[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by allus70

I just retired, my wife is about a year or so away. We live in NY, though we just came home from a visit to The Villages. This is the place that we want to retire to, pretty certain about that. Here's the part that got me waking up at night.
We found the type home we want, a CYV, in the place we want, within walking distance to Paddock Square and Eisenhower recreation center. It's essentially the same house that we passed up at Mission Hills a few years back and is now about 100K more expensive.
It's going to take a while to sell our home here in NY, and we don't have any firm idea as to what we might get for it. Also, after 5 kids and legions of dogs and cats, it needs work. That means if we buy, we will be paying the bills on 2 homes. If we rent the new home out year around, and I don't think that is likely, correct me if I am wrong, the rent would only cover about 1/2 the costs. Found out were approved for the mortgage.
We are torn between once again between missing out on our dream house, or taking a financial leap of faith and juggling 2 homes. Another consideration is that the 2 homes together would mean being on the hook for almost $500,000 in loans....not exactly the way I wanted to go off into retirement. There's one more detail, though. The Mission Hill's CYV's appreciated in value when resold, and not necessarily due solely to updates.
Maybe I'm not seeing the whole picture, maybe I'm overlooking some important details. If so, or if your own experience can add some insight to our dilemma and help us decide, please let us know. Thanks

We bought our home here in January of 2011, months before we decided to sell our home up north. Once we decided to sell our northern home, we put it on the market right after we moved out and left for TV mid October. Earlier today for the first time, I did some figuring on how we made out, home value wise by buying here and selling up north, and I liked what I saw.

Since we bought here in TV, our home here increased in value by about 37%. Since we sold our former home in NYS's capital district, our home there decreased in value by about 12%. These percentages were derived using a common base of Zillow values rather than guesstimating so that there was some reasonably consistent figures in the before and after values used.

Also note that the 37% increase in the value of our home here doesn't reflect the fact that we have invested considerably in improving landscaping and that we installed a pool and birdcage, all of which would have certainly increased that 37% if I did.

Only you can decided what's best for you to do, but I hope what I've shared helps a little.