AGREE. Looking for lots of income and gains and paying lots of taxes v. the alternative.
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Agree! It is crazy out there now. you would not believe what our neighbors got for the 55 year old house that they had never put one upgrade into. I canāt believe they never did anything, but I guess they liked their home! (I still crack up at the orig metal, mirrored medicine cabinet with the built in florescent lights!)
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DH understands all this stuff. He did very well in the market this year. Not a bad problem to have.
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Well, everyone likes the idea of selling for top price and then getting a bargain. But who can predict when ātop priceā will be? I will give you an example: last summer real estate was going wild in Northern VA where we lived. Our neighbors (and others) who sold their homes quickly and for tens of thousands over asking price suggested we sell then (they know we were planning to move). But we were not ready. We took a chance and waited until February of this year to list our house and we received 14 offers in 3 days - sold way, way over asking. We did better by waiting.
Meanwhile we found the house we wanted in our new location. So we moved knowing what we needed to take and what we needed to get rid of. Between fewer rooms, built ins and smaller rooms we got rid of a lot. We did not have to pay to get rid of it (we had time to sell it), did not have to pay to move or store it. Did not have to pay rent while we looked for a new place.
So it worked out very well for us (and we know we are lucky and are very thankful). But who has a crystal ball to predict that? We just did what was right for US.
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I have found that when I ask for thoughts and suggestions on this forum, Iām always going to get them. A lot of wisdom on this thread.
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These are crazy times, for sure. Who can predict what will happen? We sold some of our rental condos over the last few years, thinking weād been lucky to time it right. Not even close, we could have kept them empty and made far more profit. Is this a real estate bubble or last chance to get in, I think nobody knows.
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Agree. I think this is VERY difficult/impossible to do. Weāve had three houses. The first got into a bidding war and we won. The house doubled quick, when we sold it, we took less than expected because we had already purchased house #2. House #2, we sold after many years. Made some money but not a huge amount. Put a lot into it ( was old). Optimized the sell cycle by staging and got a cash offer for full price. Current house, bought in earnest as we needed to move. Got it very cheap. And the buyer broker negotiated the price down from what we would have paid. Bought in an area that was going up. House value has risen exponentially last 4 years. Way beyond whatās going on in our state. Nothing we did. In every case, life determined that we needed to move. I think weāll stay where we are. But in housing, Iād say price it right and buy in places where people want to live. Buy a house that isnāt too large or expensive. Much easier to sell.
We have family members who are always looking to buy ( and sell their house)ā¦ They have done poorly. Usually because they want a bargain and the market is hot. They want to sell in a hot market and buy in a hot market. Guess what? Thatās the worst case scenario.
Timing housing markets like timing the stock market is tough, IMO.
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Yes always good to do what is right for you.
I know some people have the funds available to purchase the new place, then move stuff and do what they want to do with selling their current place.
Sometimes one is purchasing in a specific market where when you find what you want you need to grab it.
I just was speculating to when we actually do sell/move. Planning may be helpful for doing well with the process - and less headaches and stress. For us, it will be stressful IMHO because we have been at this home for so long and we custom built it - very involved on the process. Cannot imagine going through that again now - getting the right trades people, getting all the materials, getting the right builder (we had a site supervisor who just didnāt want to handle the money aspects - but he knew everything in and out and it went as smooth as it can).
So far, DH wants us to do some of the improvements on our home that I propose - but it will be as we choose to do them and when we start one piece at at time. I do think our housing market will continue to stay strong. What drives it up is the demand that is ongoing in our location.
I donāt think we will get a ābargainā anywhere when the time comes. But we wonāt have as expensive of a home as we do now - and who knows how we plan things around where DDs and the grandkids live. We both plan to be alive and healthy, but we donāt have a crystal ball on any of that. I hope I have dodged the early death bullet with overcoming aggressive stage III cancer; my dad died of aggressive cancer 2 days before his 64th birthday - but the chemo was not effective on his cancer, while mine was (along with the other treatments I had, including oral medication for 10 years). Our follow up with DHās cardiologists will provide more information on his situation which seems to be clear at this point.
Your history with homes worked out - and I agree about having a house not too expensive - one that has more purchasers out there are the ones with new buyers and people maybe wanting to upgrade from where they currently live.
One consideration is buying in best public school district or public school area, which helps for resale. Years ago my friend in Dallas purchased a home that maybe others overlooked because it could use remodeling of main rooms and had somewhat terrible look (like dark purple/black painted bedroom walls) - but it was a smaller house in a better neighborhood and they could deal with the house issues one at a time.
Our second home sat for 6 months after we moved (we rented at new location in another state). The other two we sold before moving.
I know in whatever location we eventually move to, I will feel really good knowing a lot of things before purchase consideration. We were naĆÆve with our 3rd home purchase. Our DDs are renting condo and townhouse in a community for now, so they have their eventual home purchases to probably do before we do any moving.
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At the time you sold them, you were happy with the move. No stress with continued ownership and risks. I think many of us have similar thoughts on what seemed to be a good decision at the time after weighing out options. I am sure you did fine, and in hind sight analysis ā but that is the case for any particular stock, or getting in and out of whatever investment. The decision you made may weigh in on āthe next timeā when you decide of you want to sell any other rental properties (if you have others).
It is hard to have a perspective on what is happening nationally and locally with a number of things including things āclose to homeā for us with personal estate.
We are just trying to keep the boat steady as we seem to have just a lot that has everyone a bit nervous when it comes to portfolio. We were relieved on how 2021 came out for us. Now we hang through 2022 as best we can.
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I trade through Fidelity and I pay no commissions, no fees.
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Well, weāll be doing a pass with the wills/trusts/etc. as my mother passed away yesterday afternoon. She was almost 98 and lived a very full life and had relatively full command of faculties until the last couple of years when short-term memory started to go. Her decline at the end was mercifully rapid.
I got her to redo her will about four years ago. I included in it a trust for my brother who is a lovely human being with no common sense about money. Fortunately, my sister and he are co-trustees (and Iām not).
My recollection is that I need to get death certificates to her financial advisor (I have POA on everything) and my sister (a tax lawyer) and I are co-executors. She was in an independent living facility (that morphed to assisted living and in the last week to hospice) for which she paid a $300K deposit and they are supposed to give us back $270K when they get a new person. Iāll bet I have to follow up on that a few times.
Weāll see what else we have to do.
Iām very sorry for your loss.
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Iām sorry for your loss. Itās never easy. Hopefully, there wonāt be too much work involved in wrapping up her estate.
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Peace to you and your family. <3
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So sorry for your loss.
I hope all the paperwork/process stuff goes smoothly.
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Iām so very sorry for your loss. You and your family will be in my prayers.
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So sorry. May her memory be a blessing. 
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Iām so sorry @shawbridge.
Hope the estate will be settled quickly without issues.
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