Why My House Isn't For Sale
This year, my house celebrates it's 100th birthday. For too many reasons to count, it makes complete sense for me to sell and downsize. In fact, is ought to be on the market right now. But it isn't. And this has gotten me thinking about what I may have in common with all of the other baby boomers who are sitting in big old houses that are no longer optimal.
Here are a few things that could move me along:
The first is a change in the capital gains taxes. I am not married. I bought my house in 1983 for something around $120,000. It's now worth something in the $900's. So unless I can pull together a marriage of convenience, I'll only be able to get the $250,000 deduction from my gains. If Congress put back the 1-time exception for people over 55, my guess is I'd quickly join the rest of the AARP membership in making a sensible move.
The second is getting rid of my excess stuff: While I'm not a hoarder, I am far from a Zen minimalist. I've been going through my house a room at a time on a de-cluttering crusade, and it is slow and steady.
More like slow.
Less like steady.
Like many of my sellers, I probably need professional help emptying out. It's going to be hard enough to deal with my own stuff, and then I seem to have become the repository for my family's archives.
Finally, my home has been updated during the 30-some years I've owned it. The roof is only a couple of years old, and the bathrooms were beautifully restored after an elusive leak in the old galvanized plumbing, and now the systems are all thoroughly modern. But the kitchen is aging, the front porch, rear verandas, and gutters all need work. It needs paint and refinished floors. And the back yard? Well, that's been Willie's territory and will require professionals to come in to clean up and do a bit of remedial landscaping.
And speaking of Willie the Labradoodle, he's left his mark. The house is his territory and, I am embarrassed to say that it doesn't quite pass the "sniff test".
It's almost bad enough that I'm able to understand why people respond to those "We buy ugly houses" ads! Most important, though, is that it's helping me empathize with my clients who are in the same position that I am. I get them!
Oh, and the photo is what the block looked like in 1915! Since then, they've paved the street and we have lovely "mature" landscaping.
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