This case is appropriate for upper-level undergraduate as well as graduate courses in personal finance and real estate. The case is particularly applicable to the Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in personal financial planning or real estate.