Mon 7 Dec 2009
Should you buy a retirement home before you’re ready to retire?
Posted by lizweston under Q&A with Liz, Real Estate, Retirement
[4] Comments
Dear Liz: I have high credit scores, no debt, a large retirement fund including a generous pension and a home I own free and clear. I plan to retire in four years and am thinking of moving to be near family.
Should I buy my retirement home now while real estate values and interest rates are low? I could make a 20% down payment and rent it out until I can move in. I should be able to sell my current house and pay off the loan when I retire.
Or should I just be patient and buy a place after I retire? If I wait, I could pay cash for the next house, but property values may rise, and I suspect they’ll rise faster in my future town than in my current one.
Answer: Getting a loan to buy a rental property is difficult these days. Although your high credit scores and solid finances will help, you may have to come up with a down payment larger than 20%, and your interest rate almost certainly will be higher than if you planned to live in the home right away.
Then there are all the issues associated with being a long-distance landlord. You would need to screen tenants, respond quickly to repair requests and keep a substantial reserve fund to pay the mortgage when the property is vacant. A property management company could help, but such outfits typically take 10% or more of any rent payments.
Also consider that your plans could change. Although being close to family is important, you may decide you don’t want to give up ties to your current home or its environment.
If you haven’t spent a substantial amount of time in the area where you plan to move, consider taking a long vacation there when the weather is at its worst so you have a good idea of what life there might be like.
That’s not to say your plan can’t work, but you need to do some research, carefully go over the numbers and think about whether you’re up to this task.
I would recommend buying the house and renting it. There are lots of tax deductions to take advantage of, and someone else would be paying the mortgage. Sure, it can be a challenge with Tenants & Toilets, but our net worth has been significantly enhanced investing in RE houses (8 of them); which by the way are in AL and MS, quite a long way away from CA. I would also recommend reading John T. Reed’s RE books. Saved us thousands… If you want a good spreadsheet and a huge list of tips & techniques, contact Liz; for my email address, gratis of course.
Thanks, Tim. Great comment. John Reed’s Web site is well worth a look, if for nothing else than his strong opinions about some of the get-rich-quick real estate gurus out there.
I am facing this issue now. We have a daughter in Israel. We have a rental there now but find it impossible to use because it’s rented all the time. So, we are thinking about buying another place.
It’s a terrible investment idea – we could rent for the time we are there at a much lower cost – but maybe we’ll do it anyway. More to life than $$$….right Liz?
You are in an enviable position now to shop for a vacation home. Even though the numbers may not add up for you to buy right now, you can familiarize your self with the geographic area, the type of home you’ll need in retirement and the living arrangements that might be more flexible upon retiring. The Southwest remains a draw for any potential retiree who looks at a national weather map in February and thinks, “Hmmm, maybe I should buy a house in Phoenix?” Low interest rates and a depressed real estate market might make it possible for you to nail down something now and not even have to rent it out. Happy bargain hunting.