Put money in house Reno or in the market
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Anonymous
| 35 yo here-DH and I are selling an investment property expected to net proceeds of $290k (pre-tax). I’m inclined to invest the proceeds (probably an S&P index fund) and keep it for investment-only purposes adding to our $1.25 mill in retirement/investment accounts. Otherwise, I feel like it would’ve been better to keep the house and continued profiting off the rental income. DH instead wants to take proceeds of the sale and do a huge Reno to our primary residence. While it would be nice to see some improvements to the house and I think we’d get our money back if we were to sell the house one day, I think we’d be missing out on a huge opportunity to save for retirement. I also am not convinced that long term we’ll even want to stay in this house. What would you do-invest or renovate? Are there other options we’re not seeing? |
Anonymous
| Don’t go to Reno! Reno sucks! Vegas, if anything. That has to be enough for one of those balcony pools. |
Anonymous
| You have plenty saved already. Are you planning to retire early? |
Anonymous
| Good thing money is easily divisible and you can do some of both. |
Anonymous
| Well it’s going to depend on if you want more retirement savings or a new kitchen. |
Anonymous
OP here-yes, I would like to at least retire early (maybe 55) but DH anticipates he won’t want to, which is fine. We are leaning towards putting some in investment/some in house renovation which neither of us is completely happy about but I guess that means it’s a fair solution/good compromise. Also, never moving to Reno! 
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Anonymous
OP again-also reading the Millenial Money - House Poor in Fairfax forum https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1190226.page makes me fearful of being a millennial who doesn’t use their money wisely and puts too much money in their house. |
Anonymous
Those people are genuinely struggling. You’re just bragging . In what way are your situations similar? |
Anonymous
| What is the condition of your house? What type of countertop does your kitchen have? What flooring do you have everywhere? What are your bathrooms like? Do two bathrooms and maybe 1 other project, keep it under $50k |
Anonymous
Op-The couple in Fairfax makes good money. The general consensus in the forum/youtube was that the mortgage was a big chunk of their take home pay. Our mortgage is already 35% of our take home pay (after withholding/retirement) so I worry about putting too much money in a house vs saving for our future. |
Anonymous
| There is no right answer, OP. It all depends on your and your DH’s preferences/priorities. If you want to maximize your NW, investing the money is a no-brainer. That being said, life is not all about saving for retirement. Plus, you have saved quite a bit already. When I look back at the financial “mistakes” that I made in my early 30, I am glad I did. |
Anonymous
Those people are paying a hefty mortgage without saving for retirement or anything else. You’re doing both. How is this the same? |
Anonymous
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Invest ofcourse. You can do the renovation in few years.
It's harder to get the money out from reno and invest. If you must, do a bathroom and then you see what a pain it is. If you had been in the market outside of retirement in charge of your own investments, you would even had to ask which one to choose. |
Anonymous
| It’s reasonable to spend a little on the house but that’s investment money, not a windfall. Curious why you sold the investment property in the first place? Do you have kids? How are their 529s? |
Anonymous
| Be careful of renovations - the budget can easily double. You could run through $300k VERY easily. |