My crystal ball seems to have a defect (or two).
Still working on getting my quantum eraser working though.

Not really a big Climate change believer (or denier) but If I was living too close to sea level I would always be watching the Antarctic glaciers in case I needed to get to higher ground LOL.

The Above said, I think I would always want to own something on the west coast, I think a better question is where you think homes will be in 10 years (time goes by incredibly fast).

Agree with sdr. We live various places much of the year, but will never give up our San Diego properties, especially with most of our family and friends being in CA. Even HI, where we spend some of the year, can get old. Beaches, golf and all it offers are amazing, but variety is more interesting.

You never know what life may bring over time, so, imo, keeping property here is a smart move on many levels. Many friends do the same.

You should have no problem renting out your home in PL, should you choose to do so.

All the best with your plans!

[quote=bibsoconner]Thanks sdrealtor. I’d forgotten about the 2 year rule. It also reminds me that I should make some attempt to get my home improvement receipts together. As I recall, beyond the 500K cap you can avoid taxes by offsetting profit on house with money you put into it. Unfortunately, I’m not great at keeping receipts, especially for all the small stuff that ads up! And if current prices hold or increase, I’ll definitely be above 500K.

Feel free to post or PM me “good local property manager”!

Thanks![/quote]

So I had pretty good luck with urbanrealtor as a property manager. he’s exactly the kind of property manager you want. Because he’s fair and honest. But if a tenant tries to pull a fast one on you, you definitely want someone like him on your side. he’s use to dealing with pain in the ass tenants…. and in a pro-tenant state and in a world of rental moratoriums, I’d wouldn’t half ass this especially if this is your first time being a landlord.

[quote=svelte]Great advice on here from sdr, scaredy, coronita and others.

Some other thoughts that should be factored in:
1. My father always said that retirees are in consensus that one should not jump into something with both feet. Instead, they recommend renting your house out and trying the new area first. You might just find you miss San Diego more than you thought you would.
2. You can pass the house through to your daughter once you die with a much higher limit than 500K…that might be a thought to avoid taxes…and in the meantime you can rent than thing out for several thousand a month and basically not have to worry about a job ever again if you don’t want to.
3. I would think long and hard about jumping out of engineering. You’ll work just as hard, worry just as much, and have just as little free time in basically any other career you choose…and do it for much less money. (scaredy said this much better than I did!) My best friend in college did that, he quit his Silly Valley sw job to become an artist. I reminded him they are actually called “starving artists”. He has learned that lesson the hard way and now his software skills are dated.
4. Flu and I have talked about this before – one really has only so many years until they really can’t work any more…health issues, etc. While you can still earn great income, do you really want to call it quits? I get maybe scaling back so you have more free time, but I would be cautious about changing too much all at once.

Just my two cents.[/quote]

I’ve been running my F.I.R.E. calculators as of the late….Just in case.

A late retirement followed by an early death are probably my best option in the current environment LOL.

On balance, I’d sell one 2.3M home and buy two for 1.2M.
Then you can have a place to live or two rentals.

I highly doubt you will get twice the rent for one.

Then you have more options: i.e. you can live one again or sell it.

Not all choices are black and white.

[quote=svelte][quote=Coronita]
I’ve been running my F.I.R.E. calculators as of the late….Just in case.[/quote]

lol, yeah I wonder how many FIRE folks are getting a little frightened right now with inflation taking off. Some of them may have used questionable assumptions.

I still think it is folly for a 30- or 40- something to think they can project out 40 to 50 years. The world changes fast![/quote]

for me it’s not really just F.I.R.E. it’s slightly modified.

For my retirement will be partly funded by rental income and a return on after tax investments before I’m 65.

after 65, it would be funded by my rental, after tax investments, and IRA/401k.

I think I can pull this off with about a 4% return on investment on the investment of after tax cash. Including the cash out refi.

it’s a fun exercise of futility because it’s unlikely I will retire early now. since I missed my early retirement goals at 40 might as well wait 3 more years and round up to the nearest power of 10