Great question -- and I hope I don't come off as sounding arrogant or like a smart ass with my response.
#1 -- I don't need the money so I'm okay taking the capital hit.
#2 -- I live in Seattle - this place is a zillion miles away in Phoenix
#3 -- Running the numbers - the rent is $1250 (other 3 bdrms there) so after I pay $250 month HOA - Insurance - Property taxes etc - Utilities etc... my net might be $700 a month or less. Less if I hire a "professional" property manager cause they take their share. $700 a month to me is about like most people picking up a dollar... it just isn't the kind of money I think about.
Now -- IF I had a mortgage - and needed to cover "most" of it -- and didn't want to ruin my credit by walking away (or doing the morally correct thing of actually paying my bills)... then that would be one thing... and especially if I thought the market might come back within the next 3 to 5 years. Remember that the market would have to TRIPLE for me to get my money to break even - and then if you calculate time money line -- I'd own the dump for 10 years and still probably take a capital loss.
If I sell it for 100K --- net -- I can invest that and MAKE 5K per year tax free in Muni bonds and have absolutely no worries or hassles.... like when the renter fails to pay or pays late - or goes bankrupt and it takes me 6 months to evict - or runs off after trashing the place.... and it costs me everything I "made" for the year plus to rehab it (again).
So for me -- I'm not in a positon to have to cover my arse... I'm in a position to just be able to make decisions on what I "want to do" not what I should or could do.
It's why our boat was called "Options".... everyone thought I was a stock trader -- but it was really because the boat was just another "option" for how we wanted to spend our time. If I was a trader - and the boat named Options -- I'd have named the dingy 'Puts and Calls".
Not at all Greg, I just wasn't sure what you could rent the thing for. At those kind of numbers, I agree, not worth the hassle and the 100k could go somewhere else.
Darren
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