Why we decided to sell our house
Selling your home is the ultimate roller coaster and my wife and I have decided to jump in head first. Two years ago we decided to buy our first home together with the sole purpose to make it an investment and not our “forever” home. We wanted it to be a place to start that we could buy, make renovations, and put our personal touch on it. Hoping that the renovations we have done will produce some equity when we decided to sell.
Some of you may know, but if you make a home your primary residence for 2 years you can avoid capital gains tax up to $250,000 for singles and 500,000 for married couple. This reason is why my wife and I set the goal to live in the home for 2 years and upgrade on our next home with the equity that we have pulled out. We chose to use a renovation loan (see 203k/renovation loan blog for more info) to pay for the renovations and lump it into our mortgage as a whole. We made a design for the home picked finishes and we were off, competing the home in 2-3 months and moved in for June 1st. The project was a huge learning curve but was a fun experience that I would do again in a heartbeat.
Fast forward the 2 years and hear we are. The market has gone up significantly since then and the renovations we made are very much in trend. If you’d like to see pictures of the finished product check out our listings on the website for 103 Middleboro Ave. I knew we needed somewhere to go before we left the home so we ended up sourcing out a lot for sale and started construction. Without making the steps two years ago this reality would never have happened. Patience is key in a market that is so crazy right now. In some cases rather than over spend and buy something leaving you house broke, maybe step back and purchase a fixer with the hope to sell in 2 years take the equity and upgrade.
The market is definitely a scary place. Many people fear selling their home because they just have nowhere to go and worry they will never find a home to buy in time landing them homeless. The chances of that happening is very slim. If you are working with a knowledgeable agent the proper contingencies can be put in place so your home will never sell till you secure suitable housing. I hope my experience encouraged some of you to step back and think your current home purchase can merely be a stepping stone for better things to come.
