Thinking of buying another primary residence...but

[Jack B.]

I have lived in 4 houses in 9 years. I've also bought a couple as rentals outright, but generally turn primaries into rentals when I move because I end up not liking a place after a while (noise, crime, neighbors, etc.)

So I found a place. The house is nice, no HOA, low crime small town, south king county. Was looking for something in the Kent/Renton area but no dice. This is a lot of house for the money, though it's not my "ideal".

That said I moved from Newcastle area back to Auburn into one of my rentals after selling my last primary and although I don't like one of the neighbors (none of us do, they are section 8 gang bangers, cops there all the time, cops tell us they know who they are and are on their radar, etc.). I had a dispute with their landlord about the property last summer. No resolution with this slumlord but alas the tenant is not AS problematic as before. I did hear them fire a gun during a dispute with some guests recently and caught it on video...City officials didn't even respond to my email about the footage where you can clearly hear the argument and gun shot (maybe it was a blank?).

That said, I've kind of settled into this rental over the last 2 years. Everything is setup, I know where everything is, I'm "comfortable" here. That said the crime has increased recently. I lived in this house before and no issues. The area has steadily gone down hill. Packages and lawn ornaments stolen in the last year. Talked to my neighbor and she said that it happens all the time here now. The local grocery store used to be nice and clean, not they have armed security and shoplifters nearly every time I go, with vagrants hanging outside the front doors. 

I don't know if I'm feeling lazy about moving or if I'm hesitant about the deal or both. I've moved so many times, heck before I bought a house nearly 10 years ago I changed apartments 3 times in ONE year. Albeit I had 3-4 pick up trucks worth of stuff at the time...now I have the biggest U-Haul they have  available (26 feet). It isn't that big of a deal but I feel like I'm comfortable here despite not liking the one neighbor none of us here really like. 

I got a 22K discount on the house I'm making an offer on through negotiating. Comps within the last 6 months and .5 miles, same beds/bath are valued at 229/sf. I am getting the house for 183/sf. But it sat on the MLS at 450K from July to September last year, then they dropped the price to 430K until December when they re-listed it. They've had an offer of 400K, 420K and my 423K offer.

Maybe my hesitation is partly due to feeling lazy about moving, feeling settled in here (cameras, alarm system, patio furniture, etc.) and hesitation about the deal. Also, it's a cheap place to live, $973 a month, and after principal and tax benefits it's like $500 a month to live here in a house that meets my needs vs $2,100 at the new place (albeit about half of that is principal and tax benefits that show up on my tax return).

Nonetheless I do need to leave here to move my plans forward I feel like. I originally intended just to live here a short time until I found a new place. Two years later I'm "meh" on leaving here, but the rent cash flow on this place is really nice now if I rent it back out and I plan on doing a 1031 exchange with the house in a year and buying two more rentals directly after it's rented back out for a year.

Thoughts? What to do?

tl;dr: I'm settled in what was supposed to be my temporary home. I don't like the idea of giving up the cheap mortgage. But I also don't like the neighbor here (gang banger) and feel like that is a ticking time bomb. Also Auburn appears to be deteriorating rapidly over the past 7 years. And  I need to move out of this house and rent it back out to move my investing plans forward (1031 exchanging this place for 2 new properties once it's rented out again for a year).