Hi Mike, I treat nothing on the thread as intrusive, because I use the thread as my online diary, and not a soap box.
I think your trading big home for smaller one is wise.
We in Hong Kong are familiar with tax-free trading of real estate property (rental and owner occupied) and many flip real estate as many others would flip paper assets. There was an incredible period (1988-1997) during which real estate increased in price 500-800% depending on location and every other shop front is a real estate agency. Trust me on this one, the result, ultimately, as in when I ripped my current abode from its previous owner, is neither health nor pretty. Property price is about 60% off the peak value and can fall further.
I am familiar with US real estate rules because I had co-owned apartment complex in the past and still own one property to this day.
The dangerous tendency, IMO, in the US is that many folks apparently treat their primary residence as (a) savings, which it is not, because it is a liability, and one can not realize the savings component without trading down, and as (b) credit card, which it can be, but then defeats the plausible saving features without removing the liability component.
As Greenskaput had mentioned once, to paraphrase, ‘everything will be OK as long as real estate price keeps going up’, which of course will not happen.
Chugs, Jay |
