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Staying at home in 2020 caused of lot of owners to think about how nice it would be to have a larger home to accommodate the additional activities that come along with isolating\u2014particularly for people with children at home or, possibly, the potential of either adult children or parents coming to live with them.<\/p>\n
There are other owners who are trying to weigh the pros and cons of selling their larger home and downsizing.\u00a0For entirely different reasons, the advantages could be very appealing to an owner.\u00a0A smaller home is easier to maintain and usually has lower utilities, insurance and property taxes<\/p>\n
Some people might be considering the convenience and ease of mobility of a single-level home.\u00a0It may be finding a location with proximity to the activities they are now interested in.\u00a0A newer home might have less maintenance and be more energy efficient.<\/p>\n
Married taxpayers who have owned and occupied a principal residence for two years can exclude up to $500,000 of capital gain while a single taxpayer can exclude up to $250,000.\u00a0Liquidating the equity in their home without a tax liability could have multiple benefits.<\/p>\n
Some people might choose to pay cash for the replacement home.\u00a0Others might put 20% down to avoid mortgage insurance and possibly even get a 15-year loan to get the lowest rate.\u00a0The balance of the equity could be invested at a rate higher than the interest on their new mortgage.\u00a0Still others might want to have some reserve funds available for whatever the next unanticipated crisis might be.<\/p>\n
It could be a way to fund a longtime goal like children’s or grandchildren’s education, or wedding, or a once-in-a-lifetime trip.\u00a0Maybe part of the equity could be used to start a business or make a grant to a worthwhile charity.<\/p>\n
Selling a home and purchasing another will have expenses involved that have to be taken into consideration.\u00a0Purchase costs could be 1.5% to 3% while sales expenses could easily be two-and-a-half times that much.<\/p>\n
Regardless of whether it is moving to a larger home or a smaller one, now is a good time to make the move.\u00a0Due to the low inventory in most markets, homes are selling quickly\u2014many times in less than three weeks.\u00a0Normally, the winter months have less activity, which means less competition also.<\/p>\n
And then there are the mortgage rates.\u00a0As of 1\/21\/21, the 30-year fixed rate was at 2.77% and the 15-year at 2.21%.<\/p>\n
Like any other big change in life, it is recommended that you take your time to consider the possible alternatives and outcomes.\u00a0Your real estate professional can provide information that can be valuable in the discernment process such as what your home is worth, what you will net from a sale, as well as alternative properties for your next stage in life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Staying at home in 2020 caused of lot of owners to think about how nice it would be to have a larger home to accommodate the additional activities that come along with isolating\u2014particularly for people with children at home or, possibly, the potential of either adult children or parents coming to live with them. There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-better-homeowners-news","category-sponsored"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15363,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15361\/revisions\/15363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}