- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Success after IF
has anyone bought a house and kept the one they already own?
Is that even possible with the current state of mortgage and real estate market? So far we've lost out on the only two homes we've liked in a long time because our house hasn't sold. Then a few days ago we get an offer that is way too low, but we didn't even counter offer because there is no house currently for sale that we actually want. We don't want to have to move into a long term motel/hotel hoping we'll find one we like if we sell our house first.
We met with our lender today and he suggested getting an equity line on our house for the down payment on the new house. He's "officially" running the numbers, but thinks we'll be approved no problem. We have enough equity, but I am skeptical because of everything I hear about mortgages these days. He also suggested keeping our current house as a rental for the next 3 years at which time we could sell (hopefully for more money) and still be within the window of time to not pay capital gains taxes.
Has anyone done this? Did it work out? I think it's the best way to go for the long term, but it's a bit stressful navigating these options.
siggy should be here!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: has anyone bought a house and kept the one they already own?
I own two houses, but my second is a vacation home. We did what your lender recommended and use a home equity line of credit as the down payment on the second house. Our house has accumulated so much equity in a short amount of time that it made sense to do that to maximize our profits. We ultimately refinanced both houses a few years later and got that home equity amount back, believe it or not.
I think the key is that you can manage the mortgages. While we never have, we can rent out our second house (in which case we would be able to deduct some of those expenses as a rental property). The second house is in a popular ski/lake vacation area, so renting would be a true possibility. We just don't want the hassles of the other requirements.
Thanks for the reply. I'm curious what the other requirements are? Thanks!
Rental homes can be hit or miss. I couldn't sell my house (moved to DH's before we got married). We had 3 renters, 2 were great, one was so so horrible we had to put 10K into the house to even get it back on the market.
So rental stress needs to be a consideration. The other is the area you live in. Our market is not gettting any better and isn't expected to rebound for years. if you live in an area where the value is expected to increase do it.
Good luck!
Ultimately I sold my house for an incredible incredible LOSS.
In any event, we were approved (about 1 year ago) for House 2. I'm not sure if the status of the lending market has changed THAT much since then but its really a debt to income ratio thing, not a "how many houses you technically own" thing.
Good luck
We're in the Bay Area, about an hour from San Francisco so I think there's a good chance our property value will regain some of what it lost.
You are right about the possibility of renters not taking care of the house and creating a huge liability to fix things when they move out. Another stress to consider.
we (or rather, the husband) own a condo & our current home. (the condo was his before i met him)
we weren't able to sell our condo & we had to buy a house before kid#1 came- so we ended up renting out the condo to my BIL & purchasing our home.
the plan was for him to buy the condo within 1 year & we'd have it off our hands- well he knocked up his girlfriend & our condo is way too small because she already had 2 kids. so he moved out & we were stuck with the condo mortgage & our own mortgage.
we couldn't claim it this year on taxes (we could claim the house) because of the "rent" we collected from his brother- but next year we can claim it as long as we don't collect rent (which we technicaly don't)
renting is iffy- i honestly thought it'd be fine because we were renting to family- WRONG. his brother effing TRASHED that place. he let his cats pee everywhere & he's just a really filthy guy. so we had to put over $1k into it (it's only a 650sq ft place) to get it livable again.
we let me dad move in (rent free) this past fall. we just started asking him to at least give us 1/2 the mortgage every month because it sucks to dish out $900 a month for a 2nd mortgage.
technically he's not "paying rent" though so we'll be able to claim it next year (tax wise)
That'll be great- but we're still desperate to get rid of it. but that won't happen for at least another 1-2 years because the condo market SUCKS in NH. meh.
look at the birds | bless this food