The moment of truth is now very, very close. I’ve signed the contract with my real-estate agent, she’s taken the photos, and the house will be listed this week. It’s both exciting and a little scary. Yikes!
Selling my house is something I’ve been contemplating for a couple of years. Over the past year or so, I’ve written a few articles from both pro and con perspectives, mostly con as I’m a little bit of a grumpy homeowner.
Some reading:
Yikes! The Moment of Truth Is Near
So as you can see, this wasn’t a hasty decision. I’ve contemplated selling for quite some time. Earlier this year, I asked myself, if not now, when? Since that day, I’ve been committed to following through.
We’ve done the prep. The house is looking good. Over the past five years, I’ve given the place a lot of curb appeal: new landscaping, new paint, new front screen, new back roof, some new fencing. There’s also a new heating and air-conditioning system. In fact I did some math. I’ve put at least $15,000 into updates and repairs on this house since buying in 2013. And here’s something else I discovered recently.
We’re asking $229,5oo for the house. I still owe $155,000 If I can walk away with $50,000 I’ll be able to pay off all of my debt.
Every. Last. Cent.
That is, if I rent my next place. There’s still a chance I’ll buy. In that case, I’d still have a car payment, but I’d pay off about $27k in consumer debt.
The Homeownership Question Remains
I was curious if I’ve gained or lost money by owning a home. I did some calculations. After all expenses, including the mortgage, loan fees, interest, insurance, and repairs, (assuming I make 50k on the sale), I’ve spent about $12,000 dollars less over six years by owning instead of renting.
That’s not really too significant, and I continue to question the logic of owning a home. I think the freedom one gains by renting and having less upkeep might be worth the extra $2000 a year. Really.
However, ownership might pay off in the long run, over 20-30 years. That is, if you want to be locked into one place. The longer you wait to sell, the more equity you’ve gained. That can be attractive when you consider amortization.
I’m still at a quandary and may never come to a solid conclusion as to whether I prefer ownership or renting. However, in any case, we might wind up renting in the near future.
The For-Sale Sign Goes up in Three Days
And I still don’t know where we’ll be living next. Originally, I had hoped we could secure our next home before selling. I’ve tried. It’s not easy for two reasons:
- No contingent deals: The market is so hot in our town that houses have been selling within a few days after being listed. Sellers know this and very few are willing to sell me a house contingent on my house selling. They want cash now. I can’t blame them.
- Don’t want double payments: I thought about securing a rental before putting my house on the market. But what if closing gets delayed? What if a sale falls through? I could be making double payments for months. So instead, I’ll wait until the sale is under contract before securing our next home.
Hopefully, the next post you read at Hip Diggs will tell you that my house has sold. Okay, maybe two posts away. In any case, the goal is to have it sold in June and move in July. As a college instructor, my workload is much less in the summer and it will be an ideal time for us to move.
Yikes! I’m a little nervous. However, I have a good feeling that no matter what happens, everything is going to be okay. Change can be scary, but change is also good. Everybody should dare to do something extreme once in awhile.
