Gonna Travel--Sell The House?

[yakers]

This is a spin off from another thread about what a house costs. My wife & I expect to retire in the next couple years. We have a very small but paid off house and I am trying to figure out the best approach to it. We want to travel a lot and maybe even live abroad for a while. If we keep the house we could easily rent it out but it is old and needs a lot of maintnance. We would have to hire someone to look after it. Or we could sell it and invest the money to defray some conts of lodging whereever we may end up. We like the house and my wife has done a lot of work on the garden. But I do not look forward to the perpetual maintenance of an old house. It can be a financial asset whether rented or sold.

How have people who full timed in RVs or gone to live elsewhere for extended periods handled the house issue?

 

[haha]

I would say that if you like and would like to return to this house, or want to be sure than you don't get priced out of this neighborhood if things go wild, probably you should keep it. A PITA, but selling it means-A) it's gone; and B) you may not be able to afford the old nighborhood when you return.

OTOH, if you feel you can get more than it is worth, and your wife won't hate you for it, you are more free if you sell.

Mikey

 

[gstander1]

Another idea is to keep the house but swap with someone else who has a house where you want to live. I have seen swaps for as long as a year and some people even swap cars and such (for overseas locations). My wife and I are thinking of doing this but have not done it yet.

Greg

 

[Mr._johngalt]

but swap with someone else   My wife and I are thinking of doing this but have not done it yet. 

Greg

This site is getting way too kinky!

JG

 

[dory36]

How have people who full timed in RVs or gone to live elsewhere for extended periods handled the house issue?

On three different occasions, we tried to keep a house while we were far away for an extended period. (Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, I'm an idiot.)

I'm sure it is possible to be successful, but doing so requires just the right tenant. You'll have to depend on them to do a lot that you could take care of otherwise -- or else pay someone to handle minor stuff that will run your costs through the roof. Lots of other disadvantages to being away, including collections, if things go sour for the tenant.

If you are gone for more than a few months, how will you find the replacement tenant when the one you so carefully selected moves away?

I could describe all sorts of stuff that happened to us, but I'll just summarize by suggesting that you only keep the house if you really want to come back to it because you love the house and its location, not for any financial reason. I don't think being an absentee landlord of a single home can work financially (unless you are perhaps in a popular resort area, and can profitably engage a management company to rent it out to vacationers, and clean and maintain it between rentals.)

Don't look at the rent as income -- look at it as prepayment for the costs you will incur later to get the place back the way you left it and/or prepayment for the loss of resale value if you sell it. (The carefully cultivated garden will be dead, the house will need to be repainted in and out, the floors will need to be recarpeted or refinished, the systems will age faster due to a lower level of attention to maintenance issues - meaning a new heating/AC system earlier rather than later, just for example.)

 

[Eagle43]

Plus when people "screw" the house up, it takes an act of Congress to get them out. I think it's called tenant rights or some such euphemism. Not for me. Sell the house, invest the money safely, and when you feel the urge to get back into a house, you will have at least a down payment or more.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

On three different occasions, we tried to keep a house while we were far away for an extended period. (Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, I'm an idiot.)

I'm sure it is possible to be successful, but doing so requires just the right tenant. You'll have to depend on them to do a lot that you could take care of otherwise -- or else pay someone to handle minor stuff that will run your costs through the roof. Lots of other disadvantages to being away, including collections, if things go sour for the tenant.

If you are gone for more than a few months, how will you find the replacement tenant when the one you so carefully selected moves away?

I could describe all sorts of stuff that happened to us, but I'll just summarize by suggesting that you only keep the house if you really want to come back to it because you love the house and its location, not for any financial reason. I don't think being an absentee landlord of a single home can work financially (unless you are perhaps in a popular resort area, and can profitably engage a management company to rent it out to vacationers, and clean and maintain it between rentals.)

Don't look at the rent as income -- look at it as prepayment for the costs you will incur later to get the place back the way you left it and/or prepayment for the loss of resale value if you sell it. (The carefully cultivated garden will be dead, the house will need to be repainted in and out, the floors will need to be recarpeted or refinished, the systems will age faster due to a lower level of attention to maintenance issues - meaning a new heating/AC system earlier rather than later, just for example.)

I basically agree with this. Having a condo makes it a bit easier.
All outside maintenance is done and professional management is in place.
Still, one bad tenant can really mess things up for you.

JG

 

[MJ]

Several weeks ago I got a call from a socalled private investor offering to buy my 2 fam house for $800k. The offer was made with very little hesitation so I don't know if it was legitimate. I was under the impression that my house was worth upto 650k. But it was very tempting offer since I just got laid off and I do have future plans to do a lot of travelling. I am just not ready yet. Timing is sooo important.

MJ