Love the Home You’re With. Was : Real Estate For Sale by Owner

[Andre1969]

Two homes, so far.

Bought the first, a condo, in late 1994 when I was 24. Owned it for 10 years, selling it in December 2004.

However, I moved into my house in late 2003, and the condo sat empty for about a year, as I tried to line up a contractor to do some renovations and got a bit screwed over. Ended up lucking out though, as the market took off, so the delay ended up getting me about $30-35K more than my real estate agent initially expected.

Right now, my guess is that I'll be in the house until around 2020, which is the latest that I want to retire. I'm 2.5 miles from work, and live across the street from my grandmother. I'd be a fool to give up that short commute while I'm still working. And one of the main reasons I moved was to help out Grandmom, who would probably have been put into some kind of assisted living otherwise, by now. She's 90, though, and going downhill fast. So when she passes on, one of the main reasons for me sticking around here will be gone.

 

[Jimbo125]

1974 - Got Married and lived in an apartment
1978 - Bought 1st house for $47,500 sold in 1984 for $72,000
1984 - Bought 2nd house 13 houses away from our 1st house for $113,000
Today - Still live in our 2nd house. It is an old farm house with a Carriage House in-law apartment. Per Zillow is about $850,000. We hope to live here util we retire in about 5-6 years and downsize.

 

[ivinsfan]

1987 Bought first house as a graduate student for $50,000.
1988 Sold house FSBO for $65,000. Got lucky here as it turned into a kind of flip!
1988 Moved for job, bought house for $55,000.
2008 Sold house 20 years later for $220,000--good gain despite falling market.
2008 Bought condo for $329,000. Paid off remaining mortgage over next couple years.
2014 Condo is now on the market for $349,900. but no sale yet--hoping soon!
2014 Bought house for $321,000.
The younger me who bought several houses for $50,000-$55,000 would have dreamed one could spend more than $150,000. for a house!

This is new! So you did find the dream house in your same area, that happened quickly. How is your stress level now? Hope your condo goes quickly.

 

[Badger]

Rented during graduate school.

Moved to the town where I still live and rented an apartment for about 3 years.

Bought my first house for $18k around 1976. It needed some work to make it nice.

Sold it 5 years later.

Put the small amount of equity plus $48k and bought our second home in a good neighborhood. This house also need a fair amount of work to make it habitable. Once we were able we made double payments and paid it off in 18 years instead of the 30 year mortgage. Saved a fair amount in interest. We then continued to make those double payments plus more to our retirement funds.

Still living in that house 30+ years later. The neighborhood is now even nicer and probably the most desirable street in the town. Most of the older homes like mine have been torn down and new houses of 3,800 - 6,000 sq ft have been built in their place. Our home is about 1,700 sq ft and the smallest in the neighborhood. After some remodeling of the kitchen and bathrooms and a couple of small additions with our own landscaped "vacation" backyard it is where we are pleased and comfortable. At the present time we could easily sell it for around $450+k due mainly to the large lot making the land more valuable than the house. Once sold it will more than likely be torn down like the others and a new large house built in its place.

However, we plan on staying until we can no longer take care of it and have to move to assisted living. We hope that is at least 15 years away.

Cheers!

 

[6miths]

2 houses. First in 1991 at 187k and sold it for the same in 1995 after having done some modest remodeling. Bought current house in 1995 for 360k. Plan to be here until we downsize in 5-10 years or so. Also bought a cottage in 2005, will probably get handed down to the kids at some point.

 

[Donzo]

Bought my first home at 25 (in Rancho Cucamonga), a couple years after getting my career job. Stayed there until I got promoted and had to move to NorCal. Been in this house since 2000 and plan many more years here

I take a long time to find the right home - because once I'm settled....I'm settled.

 

[rodi]

Has anyone else noticed how expectations of buyers have changed through the years....

It used to be that "starter" homes tended to be fixers... needing some cosmetic work, perhaps new appliances, etc. Now first time buyers come in and have no ability to look past paint color, non-stainless appliances, etc.

When I was shopping for my first 2 houses I would never have thought of ruling out a house because of something so easily changed as paint color or finish of an appliance.

Is it HGTV or is it a new sense of entitlement for first time buyers?

 

[CoolChange]

None.

 

[Which Roger]

Your choice of home — and how often you choose a new one — will determine your ability to accumulate wealth. According to The Millionaire Next Door, that wealthy family has been next door for quite a while. Half of millionaires have lived in the same house for more than 20 years.

Does the book say what fraction of non-millionaires, or of the overall population, have been in the same house for more than 20 years?

I would think that a lot of millionaires are frequent movers, following job promotions or new-and-better job opportunities, with the company often paying for relocation. I know one family that has relocated at least 14 times, always for job-related reasons. I'm guessing he's not taking a pay cut when they relocate.

I've owned only one home, for 22+ years.

 

[nuke_diver]

According to The Millionaire Next Door, that wealthy family has been next door for quite a while. Half of millionaires have lived in the same house for more than 20 years.

Bought my(our) first home in 1993. Got married in the backyard in 1994. Still here and I'm told we can never sell the place because if we wanted to go back and see where we got married we couldn't.

 

[eta2020]

Does the book say what fraction of non-millionaires, or of the overall population, have been in the same house for more than 20 years?

I would think that a lot of millionaires are frequent movers, following job promotions or new-and-better job opportunities, with the company often paying for relocation. I know one family that has relocated at least 14 times, always for job-related reasons. I'm guessing he's not taking a pay cut when they relocate.

I've owned only one home, for 22+ years.

On average people spend 10-12 years in a same house.

The family you know may be Glittering Rich (which is few percent of millionaires) or it may be someone who looks rich but is not. They are ton of people making 300k-500k that have Net Worth below 1 Million.....Even more of them have Investable Assets below 1 Million. You can easily identify them by living in really nice houses and driving expensive cars.

Glittering rich can afford really nice house and most expensive cars because such spending often makes them LBYM given their income. But such people are NOT average millionaires.....

 

[devans0]

I bought my first house for $14500 in 1974. I was 20 years old. The house was an old Victorian that needed a lot of work. I learned to do it myself. I moved into my current home in November. The 35 years with no mortgage helped me greatly in getting started in investing.

 

[Sue J]

We are still in our first house. Bought it in 1983 for $60,000 with a 30 year mortgage but paid it off a few years early. Taxes and insurance are $245/mo and we are staying here for as long as possible. Two bedrooms and a full bath on each floor so now that we are empty nesters we basically live on just the first floor plus an occasional usage of the 2nd bathroom upstairs.

The current tax appraisal is about $122,000. At one point it was worth maybe $145,000 before the housing downturn.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[haha]

This might be fine for some people. But a dynamic corporate career not to mention a military career requires very frequent relocations. Kind of hard to work at the home office in New Jersey from your starter home in Peoria.

Also, while it may not apply to everyone, more than a few careers require a home that is presentable to your peers and superiors at your company, if you are interested in management. Managers at some software companies are supposed to be aspirational figures to their teams, and part of that is showing the wealth that their hot careers have allowed them to command. Ditto law and accounting partners at most firms.

Many here talk Dog Patch, but when they post photos of their homes, it is more Sunset Magazine and up.

Ha

 

[WhoDaresWins]

Husband and I bought first home (condo on beach in VA) for $93,000 in 1979. Had trouble selling in 1982 due to high interest rates when we had to move, so we rented it out until 1985 (sold for $95,000). Next home purchase was 1987 on Long Island NY: $249,000 for tract home in Syosset. Sold in 1989 for about the same price. Purchased home in Monterey CA 1989 for $299,000 ( a real fixer-upper). Sold in 1993 for $450,000. Purchased home in western PA in 1994 for $499,000 (dilapidated house on 11 acres in a prime area). Sold in 2004 for $625,000. I then purchased my first home as a singleton (widowed) in August 2004 for $225,000. It was a new tract home, nothing special, but close to where I worked (retired 7-2-14). If I had to sell now I am guessing that I could get maybe $210,000 for the place as I think I overpaid and there are many new homes built since. In any case, I don't plan to go anywhere for awhile. In 2012 I also sold a vacation home in FL purchased on a whim by my LH in 2000.

 

[Andre1969]

On average people spend 10-12 years in a same house.

Maybe that's why I've been getting antsy to move. This November, it will be 11 years that I've been in this house. That's the longest I've ever spent living in one place. Heck, that's 25% of my life so far!

 

[mpeirce]

1986 Single, bought 1 bedroom condo, made money on it
1989 Married, acquired 2 kids, bought 3 bedroom townhouse, lost money on it
1996 After adding another kid, bought 4 bedroom house, made money on it
1999 After moving from California to Ohio, bought 4 bedroom house on ¾ acre, current

Love the ups and down of California real estate. On balance, we made out like bandits from the final sale in the state.

 

[someguy]

On average people spend 10-12 years in a same house.

Do you have a source on this? This is harder to calculate than one might initially imagine.

 

[MBAustin]

1979 - rented apartment for first job
1980 - bought condo (same town), got a roommate whose rent nearly covered my mortgage payment
1983 - transferred a long way away, sold condo for small gain, bought condo
1986 - married; we rented my condo and lived in DH's condo
1987 - transferred back to original town, bought a house; megacorp bought DH's condo but mine is unsellable/underwater so we keep renting
1992(? - would need to go back in my old files for this) - tenant from hell moves out, stiffing last 2 month's rent, so we decide to sell even though still a little underwater. Ugh.
1995 - transferred overseas, sell house for nice gain which we put aside for big down payment on house when we return
1999 - back in the US, in a new city, buy big house in neighborhood based on good schools
2009 - buy smaller/older house in same neighborhood and remodel
2010 - move into new house and sell old house for very nice profit (covered the remodeling costs on new house)
We don't expect to move again unless DH's disability forces it.

 

[retirementguy1]

On average people spend 10-12 years in a same house.

The family you know may be Glittering Rich (which is few percent of millionaires) or it may be someone who looks rich but is not. They are ton of people making 300k-500k that have Net Worth below 1 Million.....Even more of them have Investable Assets below 1 Million. You can easily identify them by living in really nice houses and driving expensive cars.

I read Millionaire Next Door over ten years ago and the two phrases that stuck with me the most are: "you are not what you drive," and "all hat, no cattle." Meaning you can dress the part of the cowboy and people might think you are a cowboy but you really don't have the cattle (assets) to back it up. People like to look rich rather than be rich.

One of my favorite definitions of rich, "having more money than your brother in law." That's all that really matters. lol

 

[mountaintosea]

Bought my cabin in 1978. I'm still here. No plans to move, but not against it either.

 

[ProspectiveBum]

One of my favorite definitions of rich, "having more money than your brother in law." That's all that really matters. lol

If that's all it takes, then I might as well be Thurston P. Howell III.

 

[lemming]

I'm not sure that would be true. My 1st home is now listed at $114,000 although we paid $21,000 for it. It would have been paid for in 2002 on a 30yr mortgage.
I am in a larger home, better location and owe $65,000 but the home is worth $250,000. So my net worth is more but my expenses over the years would have been less-but so would my working years salary since I moved to a higher paying location.

 

[sengsational]

Owned 3, lived in 2, landlord of 2. Thank tester I only own one now (no longer need the schools, but not looking to sell this place anytime soon).

As to getting bled for commissions:

Paid the regular vig on the sale of one, but it had doubled in 8 years, so I felt flush enough to not try and take on any more of that sale.

The second sale, I paid $300 to get in the MLS, and wrote it up with 1.5% for buyers agent (the "suggested" rate in that market was 3%). They all whined, but I had plenty of lookers and it sold in a month or so.

 

[tennisno1]

5 homes 7 apartments along the way- NJ, Wash DC, MD, GA, CA, Zurich and MA... most of them corporate relo's- so no real estate commissions, no points loans, interest buy downs- all company paid which really helped build my equity and reach a no mortgage level much faster. The Zurich apartment was 8,500 US per month- a high mid priced apartment for Switzerland and happily I did not pay that one!! 18 more months in MA and then FIRE to FLA