Advice from smart people

[jennyo]

Hoping to get some advice from the market-savvy posters on piggingtons…since our real estate agent is not being very helpful. We recently inherited a house in Antioch, which is in the far-east Bay Area. The house, built in 1947, is a POS. It has been a rental for at least 2 decades, and needs not only updating but some repairs (my guess is $20K or so). It appraised at $385K a year ago, so we put it on the market a month ago for $279K. It is BY FAR the lowest asking price psf in the area. There has been lots of traffic but no offers. We are willing to deal, but would like to see an offer–even a lowball–before we just arbitrarily lower the price so we know what we are dealing with as a range. We are going to get hit with a hefty property tax bill soon and are wondering whether we should just hold on to the place a for few years and rent it out until the market is not as crazy. We could rent it for $1100-$1300 a month but would incur costs for the repairs. Am I being too impatient with the sale process? The realtor said that sales are taking 3-6 months, but all the doom-and-gloom I read daily makes me think it won’t sell at all. Should we just rent it out and forestall the “windfall” we thought we were going to get?

[Mark Holmes]

Sell it now. It will probably be 20 years before you can get what you are asking again.

[Mark Holmes]

Sell it now. It will probably be 20 years before you can get what you are asking again.

[Mark Holmes]

Sell it now. It will probably be 20 years before you can get what you are asking again.

[sdduuuude]

An important consideration is – how much tax will you pay when you sell it? If that is a tax-free sale, it sways the decision towards selling. If you have to pay %25 capital gain tax on the whole thing, that sways it towards keeping it.

$1100/month forever is a pretty friggin’ good windfall.

I think I would consider taking out a small HELOC on the property to fix it up and pay the property tax, then send all of the rent to pay off the HELOC, and write-off the interest. You’d have it paid off in two or three years, then would be getting $1100/mo in (pre-tax) income.

D

[sdduuuude]

An important consideration is – how much tax will you pay when you sell it? If that is a tax-free sale, it sways the decision towards selling. If you have to pay %25 capital gain tax on the whole thing, that sways it towards keeping it.

$1100/month forever is a pretty friggin’ good windfall.

I think I would consider taking out a small HELOC on the property to fix it up and pay the property tax, then send all of the rent to pay off the HELOC, and write-off the interest. You’d have it paid off in two or three years, then would be getting $1100/mo in (pre-tax) income.

D

[sdduuuude]

An important consideration is – how much tax will you pay when you sell it? If that is a tax-free sale, it sways the decision towards selling. If you have to pay %25 capital gain tax on the whole thing, that sways it towards keeping it.

$1100/month forever is a pretty friggin’ good windfall.

I think I would consider taking out a small HELOC on the property to fix it up and pay the property tax, then send all of the rent to pay off the HELOC, and write-off the interest. You’d have it paid off in two or three years, then would be getting $1100/mo in (pre-tax) income.

D

[Mark Holmes]

That’s good advice as well… I guess it all depends on your financial situation.

[Mark Holmes]

That’s good advice as well… I guess it all depends on your financial situation.

[Mark Holmes]

That’s good advice as well… I guess it all depends on your financial situation.

[jennyo]

No capital gains tax to pay when we sell, because the adjusted basis will be the value as of the date of death (which is the $385k). Essentially we will be taking capital gains loss deductions forever at $3000 per year.

[jennyo]

No capital gains tax to pay when we sell, because the adjusted basis will be the value as of the date of death (which is the $385k). Essentially we will be taking capital gains loss deductions forever at $3000 per year.

[jennyo]

No capital gains tax to pay when we sell, because the adjusted basis will be the value as of the date of death (which is the $385k). Essentially we will be taking capital gains loss deductions forever at $3000 per year.

[hipmatt]

I would stop being greedy (not that you are), slash the price by $40k, it should sell then. After that, relax, treat yourself, and be stress free. Don’t look back!

[hipmatt]

I would stop being greedy (not that you are), slash the price by $40k, it should sell then. After that, relax, treat yourself, and be stress free. Don’t look back!

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