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Sewer is my problem since we're on a septic, but I removed the old rusty steel septic tank and installed a modern 2-chamber concrete tank that will last for decades.
We got the same thing done yesterday! In preparation for selling the house, we contacted a septic service company. The initial estimate of $195 to pump out the tank ballooned to $3950 for a replacement. Now we have a brand new concrete tank which will last for decades for the new owner(s). We also have a completely ruined front lawn (the work was done right after 3 days of heavy rain!). The service company did repack the dirt and sprinkle some grass seeds. We hope that the lawn will look decent enough when we are ready to sell the house.
The next big expenses to get the house ready for sale is a new roof, repaving the driveway, ripping up the worn out up stair carpets and restoring the original hardwood floor, ripping up the cracked bad linoleum basement floor for a polished cement one.
If the housing market is hot in our area, we are likely to sell the house quickly without even having to do any work (except the septic tank which seems to be a must - septic tank inspection was not required and we did not even know or think about it when we bought the house 23 years ago!). Housing market has never rebounded in our area, and if one of the big employers here pulls out in the next few years, it will be even harder! So we are doing everything that we can to get the house to sell in a short time.
We have always owned a home but now I am not sure whether it is a good idea. We barely broke even with the first house (after it sat empty for over 2 years while we were back in school). We lost $7K in the second home (had to relocate after I graduated and moved from MA to NY). After adding all the past expenses ($2K for the aluminum eaves, $4K for replacing the underground oil tank with above ground) and the current & expected expenses to fix the house up for sale, we will be lucky if we break even.
I can't believe people that are retired think it is wise to live in a house and still continue to make payments on it. IMHO, if you haven't payed it off by the time you retire, its time to downsize. Honestly, you should have probably paid it off a long time ago. Maybe you bought too much house?
For us, I think it's "wise" and just fine. Everyone's circumstances are different. As someone who retired in my early 50's, I have owned in 4 homes, none of them long enough to pay them off (ten years is my average). Income vs. expenses is the key. Doing a proper budget and knowing your REAL costs of home ownership (mortgage+utilities+taxes+insurance+maintenance+re placement of major systems when needed) and your income plan for your future will tell you if you can afford to carry a mortgage. Having a paid off home would be lovely, but is not in the cards for us. We moved to a lower COL state with low taxes and now we spend less than 30% of our income on the above listed costs of home ownership. We won't downsize again unless our health makes it a necessity, or if our travels make it silly to maintain our current home. If we do, we will then become voluntary, and happy, renters. Our future SS payments (still too young to collect) will be our hedge against inflation or increasing taxes, etc.
Anyone following the traditional life pattern of just paying on the mortgage until it's paid off will not be part of the subset of seniors who "are being buried by housing debt". The couple in your example refinanced "partly to pay down credit-card debt", which is incredibly stupid. How did they develop excessive credit-card debt in the first place? In all likelihood by being totally undisciplined in their spending. No sympathy for them here; they made their bed so now they must lie in it. On what grounds are they fighting foreclosure in court, I wonder? If you stop paying on your mortgage, well then sure you will be foreclosed on. What did they expect?
I agree with you so much! Taking out a second loan on your house to pay off credit card debit is a terrible idea. If you can't make your credit card payments they will forgive part of your debt. Granted it will go against your credit rating but at least they will not take your house or you will not be making payments on your house until your 80. I repeat NEVER pay off credit card debt with a second mortgage. Mortgage companies always want you to borrow more on your house please refrain from doing it. Your house can be your best financial asset or your worse financial liability when you want to retire. Paid off house at retirement is best financial move for most people.
Yes with taxes constantly rising I've heard of many elderly with paid off homes struggle to pay their taxes. These are not big homes, just your average homes. My mother is one of them, and now they want more money for the schools, i.e... even higher taxes. People who are able to pay them are trying like hell to sell to get out of the county.
This exact situation lead to Proposition 13 in California in 1978. Now assessments can rise at most 2% per year as long as you own your home. (Well, mostly. Remodeling with permits can trigger a re-assessment).
This exact situation lead to Proposition 13 in California in 1978. Now assessments can rise at most 2% per year as long as you own your home. (Well, mostly. Remodeling with permits can trigger a re-assessment).
This is my 84-year-old mom. The property taxes on her 1/2 million dollar home in Southern Calfornia is half the amount of taxes as my $100,000 condo in Iowa.
But the voters also continued voting for more government services meaning turning to borrowing the future. You have to reduce cost as well as taxes or never vote for what you do not want to pay for. In many areas its people with no skin in the game voting for others to pay for them. That is the road to those paying in time looking elsewhere. Reality of what happened to Greece.
Yes with taxes constantly rising I've heard of many elderly with paid off homes struggle to pay their taxes. These are not big homes, just your average homes. My mother is one of them, and now they want more money for the schools, i.e... even higher taxes. People who are able to pay them are trying like hell to sell to get out of the county.
Yeah, if only the h.s. graduation rate were decent and kids getting out able to read, it all might be worth it. My kids learned to read in second grade and though they went to good schools they did not have half the amenities kids today have. Also if these graduating kids stayed in the community, got jobs there and bought homes, the investment via taxes would be worth it.
We have always owned a home but now I am not sure whether it is a good idea. We barely broke even with the first house (after it sat empty for over 2 years while we were back in school). We lost $7K in the second home (had to relocate after I graduated and moved from MA to NY). After adding all the past expenses ($2K for the aluminum eaves, $4K for replacing the underground oil tank with above ground) and the current & expected expenses to fix the house up for sale, we will be lucky if we break even.
Making a profit on house sale may get harder as boomers age and our homes glut the market without a lot of demand for our kinds of houses in some areas. I have an instinct that boomers who are definitely going to move should sell sooner than later.
??? Given a CHOICE I would be thrilled to own a tiny house on a tiny piece of land. A choice that government often precludes through zoning and housing regulation.
If I had stayed married, I would not have fretted about keeping our mortgage into retirement. The PITI was under $800 per month. My now ex-husband's pension started at approximately 80k per year, with annual COLA's. Additionally, we had our own retirement savings and expected SS benefits to kick in later (ex-h eligible to draw pension at 50). The mortgage payment simply did not represent a problem.
Now, as a divorced woman with no pension, I feel differently about carrying a mortgage into my retirement years.
You should have ended up with half of his pension and half of the retirement savings. If you kept the house and gave him everything else, you were really stupid. You should have sold the house and split the proceeds or been mutually responsible for being upside down on the loan. It's too late now. You're finding out that a mortgage in retirement is a choke chain around your neck.
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