[LisaJ]

My husband and I cannot retire for 2 to 3 years. Should we buy now and rent our unit out? If we did this, how much out of pocket would we have to spend? Should we buy new or resale? How important is it to be close to a town center?
Thanks,
Lisa

[SteveZ]

Originally Posted by Lisa@AskLisa.net

My husband and I cannot retire for 2 to 3 years. Should we buy now and rent our unit out? If we did this, how much out of pocket would we have to spend? Should we buy new or resale? How important is it to be close to a town center?
Thanks,
Lisa

There is no set answer to this. Everyone has their own experience and logic, and you just have to do what makes the most overall sense to you.

We bought a courtyard villa two years ago, knowing that my actual retirement would not occur until April 2009. (was in DC at that time). We did not rent it out, and instead custom-painted it, landscaped and other personal tweaking over that time. We moved down the items we wanted to keep, and then sold the leftover furniture with the DC-area house. Moving from 3700 Sq Ft to 1200 Sq Ft meant that the heavy "northern" stuff stayed north.

During the from-closing (June 2007) to permanently-living-here time frame, we split the time at 10 weeks in DC and hen 1-2 weeks in TV. That got modifield last Christmas, with my spouse remaining in TV and I went back for about 4 weeks (split up) from New Years to retirement date.

We figured the total carrying costs to maintain the TV home at about $1,100 per month during this transition. Since the TV home acted as our vacation address during that time, that tempered the cost issue.

Hindsight being 20:20, we wouldn't have done it different. It became a fun project, getting everything organized for the retirement, enjoying TV as a vacation site during the interim, getting to know many of the neighbors, even the drives back-and-forth were fun.

We know of a few folk who bought and then rented their home out through TV's rental operation, and did not have any complaints. It's just a matter of how you want to do it.

[vtcyclist]

We purchased a new Designer/lower end last Dec. 2008. Location and newness were the most important criteria. Right after we signed the papers in September, 2008, the market tanked and unfortunately we are still working. However, the good news is that the rentals have actually been cash positive for us AND we will be using our home in TV about 8 weeks in 2009. And so, I guess what I'm trying to say is that it is possible to buy, rent and be able to use your property and still come out ahead. If we would have looked to buy in October, 2008, we would definitely not have purchased because of the market, however, as it turned out, I'm very happy we did. Good luck.

[SteveFromNY]

We purchased in '05 and rented until last year. I figured then that when I was ready to retire, the house would have appreciated substantially, and I'd have been ahead of the game. I think the expenses vs income were pretty close to a wash, especially when the tax deductions were factored in. So I didn't get hurt. But I could have just bought this year as prices have rolled back to just about where they were in '05.
For you, now, I'd think would be a good time to buy. The resale market nationally is up for the 5th month in a row, and prices went up last month for the first time in 34 months. So maybe the market has turned the corner, and maybe it's a good time to get in. (These are recent national statistics and I don't know how they appl to TV).
Anyway, this may be a GREAT time to get into the rental business. And then again......