Moving in 5 years, Would you buy a house?

[Anonymous]

Would you buy a house (Northern Va area) now knowing you had to sell it and move in 5 years?

[Anonymous]

No.

[Anonymous]

No, me either. I'm not an expert or anything. I had one house for 10 years. For 8 of those 10, it didn't budge in value at all. The last two years it skyrocketed. I used to think holding a house for five years was the minimum. Now I do think it's closer to 10.

[Anonymous]

Where in Northern Virginia?

What is the (estimated) monthly cash flow difference between mortgage and rent?

[Anonymous]

Real estate agent perspective here - no, I probably wouldn't, esp outside the beltway. 5 years right now would be about the bare minimum to get out mostly even. It costs about 3% to buy (in closing costs you never see again) and about 7.5% to sell in closing costs, so you'd have to cover that spread to break even. Of course, that's not accounting for the tax break that you could factor in, but give it a lot of thought first. I'm usually the first to advocate buying, but maybe not in your situation if you know you have to go.

[Anonymous]

No.

[Anonymous]

Nope.

[Anonymous]

Hell no! I know what it's like to have a house that you can't sell. DON'T DO IT!

[Anonymous]

Agree with realtor about the fees eating up the gain, but you also need to factor in the tax advantages, especially if you are in an upper bracket. There are rent-or-buy calculators on line.

[Anonymous]

You could try to rent it after you move, but personally I would have no desire to be a landlord, much less a landlord in another city.

[Anonymous]

It would depend on the real estate market. Bought House #1 in DC at the top end of the real estate market, planned to stay for years, ended up selling after 1.5 years, and still made money off it; bought House #2 in another state after the boom and planned to stay for at least a few years, ended up selling after 1.5 years (in a down market), and lost a tidy sum. (They will have to drag my dead body out of House #3.) Moral of the story: 5 years can be plenty of time in a great housing market, but this probably isn't the time to gamble.

[Anonymous]

No. I HIGHLY doubt that the house is going to increase enough in value to cover your sales costs (commissions, fixing up the house to sale condition, etc.). In addition, during the five years you are in the house you will likely have yearly maintenance costs. Even with the tax breaks/mortgage interest deduction, owning is a financial burden if you plan to sell in the short term. For example, we bought our house about five years ago in a very desireable close-in location but there is no way that we can sell it without losing money - not to mention all of the money we've sunk into the house to maintain the heating/air conditioning, exterior painting, etc. If I had to sell now, we would probably lose at least 100,000. Renting would have been a HUGE bargain.

[Anonymous]

I've been in my house for only 3 years, but its gone up in value by about $200k...but I live in the District. I think where you live would have a lot do with it. I know plenty of people who have purchased condos or townhouses in NoVa with the intent to move on to a bigger house in a few years. A condo may be easier to rent if you don't want to sell at the end of 5 years also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been in my house for only 3 years, but its gone up in value by about $200k...but I live in the District. I think where you live would have a lot do with it. I know plenty of people who have purchased condos or townhouses in NoVa with the intent to move on to a bigger house in a few years. A condo may be easier to rent if you don't want to sell at the end of 5 years also.

I don't know where you live in the District, but I doubt that your house has actually gone up in value by $200K in the last 3 years. Where are you getting that valuation? I posted on the appraisal thread yesterday that an appraiser just appraised my house at half-a-mill more than we bought it for 2 years ago, which is clearly BS. Even Zillow overvalues the home by a hundred grand or so in this market. I think anyone who thinks their house has risen that dramatically in value in the last 3 years is being overly optimistic. Three years ago you bought at the high-to-just-starting-to-decline-slightly end of the market -- since then the market has gone down in even the best neighborhoods in DC.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Prices probably won't get this low again. Five years is a long time. And if you don't want to sell you can use it as a rental/investment property. The rental market here is very good.