daylatedollarshort
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2013
- Messages
- 9,358
We want to downsize, and I could use some of your collective wisdom on how to go about it. We are currently in a bubble area and would like to sell before things burst. I don't see the current appreciation rates as sustainable.
We are not sure if it is better to buy the next house first, or sell the one we have first, move to temporary housing and then look for something to buy. We have a dog and work from home with various computer set ups, so moving twice and living in cramped temporary quarters without any dedicated office space isn't ideal.
On the other hand, home prices are very expensive here, so it is a bit scary to have what to us is a lot of money tied up in two houses. Part of the reason for selling is to lock in our gains and reduce our real estate exposure. Houses have gone up or down in price by over $25K in just one month in the area where we are now. The house we buy next will cost probably half as much as the one we own currently, so if the bubble busts our downside will be more limited.
I think it is safer to sell the one we have now first, the higher priced one, since that is more subject to wilder price fluctuations. That way we aren't funding two households for the overlap period. The downside to that is we may not find a house we love in the next few months after we sell ours. If we buy first we could take our time to buy the perfect house and then sell ours later.
I am leaning towards selling first because of the bubble prices. If we sell first and the bubble bursts we come out ahead buying the second house. If we sell first and price jump more we come out behind, but I think interest rates are more likely headed up than down, which would favor selling first.
Any advice is appreciated.
We are not sure if it is better to buy the next house first, or sell the one we have first, move to temporary housing and then look for something to buy. We have a dog and work from home with various computer set ups, so moving twice and living in cramped temporary quarters without any dedicated office space isn't ideal.
On the other hand, home prices are very expensive here, so it is a bit scary to have what to us is a lot of money tied up in two houses. Part of the reason for selling is to lock in our gains and reduce our real estate exposure. Houses have gone up or down in price by over $25K in just one month in the area where we are now. The house we buy next will cost probably half as much as the one we own currently, so if the bubble busts our downside will be more limited.
I think it is safer to sell the one we have now first, the higher priced one, since that is more subject to wilder price fluctuations. That way we aren't funding two households for the overlap period. The downside to that is we may not find a house we love in the next few months after we sell ours. If we buy first we could take our time to buy the perfect house and then sell ours later.
I am leaning towards selling first because of the bubble prices. If we sell first and the bubble bursts we come out ahead buying the second house. If we sell first and price jump more we come out behind, but I think interest rates are more likely headed up than down, which would favor selling first.
Any advice is appreciated.
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