Author Topic: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley  (Read 7992 times)

ShumateWB

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Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« on: August 05, 2014, 06:10:25 PM »
First post here after discovering this community a few days ago.

Basics: Age 46, married, with two kids, and two houses, living in SF Bay Area, close to Apple and Google.

Wife and I are both software engineers and make decent money. We don't really spend badly, but I think our main sin is analysis-paralysis leading to under-investment. We make approx $300k combined and until a couple of months ago, lived in a 1200 sqft house that is now worth about 1.3M. Our mortgage balance on the house is about $500k. Since the house is small, we bought a bigger house nearby that is valued at about 1.9M with a mortgage of $1.4M.  Our bank balance is now depleted because of the down payment to buy the second house. We had intended to renovate and sell the older house and refi the newer house. I am now thinking that I should perhaps rent the house out since it will be much more difficult to get in than get out. Also, the tech behemoths nearby are not going anywhere and the house is in a very nice location. I do think that the house will hold value or appreciate a bit. But this also puts us in a financial squeeze for at least a while.

Income after taxes and withholdings:  ~$12k per month
Mortgage payments: $9.5k
Property taxes: $3k(?)
Rental income (if we do it) : $3.5k

Those are the heavy hitters. Don't have any other debt. I mostly fix my own ancient cars (96 and 2004 Toyotas) - changed timing belts etc. and am handy around the house. Mostly pack a lunch to work...

What is the mustachian recommendation on whether I should sell or rent out the house? Any other major recommendations? Punch my face if you should, but do it gently. :)
« Last Edit: August 06, 2014, 08:14:39 AM by swick »

G-dog

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Re: I should be richer, but why am I not?
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2014, 06:44:53 PM »
There are lots of folks in this forum with experience (not me). Try searching "landlord". I believe there are some general guidelines here regarding how to figure out whether to rent, how much you can charge, how to manage the property, etc.
You can also consider re-posting (or ask a moderator to move this) to another sub-forum, like investor alley (I would change the title).

Good luck.

G-dog

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Re: I should be richer, but why am I not?
« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2014, 06:52:13 PM »
Well, duh on me - there is a real estate and landlord ing subforum! There are your experts!

marblejane

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Re: I should be richer, but why am I not?
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2014, 08:19:59 PM »
Yeah, I would repost in the real estate forum and give this a specific title like :"Rent or sell: Silicon Valley edition" or something like that. Or even just change the title of this post.

Also, would probably need more specifics like, interest rate on both mortgages, how much is the monthly payment on the mortgage for the rental vs. the new house. Do you want to be a landlord?

You don't know how much you pay in annual property taxes? What is your local property tax rate & current assessed value? It should be a simple calculation once you look these up.

I think the rule of thumb is that if the monthly rental income is 2x the monthly PITI, you have a workable rental. If not, can you cash flow the expenses, and is it worth to you in the hopes of price appreciation?

I am curious about your comment about refinancing the new property after selling the old property. Will selling the old property somehow get you a lower interest rate on the mortgage on the new property?

BlueHouse

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Re: I should be richer, but why am I not?
« Reply #4 on: August 05, 2014, 09:17:12 PM »
Why are you not richer?  Could be because 2/3 of take home is spent on house payments?

gimp

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Re: I should be richer, but why am I not?
« Reply #5 on: August 05, 2014, 09:26:51 PM »
So this is a very weird position to be in. Usually people buy rentals for cash flow. Obviously, your rental doesn't cash flow - at the 1% rule, a $1.9m house would need to rent for 19k/month. And 50% says you spend half of that on management, maintenance, etc.

Of course, the 1/50% rule falls apart when looking at houses like this - the maintenance is hardly higher than the same house anywhere else. Taxes are a different question...

But you didn't buy the place to cash flow, you bought it as an investment that will appreciate in price. Often inadvisable, but as you said, you're in SV next to tech titans... and when one tech titan falls, three more rise up to take its place. It could turn out well for you, yes. But what you trade for the possible good return is liquidity. In short, you have none.

Difficult position. I don't have much useful advice, other than to understand that a normal-sized house in a ridiculously expensive area like SV doesn't realistically have the 50% rule anymore.

But the 1% rule means that you want to take in gross receipts of 12% of the home value a year, less vacancies. Okay, let's assume for a moment that your expenses are normal for the size of the house, so you can dip below 1%. But... $3.5k is about a fifth of that. There's no way, no how, that $3.5k is a good ROI for you.

Which brings us full circle to the fact that you bought the house for the appreciation you hope it will undergo. That's a hard game to play.

dragoncar

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Re: I should be richer, but why am I not?
« Reply #6 on: August 05, 2014, 09:56:35 PM »
Analysis paralysis your over exposure to the tech sector and get back to me on that.  (You can do whatever you want, but two jobs in tech + two houses in SV with low cashflow = disaster waiting to happen, although it's true there's always the chance of lottery-like payoff... I did grow up in the SF Bay Area and saw first hand what happened in the aftermath of the dot bomb)

ShumateWB

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #7 on: August 06, 2014, 12:02:24 AM »
Thanks for the replies.

I have changed the title of this post.

Some responses to questions:
The rent of $3.5k is for the smaller house that is worth 1.3M, not the 1.9M house.
I know the property tax for the older house, but I have not made a payment for the newer house. So that is why the '?' is against it, but I think it should be close.
I had a credit blemish because of a < $50 collection due to me switching from an old cell phone plan to a prepaid plan, both with the same provider. Not sure how that fell through the cracks. That caused me to have a higher interest rate on the loan, which I am hoping I can reduce by refinancing, now that several months have passed since the snafu.

The original plan was to do an addition+renovation to the old house and sell it right away which promised to give me a profit of $100k - $150k. I could take the proceeds of the sale and refi my new house so as to get a lower payment. One of the main drivers for this rental exploration is that the city is refusing to give me permits to do the addition/renovation until a flood zone issue is resolved. It could take months to do that and I don't want to eat the cost of waiting until then.  So I was thinking that I should rent it out for a year and resolve the issue in the meantime. If I could rent it out for a year, the (ill?) logic went, perhaps I could rent it out longer?

Details:
Monthly mortgage for the old house - $2.5k @ 3.6% 30 yr fixed
Property tax for the old house - $1k

Monthly mortgage for the new house - $7.1k @4.5% (Ouch! - could refi to a 5/1ARM to about 3.5% and $6.2k)
Property tax for new house - $1.9k (?)

Rental income for old house - $3.5k. Basically the rental will break even with the payments for the house.

I understand the risk is probably high, but even during the 2008 real estate crash, houses in the neighborhood went down no more than 10% and bounced right back up soon. Of course, during the dot-com bust, it was worse than that and it did not recover for a while. But I don't believe that the situation is as frothy as 2000.
« Last Edit: August 06, 2014, 12:12:18 AM by ShumateWB »

electriceagle

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #8 on: August 06, 2014, 01:48:12 AM »
Mandatory facepunch on trading a 1200 sq ft, $1.3MM house for a $1.9MM house and increasing your interest rate to boot!

With regard to the second house, you should check your numbers. I live in (the only) $500k neighborhood in San Francisco and rent for a whole house is around $3k. I have a hard time believing that your $1.3MM house elsewhere in the Bay would rent for only $3.5k.

Normally, I advocate holding on to real estate in the bay area, but it sounds like you should sell. The 800k that is tied up in the old house costs you $3k+/month in interest payments on the new one; take the $800k of equity from the old house and use it to refinance the new.  Talk to an attorney or tax professional about whether you can make this into a 1031 exchange and avoid paying capital gains on the 300k that is over the couple's home sale tax exclusion.

Hadilly

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #9 on: August 06, 2014, 03:58:43 AM »
At a minimum, I would raise the rent. Unless you are in east Palo Alto, $3,500 is rediculously  low.  Electriceagle's advice sounds good, but if you are in  Palo Alto, I would be seriously tempted to rent it out for a lot more, wait a year and take some of the appreciation. The market is beyond insane.

ShumateWB

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #10 on: August 06, 2014, 08:21:06 AM »

Both the houses are in the Monta Vista area of Cupertino.  Zillow shows that the rent for a 1200 sqft house could be a pinch more than 3.5k, but it is not much more, not like 4.5k.

I was quite bummed out about the new loan too, but hard as it may be to believe, the 1.9M house could be worth quite a bit more with some cosmetic upgrades to the backyard, and a couple of bathroom remodels. Another house on the street, which is on a same sized lot as mine, but is about half the size of my house sold for almost as much as mine. Other larger, nicer houses nearby with a similar lot size are z-estimated by Zillow to be in the high 3M range. So I am thinking that I did all right buying this house despite the higher interest rate. I could refi to a lower rate hopefully soon.

Most of the people I talk to say that I should hold on to the house if I can afford to. My calculations indicate that I can afford to, but only barely.

ElectricEagle, can you break down your recommendation so that I can understand it?  I am still trying to learn all this stuff.

Another Reader

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #11 on: August 06, 2014, 08:26:05 AM »
Nothing like unincorporated Santa Clara County....

Your price but not your rent is being driven by all the Chinese money buying into Cupertino. For a rental, you would have been better off in Palo Alto or Cupertino proper.  If you decide to hold, keep a close eye on the Chinese investors.  When they stop buying, look out below!

KS

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #12 on: August 06, 2014, 10:13:11 AM »
Another thing I don't think anyone has asked yet: are you sure the renovations you would want to make before selling are worthwhile? How much will they increase the value of the home, relative to time and money put into them? From what I've seen around there, most of the buyers haven't been keeping the older 1200 sqft places anyway, more often they're just tearing down and building a new place on the lot. So a buyer planning on doing that may not care about whatever improvements you're thinking of, they just want to buy into the schools (go Matadors!). That said, I have heard some foreign investors do look for certain things like granite countertops, and will only buy a place that checks all the boxes on the list, whether or not the updates are necessarily of good quality. Maybe get advice from a realtor if you haven't already, before sinking costs into renovations (and spending more time on the hassle of getting permits and such.)

Personally I think I'd join those in the "sell" camp. Yes it's possible home values will continue to rise at a crazy pace, but you already have your primary residence in that neighborhood to benefit from that possibility. And as dragoncar pointed out, nearly all your financial eggs are in the same basket, counting on a single industry. Yes, it's an industry that will probably, on average, do well over time. But it could also be a pretty bumpy ride along the way if everything you have depends on it.

ShumateWB

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #13 on: August 06, 2014, 02:22:16 PM »

My realtor, who has a strong financial interest to get me to list the property for sale, told me to rent it out if I can.  I am also finding that making the house a bit larger and have it be "move in ready" adds a significant bump to the price over an unimproved house. Based on what I am hearing here, I am leaning towards the 1 year flip rather than the hold it permanently alternative. The foreign investor thing is indeed the joker in the pack since it is hard to say how that will turn out.

DoubleDown

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #14 on: August 06, 2014, 02:43:41 PM »
I didn't see anywhere in the thread the original purchase price for these houses, but if you aren't already aware, you can exclude $500k in capital gains (for a married couple) on selling a primary residence. After that, you will be paying taxes. Depending on how much of your equity on the houses is from appreciation, that could be a significant tax hit, so something to keep in mind in your decision.

If I was you, I'd likely sell one of the houses, take the significant equity and invest it elsewhere to diversify your investments and reduce your exposure to risk in that one geographical area, as dragoncar pointed out.

escolegrove

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #15 on: August 06, 2014, 02:48:32 PM »
DO NO USE ZILLOW as a method to figuring out your rental price!!!!!!!! Zillow days one of our houses would rent for $650 and it rents for $1600. Zillow is a great tool for a listing site but horrible as an estimate.the best way to figure our your houses value is to look on zillow and other rental advertising sources in your area. What are they saying houses similar to your house is renting at?

Honestly it really depends on your goals. My husband is active duty military. We move around a lot. We purposely buy houses that are great rentals. They don't for the 1%, 2% or 50% rule . The rent is covering the mortgages, expenses and I get a nice cash flow and principle paid down. I personally look at my earning based on my downpayment. Our houses we put 0% to 20%. I than figure out how much I am making based on what I have invested. Don't forget they are also paying on the principle. If it is paid off in retirement you will have a nice cash flow with a nice appreciating asset.

I am a big believer in different baskets. Keeping the house would allow you to have two well situated "baskets" along with your 401k funds.

electriceagle

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #16 on: August 06, 2014, 03:01:40 PM »

ElectricEagle, can you break down your recommendation so that I can understand it?  I am still trying to learn all this stuff.

Sure. Lets start off by doing a couple of bits of math. First your monthly costs as a landlord.

I'm going to assume that your alternative is selling the house for $1.3MM, netting $800k of cash. Im also going to assume that your mortgage payment is 60% interest.

Interest on cheap house: $1500/mo
Prop tax on cheap house: $1000/mo
Interest on $800k that could go into expensive house mtg paydown: $3000
Maintenance and expenses: $300

In order to break even on an equity basis, you need to charge $5800 a month in rent. If you get this amount, you will still be cash flow negative and plowing any profit into home equity. This assumes 100% occupancy and no bad tenants.

What kills landlording for you is that the lost opportunity to take the profit from the cheap house and pay down your 4.5% loan.

I recommend selling the house, possibly as part of a reverse 1031 exchange for your new house to avoid taxes. You'll need to ask a tax pro about this.

gimp

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #17 on: August 06, 2014, 03:26:08 PM »
One - use craigslist to figure out how much to rent for.

Two - to those who don't live in the bay area, 3.5k for a 1200 sq foot house in Cupertino is about right. I could rent that with my friends and expect to pay just around that much (I work in Cupertino). Or if not a group of friends, you'd expect to rent it to a family (which is a stable arrangement - around here, they'd tend to stay for a while.) But yes, $1.3 mil for 3500 a month is about right. As AR said, Chinese money buys the houses, it doesn't rent them.

I can't wait for the Chinese money to dry up so maybe I can buy a place for myself. I hope it does. Fuck them using bay area real estate as an investment in this way. Smart, but shitty to everyone else. This isn't your usual buy-and-rent scheme, this is essentially flipping on an organized, massive scale, with the flipping itself causing the rise in price. Sort of a whole-scale inflation scheme, with the exception that there's so much interest that the bubble is unlikely to pop for a long time. For your sake, OP, I wouldn't be in your position - struggling to pay for two properties - when it does, but when it will is a good question.

ShumateWB

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #18 on: August 06, 2014, 03:32:58 PM »

The initial purchase price was $750k for the smaller house. I have added about $20k in improvements so far, and will have to add another $10k - 30k depending on what strategy I decide to pursue. So there will be minimal capital gains if I were to sell soon.

Electric, thanks!  That is definitely food for thought.

Another Reader

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #19 on: August 06, 2014, 03:51:45 PM »
The house next door to me was bought as a short sale almost three years ago.  The buyers are American Chinese, but my guess is overseas money is involved.  It's worth over $1.1M and it's sitting vacant, as it has since it was purchased.  They have remodeled the interior and they are using the address to send their kids to the best elementary school in the district, but no one lives there.  The yard is an overgrown disaster.

Chinese markets are extremely cyclical.  Have been for centuries.  Stock market, real estate market, no difference.  When the money dries up the collapse will be quick and very painful. 

dragoncar

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #20 on: August 06, 2014, 07:59:20 PM »
The house next door to me was bought as a short sale almost three years ago.  The buyers are American Chinese, but my guess is overseas money is involved.  It's worth over $1.1M and it's sitting vacant, as it has since it was purchased.  They have remodeled the interior and they are using the address to send their kids to the best elementary school in the district, but no one lives there.  The yard is an overgrown disaster.

Chinese markets are extremely cyclical.  Have been for centuries.  Stock market, real estate market, no difference.  When the money dries up the collapse will be quick and very painful.

That doesn't even make sense.  Are you suggesting they use the nice house address to send kids to good schools, live in a crappy town, and leave the house vacant?  Why not just live in the house???

Anyways, OPs situation is one of those that could go very right, and probably will 90% or the time, but could also go very wrong.  Carrying costs match income and emergency funds are drained?  Home value intrinsically tied to job market?  This is the definition of fragility.  I fully expect OP To come back in a couple years and proclaim FI.  But that doesn't mean it's a smart choice.  Reminds me of successful margin investors, but luckily here in CA OP can walk away from the mortgage if things get hairy.  Just don't refinance.

And regarding renting, OP can only rent for 3 years before they start giving up primary residence capital gains exclusion

Another Reader

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #21 on: August 06, 2014, 10:24:31 PM »
The same thing happened in a nearby new McMansion subdivision around 1990, only the money was supposedly from Hong Kong then.  Several houses were purchased.  Drapes and landscaping were installed, but no one ever moved in.  The landscapers came every week.  When the market heated up several years later, the houses were sold.

The owners of the neighboring house live a couple miles away.  They stop by occasionally, but show no signs of moving in.

The folks at Zillow think my house is worth more now than at the 2006 market peak.  There is no inventory, so who knows?

KS

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #22 on: August 07, 2014, 12:06:35 AM »

That doesn't even make sense.  Are you suggesting they use the nice house address to send kids to good schools, live in a crappy town, and leave the house vacant?  Why not just live in the house???


I've heard of the empty houses before too and always wondered this... maybe they let all their extended family members and friends put the address down, or something? But still seems odd not to have anybody actually live there when the homes cost so much, they could at least rent it out so SOMEbody gets use out of it. Unless it's like someone suggested and part of a strategy to keep supply lower than demand in both the rental and buying markets to drive up prices. Whatever it is I'm ready for it to stop!

ShumateWB

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #23 on: August 07, 2014, 01:30:57 AM »

Thank you for walking me through the scenarios. It has brought a dose of sanity to my decision making.

I have decided that renting it out is probably not for me since I don't like the idea of being forced to live (even if it is done voluntarily) so close to the edge. I don't want to ration every fricking thing just so that I can continue to pay the banks their interest. This morning, we caught ourselves almost telling our kids that they could not have ice cream outside, because of our finances. Luckily, sanity returned in time and they got their Dippin Dots treat. And there is no end in sight since I don't anticipate a windfall coming my way that can bring down my principal if I choose to rent out. We will be miserable, unhappy and lead a terrible life despite having good jobs etc.

It seems like there has been some appreciation of $50k-$100k in just the past two months that I could capitalize on and be happy with. The interesting thing is that the 1200 sqft houses are definitely up, but the 1700 sqft houses don't seem to have gone up that much. Whether that appreciation will continue or not is unknown. Now, the alternatives are: a) sell now after a general remodel of kitchen, windows and flooring in a month and b) wait for FEMA to do its thing, get the addition + remodel done and sell in Feb next year.

If I choose a) I can get it done in a month and could sell in about 6-8 weeks at a remodel cost of about $35k. If I choose b), I will have to pay double mortgage for another 6 months ($25k - $30k cost), pay for the addition ($130k) but I could gain some appreciation and make a net profit of about $50k - $80k.  I am leaning towards a) at this point because it will get done quickly and I have the $35k to do the smaller remodel. b) will require me to borrow money again since I don't have the $160k and wait longer for an uncertain future.

Any comments, ideas, facepunches?

KS

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #24 on: August 07, 2014, 09:08:40 AM »
Now, the alternatives are: a) sell now after a general remodel of kitchen, windows and flooring in a month and b) wait for FEMA to do its thing, get the addition + remodel done and sell in Feb next year.

Any comments, ideas, facepunches?


I'm not remotely an expert, so won't try to advise beyond another mention about schools... since that's a huge driver of the home prices in the area, you will likely get the best sale price if you sell in the season when people can use the address to enroll their kids that same fall, if there is a cutoff date. (I don't have kids so I'm not too sure how this works, this is just something our realtor mentioned to us, that we should see a slightly less frenzied buying market in early fall since that deadline will have passed and people won't be rushing to get in anymore). Good luck, whichever option you go with! No crystal ball here, but it feels to me like it will be a sellers market here for at least a little while longer, so most likely you will do fine.

Another Reader

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #25 on: August 07, 2014, 09:24:26 AM »
This is a time of exceptional demand and extremely low inventory.  In your shoes, I would put the minimum in the house today and sell.  If you miss squeezing out the last $50k, you are better off than waiting and risking losing $200k.  If the house would be torn down by the likely buyer, then I would sell as is. 

Yes, people prefer to move before school starts.  Where the local school is overenrolled and your kid will be sent to an inferior school halfway across town because there is no room, yes, you need to sell in the enrollment window.  That's not likely the case in your district, and the current crop of buyers don't care nearly as much anyway.

duanemark

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #26 on: August 07, 2014, 12:12:36 PM »
I am in a similar boat - we have a rental in SF.  I posted on this subject, and pretty much everyone on the board commented we should sell and take the equity (over $1MM) and diversify.  I have decided to reject this advice and hold on.  Thus, ordinarily, I would tell you to hold on because your local market is crazy.  However, given your monthly income and mortgage obligations, I think you are making the right choice by selling.  Leaving only $2K per month for all the extras in life doesn't seem to be enough in the Bay Area, especially with kids.  I'd take that profit and definitely refinance your mortgage so you have more cash flow. 

gimp

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #27 on: August 07, 2014, 02:45:05 PM »
I agree with the conclusions. Do the minimum amount of work and sell ASAP. Turn the profit, smile, and next time you want to buy a property to rent it out... either buy something that you can fund with the change from your couch cushions, or pay cash (little bit hyperbolic, but close enough). I think this is very different from duanemark's situation despite similar location and numbers.

ShumateWB

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #28 on: February 02, 2015, 08:49:08 AM »

Update:

I decided to go for the update with addition/renovation strategy and am close to finishing the work now. The city finally gave the permit in late October and so we began construction as soon as we got the necessary stamps. We have almost finished the interior work with a final floor sanding and touchups needed. On the outside, we still need to do landscaping and driveway work, but we expect to get it done in 2 weeks or so. We will put it on the market by mid to late Feb. It was a boatload of work, but the preliminary reviews of the work are good and hopefully all will go well.

Question for you:  I brought up the reverse 1031 strategy with friends, but they were not recommending it, saying that you will not be able to take full advantage of the 500k for the next house when it comes time to sell.  So what are the pros and cons of reverse 1031?  Not many people seem to have heard of it.

jmusic

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #29 on: February 02, 2015, 02:01:26 PM »
1031s are typically for investment properties as opposed to primary residences, but I think it would involve giving up the $500k exclusion.  In your case it sounds like you'll need to pay tax on ~$100k of gain, but it beats rolling over $600k of capital gains into the new house.  By now I think the window to even do it is closed as I think the buy and sell transactions need to happen within a certain time period.  Definitely a question for your tax pro (and yes, you NEED one for this!).

ShumateWB

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #30 on: May 28, 2015, 11:58:57 PM »

Final update:

I am making this post to give the latest update. As I noted earlier, we decided to add to and renovate the house. It took a bit over 4 months to finish the work after we got the permits. The house ended up looking really nice. We did a whole house remodel with new windows, new roof, remodeled bathrooms, new insulation and refinished floors. We had the brand new kitchen in the new addition and added a family room. We also put in new landscaping and a driveway with paving stones.

The open house was well attended and ended up being a bit of a zoo. We got multiple offers and sold the house for over $1.8M which was at least a $100k more than we had expected. We did not do a reverse 1031 exchange after we were advised that the house was ineligible by a consultant, so Uncle Sam and Uncle Jerry (Brown) will get big payout. I think, all in all, we did well with the house remodel and sale. The approx one year delay from when we left and when we sold the house saw quite a bit of appreciation in Cupertino. This more than made up for the carrying cost of the house. But the move-in-ready house with added space also added more value and gave us a decent profit for the renovation.  One expensive monkey off the back.

gimp

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #31 on: May 29, 2015, 02:51:34 PM »
Nicely done.

fishnfool

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Re: Rent out or sell real estate in Silicon Valley
« Reply #32 on: May 29, 2015, 04:43:30 PM »
Way to go!