Should I sell my house back home?

[eastendanto]

8 hours ago, RickTik said:

Time is the most precious asset you and your wife have.

Get rid of the house so you don't have to worry about it.

Keep some cash in the USA as a backup.

Enjoy your senior years with your Thai wife.

Devote that time to enjoying your marriage, your life, Mother Nature, and wherever you guys decide to live.

 

top answer from RickTik.....

[eastendanto]

Ask yourself this ...thinking logical here, if your wife should pass before you (god forbid) would you still want to live your life in Thailand or would you want to go back to the US  or somewhere else for some time to think about things? Selling your property limits your options. If you rent your home out,  you have peace of mind knowing that you have somewhere to go if something happens that means you do not wish to be in Thailand, you have money accumulating every month via rental income which you could put straight into an ETF or other investment vehicle each month thereby getting double bubble on our money, if as you say you are not reliant on the property money to support you as you have other income coming in each month. That way you spread the risk... you have guaranteed income each month, potential capital increase in property and ETF yield.....plus a place to go to if you want/need to get out of Thailand.  If you go the other way and sell your property your financial risk is increased as you are attempting to only gain income from one source i.e. the ETF or whatever financial instrument you choose for income, plus you do not have a ready made place to bolt to that you can call home should the need arise.

[moontang]

would seem obvious, but apparently it is not.  You can spread it out into multiple ETFs...both international and domestic, in multiple sectors, and you will have more protection than a single real estate asset.  

Edited August 6, 2018 by moontang

[MyFriend You]

18 hours ago, Crossy said:

If the property can generate a reasonable rental income then rent it out, use an agency to collect the rent and manage maintenance.

Thats exactly what I am doing in Hawaii, I have a condo on Oahu, and rent it, have ben doing that for about 12 years now, every time I think about selling it, I look at the money I made, I'll keep it as long as it is rented.  Company tales 12% of rent for administration, advertisement, renter vetting etc etc etc.

[sirineou]

15 hours ago, 55Jay said:

I would keep it/rent out - taxes/headache factors notwithstanding.  Thailand may lose its shine once you're living here on a permanent basis and as you get into your 70s, you may have a change of heart, perhaps desire to seek medical care in the US vs. Thailand.    You don't need to the money so after expenses, toss the monthly proceeds into the portfolio and dollar cost average your way ahead until you come to the next way point.  You can always sell later as/if the situation requires.

 

If it were me in that scenario, I might want to keep the house in Florida (thought you have 2 - NY and FL) to avoid slogging it out in the snow at an advanced age. 

Hi Jay

 I have read every reply to this post  , a lot of good advise and I am considering it all. 

House in NY is under contract, as JersytoBK said taxes are too high , you dont see too many people in the Tristate  (NY, NJ, CT) retiring there . 

Driving the wife to FL (she needs her car there) tomorrow, and flying  back Saturday. Wife will stay in FL while I rent a small apartment at a friends house in NY until I finish the project I am involved in , estimated projected complication late next spring. (will be popping back and forth for a while)

My Plan was and still is to keep the FL house , but I am concerned with living it empty for long lengths of time.  Will see. 

My Dad was fine until his mid seventies, then the problems started, he passes away at age 82 if i remember correctly, (have to check with my sister). I hope the same don't happen to me, but I have seen several elderly friends and family members go the same way, and I am not sure if I would want to go through all that in Thailand. I personally  think there will be a good chance that I might have to return when I reach advanced age. But who knows.

The main purpose of this Thread is to explore which option is better, Keeping the house in FL and renting it (I am not sure if it is a good idea to live it vacant for years) or if it will be better to sell it , invest the proceeds in a relatively safe investment vehicle, and if I need to return use the proceed to finance a return. I say IF. dont know what the future will bring.

Also IMO it would be easier for the wife to liquidate an investment than to sell a property in the US. ( after I am gone she says she is not coming back to the US to live) 

As I said I am just thinking out loud,and considering what others have to say.

Thank you all

 

 

[MadameM]

14 minutes ago, sirineou said:

 

Also IMO it would be easier for the wife to liquidate an investment than to sell a property in the US. ( after I am gone she says she is not coming back to the US to live) 

 

 

 

It's such a kindly regard to your wife. I can say selling a property here is complicate. I've been through that myself several months ago since my husband can't handle this tedious task any more. Finding the agent - the right one, preparing the house, cleaning, emptying, reading through a huge stack of paperwork and still don't quite get the meaning. Then the escrow, the transaction, and finally the sale tax. I haven't slept well for months. I read your last statement and can't help smiling. Count me in! No place else likes home!

[zaZa9]

I moved here to LOS , decided to stay and engaged a rental agent on line.

In a high demand market it took her 12 weeks to find a tenant.

A month later neighbours contacted me to say the tenants kept an Alsation dog inside!

I went home ,  the house had items of my furniture sitting out in the rain  ...I sacked her and employed a new agent.

 

Back in LOS I started getting outrageous bills - like $650 to unclog a laundry tub.

The new agent was always finding things that 'had' to be done , on and on.

It got so that I was getting tense as soon as I saw his email.

 

Anyway , the net result was a 2.8% return for the year ( and that didnt include my flight home or the damaged furniture ) .

Banks were offering 6% back then.

 

So I sold.

Ive had 10 years of quiet bliss since , but the property boom back home saw that house double in value in the last couple of years , so would have earnt me $60k a year over the 10 yrs  if I sold it now.

BUT , I would have struggled to get by without that bank interest income. (The 'pot' is the same and  now in super at 10% av.)

And every time I had to deal with yet another issue with that house my blood pressure rose - it really annoyed my lifestyle , so Im happy I sold ..

 

[ronaldo0]

Sold my house in the uk after renting it out through a holiday company for 1-2 weeks at a time over 6 year period. It was over 85 % booked most years and I paid for bills, gardener and cleaner and the company took 20% for sorting out all issues and bookings. I decided to sell as I thought having lump sum was better than paying bills and taxes in UK every year. I sold it and made over 100 k profit from what I paid but now several years later highly regret selling it as I now have to book into awful overpriced hotels in the area due to rural location when I go back. Keep it and get a letting company to rent it out for you, at the end of the day its still yours.

[lvr181]

To the O.P.

 

THEREFORE: Damned if you do and damned if you dont.

 

You now have most of the scenarios, only need to choose one which may suit your current AND possible future needs. In my tiny little mind, flexibility is the key. 

[moontang]

My parents kept their first house in Virginia for 7 years after we bought another one.  I was pretty young, and asked my mom about it recently.  She said, yes, it was kind of annoying, however for the annoyance, was able to put three kids through four years of Uni, debt free.  The house doubled in value in those seven years and had a positive cash flow.  It was close by, though, so not a long distance deal, and of course the people's dog destroyed the yard, and the tenants never picked up any of the annual massive leaf fall.  In the forty years since, the house has gone up another 450%.  So it is almost like the long distance thing is the deal breaker.  But, as stated before, if it is a very special piece of land, you would need to address that, but most homes are just like a can of coke..buy it, sell it, use it, but there is always another can of Coke, right around the corner...so becoming emotionally attached to a house in almost always foolish.

[NanLaew]

It's the 'burning bridges' or 'all the eggs in one basket' conundrum once again.

 

Still reckon post 3# nailed it.

 

 

[MadameM]

It's a kind of two ways thinking, though. Yes, I sold my house in the US to retired and live in permanently in Thailand. But, when I moved to live in the US with my farang husband, I didn't sell my mom's house, which is my house now! And a house in Bangkok over 2 decades after, I can't count my fingers enough to how double - triple hundred percents increase in the value. I still have that house to deal with -- hardly survive the rental abuse and is going to be demolished. Anyway, just the price of the land is enough to drive me crazy. I am thinking of using the land as parking rental.

So, it is to the point, for me, to where I want to spend the rest of my life and my dead bed. Probably the same as your wife said, not in the US.

 And should I spend the money now or saving it for the next of the kin because I just die too soon and miss the opportunity to enjoy my money?

 

[Audragon]

On 8/6/2018 at 1:59 PM, 4MyEgo said:

Hey mate, I believe it applies to everyone who has moved overseas and is a non resident for tax purposes.

 

The best advice I can give you is to make contact with your accountant to clarify after you have read the link below, that said, if you are an Australian resident, I do not believe it applies to you, again, best to always check with your accountant as I know of a mate who just returned to Thailand after having sold his house, now to give you an idea, he is a non resident and has been living here since 2000, yes he will be up for capital gains tax on the sale, but he wasn't going to hold onto it after 1 July 2019 because he worked out that his capital gains tax was going to be a hell of lot more than what he has to pay pre 1 July 2019.

 

Sorry to be the barer of bad news, but sometimes it can work in your favour if you get out earlier.

 

https://www.bdo.com.au/en-au/insights/tax/articles/foreign-residents-and-cgt

 

Best of luck

Hi again 4ME,

Have followed your advice and having another meeting with my accountant next week. You are right about the possible new law in July 2019, not yet legislated, but possible. Thanks for the alert.

[Nemises]

SELL! SELL! SELL! The house.

Good luck trying to enjoy retirement with potentially PITA tenants giving constant grief.

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, Audragon said:

Hi again 4ME,

Have followed your advice and having another meeting with my accountant next week. You are right about the possible new law in July 2019, not yet legislated, but possible. Thanks for the alert.

Good one, best of luck with the meeting with your accountant, and do bring us up to speed on the accountants thoughts as its always good for other and myself included being up to date on these matters out of interest for me.