Pros and Cons

I have included my father in on the discussions. We took our reluctant daughter for our second walk-through, and she said she would be willing to live there even though she would miss home.

CONS:
-We would have to start all over in a new town.
-The house we are looking at has less actual living space (I won't have a foyer hallway, a computer room or a TV room)
-ONE BATHROOM. ONE BATHROOM!! FOR SEVEN PEOPLE!!!!
-It has a MUCH smaller yard. I would really really REALLY miss our current yard!!
-We'd lose our fruit trees. I've spent the past six years turning saplings into an orchard....this is the first year we are going to get fruit ~ and now we could just leave them?
-ALL the work and money we've put into this house and yard so far and we'd just be giving it up.
-We just bought a brand-new gas stove and the house we're looking at only has hookups for electric.
-This other house needs a lot of improvements.
-There is no gas station in the new town. I would have to drive nine miles away to get gas.
-We would be even further away from our families than we are now!
-The roof needs work
-The basement needs work
-No cable (I'm sure by now you've gathered that it's a small town)
-Neighbors ~ I haven't had to deal with neighbors in TWELVE years! I have five loud kids, three dogs, a penchant for loud music and a husband who doesn't care who sees him in his ratty undies when he's checking the mail LOL
-My youngest son & daughter have a LOT of friends here, including a couple of best friends. I have no doubt they will make NEW friends, and probably pretty quickly given their personalities, but it will be hard to not see these kids every other day like they do now.
-Small closets!! I am so used to my wonderful walk-in closet that I'm not sure I'll be able to handle a step down from this! WHERE WILL ALL OF MY FABULOUS CLOTHES GO?!!??!?
-"Better" quality house means a lot more rules from me. Also more strict application of the rules we already have, plus added rules in regards to neighbors!
-I am going to want this new house spotless from the get go. I want neighbors, friends, and family to be able to come over whenever and I want a clean house for them to come to.
-The payments aren't going to be any easier than rent.

PROS:
-A fresh start. We would have over a month to move ~ we could do whatever we wanted (within reason) to that house before we even moved in!
-There is a LOT more storage space in that house! Unfortunately none of it is closet space.
-A tiny yard means a lot less yard work.
-We would own it, so we could start improvements right away!
-There is a reasonably priced grocery store a block from the house one way, a post office another, and a park another.
-It's a real house! With REAL floors, and REAL walls!
-The floors are all hard-wood floors. More work but well worth it!
-The trailer we live in is like Swiss cheese. We have had mice & occasional bug problems since before we even moved in. I saw bugs in our original walkthrough, and because of all the holes in the house, we've never been able to get rid of them!!! A new start in a real house (no holes, I checked!).
-Real windows (as apposed to the plastic ones we have now), and a lot of them!
-A basement. Enough said.
-A HUGE garage! HUGE!!
-Stairs. We will be healthier just by going to bed!
-My older kids have friends in the new town.
-It's a REAL house! That's very important to me. I haven't had a real house since San Diego.
-I can pretty much live anywhere and be happy....I am afraid I will miss the yard terribly, but I could live in a box and be happy.
-I can keep it clean from the get-go!
-Our boys would get a real bedroom
-Our credit score will be better (we currently do not have a credit score...really)
-We will not be scrambling to find money for "extra" charges our landlords keep coming up with.
-LAUNDRY SHOOT
-Plumbing that would be SO MUCH EASIER than here!!
-Outlets; outlets everywhere!!
-There are clothes lines. Awesome!
-The kids wouldn't have to change schools
-I would finally, after TEN YEARS, get my own side of the bed!!! I have rarely complained, but I am getting older and I will just keep getting older no matter what we do, and it would be so great to have my own side of the bed. (Read: the past 10 years I have had my side of the bed up against a wall - I have had to climb to the end or crawl over my husband and whatever kid ended up sleeping with us)

As you can see, there's a lot more pros than cons, and indeed I am leaning towards moving. The allure of a new house alone is making me want to move....it's saying good-bye to this yard that's hard. We will see. We should be making a decision soon.