Katsmeow
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2009
- Messages
- 5,323
I do agree that there is always uncertainty. Well, sometimes there is more uncertainty than other times and sometimes you can gauge the possible results to determine which one is more likely.
And weighing the risks of an outcome depends upon the benefits and disadvantages of each course of action.
For me, I find that discussing and talking about the options and risks and benefits is helpful to me in making a decision. That is the real value of a thread such as this. I totally get it that many people would not opt to retire with our current house unsold. I would prefer that it be sold as expeditiously as possible. But, weighing all the options and risks and rewards of each I am willing to take the risk of retiring even if this house has not sold yet.
One of the things that this discussion has helped me with is discussing with DH these issues and the factors. I spent a good part of today working with spreadsheets modeling different possibilities. What happens if we buy a new house now and still own this one? I tried to think of as many possibilities as I could even thinking about the fact that if we weren't living in this house our insurance would increase markedly. I modeled the tax implications of each choice. I looked at several options.
It turns out that what works best economically depends on how quickly this house sells. If it sells quickly economically we do better with a mortgage on a new house even if this one hasn't sold. If it takes longer than a year for this one to sell we do better selling this house first then taking the tax hit to pay cash for a new house.
It is, of course, uncertain how long it takes to sell this house and clearly buying the new house while still owning this one has risks that have to be considered.
I have not yet made a decision. I just say that DH was the one who wanted to buy the new house before selling this one. I was inclined to wait and if it cost us an extra $25,000 in taxes so be it.
At that point, there are 2 pieces of the puzzle which weigh on the decision. First, there is one particular property for sale that we have not seen in person (well we drove by it but haven't been inside). The location is ideal. I have followed this market for 5 years and this property has the best location for our needs that I have seen. Also, its price is very favorable, well under what we were prepared to spend. We may look at this house though and find that for other reasons it would not work. If it would work I really have to look at it seriously. And it might cause me to take more risk. However, we won't take that risk for any property that is not in an excellent location for us and is not at a price that we find favorable.
The other thing that is clear to us is that regardless of whether we buy that property or not, we will prioritize obtaining a quick sale when we list this house for sale and will list it as soon as we can get it ready for sale. While we won't sell it for a ridiculously low price we will price it on the low end of the appropriate range.
And weighing the risks of an outcome depends upon the benefits and disadvantages of each course of action.
For me, I find that discussing and talking about the options and risks and benefits is helpful to me in making a decision. That is the real value of a thread such as this. I totally get it that many people would not opt to retire with our current house unsold. I would prefer that it be sold as expeditiously as possible. But, weighing all the options and risks and rewards of each I am willing to take the risk of retiring even if this house has not sold yet.
One of the things that this discussion has helped me with is discussing with DH these issues and the factors. I spent a good part of today working with spreadsheets modeling different possibilities. What happens if we buy a new house now and still own this one? I tried to think of as many possibilities as I could even thinking about the fact that if we weren't living in this house our insurance would increase markedly. I modeled the tax implications of each choice. I looked at several options.
It turns out that what works best economically depends on how quickly this house sells. If it sells quickly economically we do better with a mortgage on a new house even if this one hasn't sold. If it takes longer than a year for this one to sell we do better selling this house first then taking the tax hit to pay cash for a new house.
It is, of course, uncertain how long it takes to sell this house and clearly buying the new house while still owning this one has risks that have to be considered.
I have not yet made a decision. I just say that DH was the one who wanted to buy the new house before selling this one. I was inclined to wait and if it cost us an extra $25,000 in taxes so be it.
At that point, there are 2 pieces of the puzzle which weigh on the decision. First, there is one particular property for sale that we have not seen in person (well we drove by it but haven't been inside). The location is ideal. I have followed this market for 5 years and this property has the best location for our needs that I have seen. Also, its price is very favorable, well under what we were prepared to spend. We may look at this house though and find that for other reasons it would not work. If it would work I really have to look at it seriously. And it might cause me to take more risk. However, we won't take that risk for any property that is not in an excellent location for us and is not at a price that we find favorable.
The other thing that is clear to us is that regardless of whether we buy that property or not, we will prioritize obtaining a quick sale when we list this house for sale and will list it as soon as we can get it ready for sale. While we won't sell it for a ridiculously low price we will price it on the low end of the appropriate range.