Need advice on selling house....

[Jen78fl]

Hi all. Well my husband is in the military so we have to move every couple of years. We bought a house when we moved here to FL and next year we will have to sell it. We will have been here 4 years. Of course we thought the value of our home would increase over time but weve just found out that the value of it now is ALOT less than what we paid for it! I guess this isnt that surprising with the housing market being so bad..

Anyway my husband wants to sell it and then just use our entire savings to pay off the mortgage. I am thinking that maybe renting it out might be a better option though it sounds like homeowners are having to rent for a couple hundred less than what their mortgage is. So, I just wanted to see if any of you might have any advice on what we should do. I really dont know! I appreciate any help!

Jen

[annekevdbroek]

We are military too and were on pins and needles with our last move a year ago. It worked out, thank goodness. Anyhow, we have BTDT with moving and selling frequently.

I would wait until closer to your move date to make up your mind. I would lean towards renting out the house for a year or two, given the current market is many parts of FL. Even if your cost for renting out the house for two years is $500 per month, that is $12000 for two years. If the market rebounds more than that in two years, you've made the money back (assuming you can afford this).

Also, I'd be really uncomfortable with emptying all your savings to get out of the hole on the house.

[annettemarie]

Moving to finances

[just_lily]

Do you know how far away you will be moving to?

I would be tempted to rent it out, but being a long distance landlord can be a real PITA. You may decide to use the services of a property management company, and around here they take a 10% cut on average. So that is something to factor in.

Otherwise, how will you arrange showings to potential tenants and move-in/move-out issues? What if the toilet explodes?

We unwittingly own a rental property about three hours from where we live now. I accepted a job here at about the exact same time that the market started to crash. Every week it didn't sell it was worth less. Now I would have to shell out about $50k from my pocket just to unload it, and we simply don't have it.

So our only option really was to rent it out. The rent I get is about $150 short of my monthly mortgage payment, plus I pay about $75 a month in taxes and $50 in insurance. The tenant pays the utilities.

I just remind myself that the market will come back in time, and there will come a day that I am thankful to own it. But that day is not today.

Because we live three hours away we can manage to make it up for the day when we needed to do showings and sign the lease and transfer keys. Fortunately the tenants we have had (we are on our second set now) have been of the handy sort and we haven't had to go up and do any repairs *knock on wood*. They all know that if there is a true emergency, like the toilet explodes, to call whoever they need to call to have it fixed and we will arrange payment.

So there are lots of things to think about other than just the money issue. I agree with the pp that you would wait until closer until your move date to think about it and make a final decision.

[Maluhia]

There is a Federal Program that pays you the difference if you have to move and sell your home due to PCS and loose $ because of the market. It's a safety net for Military families that is new - so new they are not really doing it yet although it is law because there is no great way set up to make it work.

If you are lucky it will be functional before you have to move.

That being said I'm military and I'm OVER people in the military buying houses and taking on the risk then acting like it's the military's fault when *surprise* they have to move and *oh no* might loose $$$. Note: I do not think that is what you are doing here - you seem to be planning and not creating this to be someone else's fault.

[lovebug]

Originally Posted by KailuaMamatoMaya

There is a Federal Program that pays you the difference if you have to move and sell your home due to PCS and loose $ because of the market. It's a safety net for Military families that is new - so new they are not really doing it yet although it is law because there is no great way set up to make it work.

If you are lucky it will be functional before you have to move.

That being said I'm military and I'm OVER people in the military buying houses and taking on the risk then acting like it's the military's fault when *surprise* they have to move and *oh no* might loose $$$. Note: I do not think that is what you are doing here - you seem to be planning and not creating this to be someone else's fault.

i am military too. we have been at our duty station for 7 years (thank god) and we have friends that move every 2-3 years in the same MOS! i dont think its fair to state what you have. why should we have to pay someone elses mortgage? we should have the right to own... i think it is the military fault. they have NO STANDARD! there are some (like us) that stay around for years and others that move all the time... the military needs to get their act together! we have one soldier that has moved his family 5 times in 6 years!

with that said... i would rent it out. the turn on that would be better in the long run. we have 2 homes that we rent out. it has worked well for us if you were here in Colorado i would say "try to sell it" the market here is not that bad, but FL whooff that market is hurting bad!

Good luck!

[Maluhia]

Originally Posted by lovebug

why should we have to pay someone elses mortgage? we should have the right to own... i think it is the military fault. they have NO STANDARD! there are some (like us) that stay around for years and others that move all the time... the military needs to get their act together! we have one soldier that has moved his family 5 times in 6 years!

I respectfully disagree - I think the "right" to own is when you can afford the risks of owning. When you've chosen a career where you move, then the risk is not staying long enough to make a profit. I think the "me" generation of people is brought up to think that once you make a certain amount of money you *deserve* to own a house - it's not a right, it's just not. Owning a house is a responsibility and a choice, not a right.

Want to live somewhere long enough to stick through the hard times? I say then choosing a career that is not based on moving at the whim of a bureaucracy might be a good idea. Complaining that it is the government's fault is disingenuous.

[lovebug]

Originally Posted by KailuaMamatoMaya

I respectfully disagree - I think the "right" to own is when you can afford the risks of owning. When you've chosen a career where you move, then the risk is not staying long enough to make a profit. I think the "me" generation of people is brought up to think that once you make a certain amount of money you *deserve* to own a house - it's not a right, it's just not. Owning a house is a responsibility and a choice, not a right.

Want to live somewhere long enough to stick through the hard times? I say then choosing a career that is not based on moving at the whim of a bureaucracy might be a good idea. Complaining that it is the government's fault is disingenuous.

i think you missed my point... i agree with you to a point. however at what point is the Army, Air Force and Navy going to get it together? there is no good reason that some move as much as they do and other dont.

the OP *has* the money I *have* the money to take a loss. we know that going in. we are a little bit diff in the fact we rent out most of our homes after a PCS move.

i think you are right it is a choice and some go in blind, but not all. we have had friends that are contracted to stay here for 5-6 years and 1 year later get orders. buying a home or not my point is they should not *play* with people like that. "oh your going to stay, oh wait now your going to go" or what happened to use... we sold our home, packed up all our things and took our cars to be moved. when we got there, they told us our orders were no longer active! so there we sat, no home, no things and only a suit case. we had our dog and we did everything 'right'.

so my points has NOTHING to do with it beign a *choice* it has to do with why and how we cant make that *choice*

[Maluhia]

But we can make a choice - stay in a job where things turn over and change more often than we like, or get out and try to make it work on the economy.

I find frustrating the idea that each family must buy a house and never rent (which CAN be a good financial choice sometimes) or living in housing (admittedly not my favorite idea) rather than buy.

I guess what I find frustrating is that we were told about this government program which I *think* is going to be done through the Army (first) and that congress somehow thinks it is taxpayer dollars to assume the loss risk from military families who took the risk themselves by choosing the option to buy. It seems like a waste of taxpayer dollars, I am also annoyed by the complaining of those who buy and loose, but more annoyed by the government saying they are going to assume that risk and cost. It plays into the idea that everyone has a *right* to buy, which I don't agree with.

[lovebug]

Originally Posted by KailuaMamatoMaya

But we can make a choice - stay in a job where things turn over and change more often than we like, or get out and try to make it work on the economy.

I find frustrating the idea that each family must buy a house and never rent (which CAN be a good financial choice sometimes) or living in housing (admittedly not my favorite idea) rather than buy.

I guess what I find frustrating is that we were told about this government program which I *think* is going to be done through the Army (first) and that congress somehow thinks it is taxpayer dollars to assume the loss risk from military families who took the risk themselves by choosing the option to buy. It seems like a waste of taxpayer dollars, I am also annoyed by the complaining of those who buy and loose, but more annoyed by the government saying they are going to assume that risk and cost. It plays into the idea that everyone has a *right* to buy, which I don't agree with.

and that i can agree with.

BOLD: the military is the only job, however that i know of that does NOT have to live up to their end of a contract. DH and his friend have had thier contracts riped out from under them. i just dont think that is right.

[Maluhia]

I go back and forth on if what the military does sometimes is "right" but I do know that it's not ever a full surprise that they do these things.

It's a piece of government that is known for having these big changes with little to no warning - it could come from budget cuts, some guy somewhere else getting fired, our spouses getting "fired" or not passing an assenine exam...but none of those are ever a full surprise because being in the military we are all aware that it happens. So do they break contracts? Sure. Is that right? Probably not. Should people count on them to keep their word with a history of not holding themselves accountable? Nope.

My husband has been in 14 years and is getting higher up there - at this point some guy below him could willfully screw up on the job and the entire future of my husband's career will be tarnished. Is it fair? Nope. Is there another way? Not in this military. Can you imagine the excuses you'd hear if it were not a hard and fast rule of ultimate responsibility for those under your command? Ah! It would be unworkable.

So I save and live frugally on a 6 figure salary because I don't ever want to take the "security" of this job for granted, not with all the bonuses, contracts and detailer promises.



OP: Sorry for turning your thread into such a tangent. What I've seen work is having a Realtor come over now, a year in advance, with comps for your area and do a walk-through with you talking about what upgrades, etc. might improve the selling price of your home then budget those you want to in over the next year. I'd say curb appeal is BIG especially if you sell to other military who want a "turn key" house for the most part. This should be a free service by a Realtor who hopes to get $ from you a year from now for selling your house.

[Jen78fl]

Thanks everyone for your advice!!

[Thisbirdwillfly]

We were in the same position and renting worked really well for 2 years, 9 months. Then the couple seperated, the man went on a binge and did 20K worth of damage in three months.

My H spent his leave before deploying to Iraq fixing as much of the house as he could. We emptied our savings to pay for the rest.

I will never, ever be a long distance landlord again. In fact, I will never be a landlord again. We paid for a local property management company but they only checked the inside of the house twice a year.

I am thrilled to hear that there is a new program that will cover the cost difference. It's about time. I hope that program can work for you or that you have a much, much better renting experience than we did.

[Jen78fl]

I am sorry to hear your experience thisbird. We really are in a no win situation here. I really think were going to have to rent just because after we pay off the house, we wouldnt even have enough to pay realtors fees

[Jen78fl]

Anyone else have any more advice?