Seattle Relo there are some good ideas posted here. My mother in law lives with us but she is in good shape and takes care of the kids. She drives my wife alot crazier then myself.
Anyways you should try to investigate as many of the options as possible, attempt to come up with the different cash flow scenarios, and then see what fits you best.
Option 1 – Senior living. There are several senior living homes in San Diego, including RB and Escondido I believe that are both independent and assisted living. The difference has to do with the shape your mom is in. Both of these types generally have meal plans as well. Again, you need to dig around to find out more about them, but you need to do this legwork to make sure you have made a sound decision.
Option 2 – Rent out your home while you all move into a bigger home to rent. This may not be bad as well. Go to Craigslist and see what homes rent for that are comparable to yours in RB. Actually the rental market is doing okay right now. This will help your taxes somewhat because your rental property allows deductions that you cannot have when it is your primary. You also have depreciation expense. This is the good. The bad is that when you do sell the home, if you have not lived in it 2 of the past 5 years you cannot claim it as your primary residence to get the tax exclusion that is attained when you sell a primary residence. Now this exercise shall include pricing out what your home would rent for AND the new home you will rent. Then see where you come out cash flow wise. Unfortunately I am a renter and I own rental properties and when it all comes down to it, that pure loss of being able to write off the primary mortgage interest HURTS. Yes when you own a rental you get to depreciate the property and you get to expense HOA, Insurance, and basically EVERY expense to maintain the property. However it all gets offset by the rental income so just prepare for that.
Option 3 – Selling the house, or both the homes… Well all I can say is yes it is a brutal market out there. My advice is that if you do sell price that sucker to the bone and pretty it up nice. Run the numbers on the sale. Your net will be the sales price – commissions (to both listing agent and buyers agent) – “normal” sellers side closing costs (estimate 1% for a worst case here… usually they are a tad less) – any prepayment penalties – any credits or repairs that the buyer may ask for (sounds like the home is in good condition but beware as most buyers are now asking for a little moola for their own closing costs) – normal prorated mortgage interest and property taxes – your balance.
Another thing here… What were your long term intentions with the home? Were you guys intending to hold it a long time? Enough to ride out the storm? I recalled when you first posted we had a long debate on whether it would be better for you to just suck it up and sell now or sit tight and I forgot what the conclusion was.
In terms of the price drops I would not think of it in those terms. Just make sure that whoever you talk to does a very sound comp analysis. Look at where the numbers lie and see if it will work for you financially given all the nicks and cuts that come from the sales price.
