Is now the right time to move?

Your equity position is the real starting point: what you actually owe versus what the home would sell for today, after typical selling costs. A home that's appreciated significantly gives you more room to make a move work financially than one where you're still close to break-even, even if the second one feels just as urgent to leave.

The local market matters more than national headlines do. Interest rates, how much inventory is sitting versus moving, and how your specific neighborhood is trending all shape both what you'll get for your current home and what your next one will actually cost you — and those two numbers move somewhat independently of each other.

Then there's the question underneath the question: what changed. A space that no longer fits, a job that moved, a life stage that outgrew the house — these are real reasons, but they're worth separating from a temporary frustration that a fix or a renovation might solve for less than a move would cost.

None of this has a universal answer. It has a your-numbers-and-your-situation answer, which is why it's worth actually working out rather than guessing at.