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Thank you so much for all the great advice. Good points about trying to time the market and also the perils of the cost of a short term rental. Lots to think about - but these are good problems to have!
One more consideration I didn't see mentioned - right now, interest rates in the US are still low, and that may mean more qualified buyers are out house hunting now.
In a few years, there's no telling where interest rates may be; thus, the pool of qualified buyers may be much smaller.
Besides, do they say "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" in Canada?
Given the choice, I would sell sooner rather than later.
As for renting a house for four months every year, perhaps an extended stay hotel/motel might work out better?
Putting aside most US market questions, and every Canadian market question since I certainly don't know that market or laws ....
*The person who said you weren't going to/needle in a haystack rent some place 4 months a year gave sound advice.
*That said, why isn't the condo sufficient for your living 4 months/year?
*as far as any market timing, you can engage your former Realtor, or another Realtor, to tell you how the condo market is doing, and how the single family market is doing. As well as if there's a better time to sell a condo or buy a house. Then try to plan around that. Use the condo right up until the best time to sell (getting it ready for the market), learn about the single family market while you're there, then go back to Canada for several months and buy later. That's one good strategy
You do have some alternatives for the months you arent there. My parents used a condo swapping site, and swapped their condo with other people, staying all over the place just for fun. Additionally you could go the room rental of BnB for example.
Putting aside most US market questions, and every Canadian market question since I certainly don't know that market or laws ....
*The person who said you weren't going to/needle in a haystack rent some place 4 months a year gave sound advice.
*That said, why isn't the condo sufficient for your living 4 months/year?
*as far as any market timing, you can engage your former Realtor, or another Realtor, to tell you how the condo market is doing, and how the single family market is doing. As well as if there's a better time to sell a condo or buy a house. Then try to plan around that. Use the condo right up until the best time to sell (getting it ready for the market), learn about the single family market while you're there, then go back to Canada for several months and buy later. That's one good strategy
I was also wondering why you just wouldn’t keep the condo to live in for 4 months out of the year? Is it just because you would rather have a SFH instead of a condo?
I also agree that renting is going to be very difficult for only 4 months a year!
We have a small mortgage on our Canadian home that will be paid off by the time we retire. The US condo is paid for.
Don't sell because Uncle Sam will take 10% of the sales price so you will automatically lose $13,000 worth of equity since you are not a US citizen the minute you sell.
Sell and buy an RV. Then you won’t be limited to Phoenix. You can travel until you find the perfect place for you. I’m sure you are paying condo fees and not there? Seems like a waste of money to me....
My husband and I live in Canada but own a condo in Phoenix, Arizona worth about $130k. We barely use it right now because we run a business and that takes a lot of our time. We're planning to sell the business in about 18 months and become snowbirds. Yipee!
At some point we want to sell the condo and either buy or rent a small single family home in the Phoenix area) for about four months a year. We are open to either of those scenarios.
Here's the question for you all: Should we sell now or should we sell in two years when we retire? What do you guess will happen with the Phoenix area RE market between now and then? If we sell now and wait until another correction before we buy again, we'd be golden. But if the market doesn't correct for, like, eight years, we'd have to rent for eight winters. Not golden. If we hold off selling for two years or more, we might make more money if the market keeps inching up, but if the market corrects before that we'd lose some purchasing power. Of course, we'd also have to pay more if we buy again unless we wait until the market eventually corrects. Also, who's on first? LOL.
Or...we could sell the condo and covert it to Canadian cash for about a 1.30 exchange rate (which would give us $170k CAD) and just never go back to AZ. But that would be so sad!!
This is more of a brain teaser than a cry for help - we're just interested in hearing what other people have to say. Do tell!
You don’t sell paid for property. You go get a 80% equity loan to get liquidity, rent it out for 8 months out of the year and use it for 4 months. The loan is now a deduction as the property is a rental for 9 months.
The refi should give you plenty of cash. Set 2 years worth of payments away in a account and use that to pay the mortgage. Use the rest to buy a house.
If the values go up significantly refi again pull the equity out and repeat.
You can specifically market yourself in short term rentals only for people who are moving in for a job and need a short term lease. You can also charge more than going rate as you will be one of the few doing it.
Get a realtor to help you out for a fixed rate. Someone will do it.
No one knows what the real estate market will be like anywhere in 2 years. You won't easily find a rental for 4 months. You already have the condo so why not just use it until you're ready to buy something else?
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