Your childhood home probably has greater total value to you than it would to a buyer. This particular house is important to you, and the odds of not losing a ton of money on replacing this particular house if you change your mind later are miniscule. Consider renting it, perhaps through an agency, for an amount that would allow you to rent something smaller in a safer location.
The exceptions which come to mind, where holding onto a house would be throwing money away long-term, are if it’s a manufactured in a trailer park with lot rent, or if it’s in an expensive HOA.
I think you probably shouldn’t rent to someone you know. “Move back into the property you own” is a good safety net for if your finances change suddenly and substantially. If you retain ownership, it decreases the probability that you will have no housing at all in many worst-case scenarios. Choosing not to renew the lease on a good tenant would be hard; declining to renew on a friend who was counting on you for their housing would be much harder.
It could be a good compromise to try to find your happy price—if someone offered you $1 for the house, you would laugh at them. If someone offered you $1B for the house, you would likely accept immediately. Somewhere in between those extremes is a price that would almost certainly get it sold fast; above that is a price that would be enough money to soothe the heartbreak of losing a childhood home. You could try listing the house at a price based solely on your feelings rather than market analysis, see whether it sells in a timely manner, and rent it out if it doesn’t.
Your childhood home probably has greater total value to you than it would to a buyer. This particular house is important to you, and the odds of not losing a ton of money on replacing this particular house if you change your mind later are miniscule. Consider renting it, perhaps through an agency, for an amount that would allow you to rent something smaller in a safer location.
The exceptions which come to mind, where holding onto a house would be throwing money away long-term, are if it’s a manufactured in a trailer park with lot rent, or if it’s in an expensive HOA.
I think you probably shouldn’t rent to someone you know. “Move back into the property you own” is a good safety net for if your finances change suddenly and substantially. If you retain ownership, it decreases the probability that you will have no housing at all in many worst-case scenarios. Choosing not to renew the lease on a good tenant would be hard; declining to renew on a friend who was counting on you for their housing would be much harder.
It could be a good compromise to try to find your happy price—if someone offered you $1 for the house, you would laugh at them. If someone offered you $1B for the house, you would likely accept immediately. Somewhere in between those extremes is a price that would almost certainly get it sold fast; above that is a price that would be enough money to soothe the heartbreak of losing a childhood home. You could try listing the house at a price based solely on your feelings rather than market analysis, see whether it sells in a timely manner, and rent it out if it doesn’t.
Thank you, this is helping me figure out what to do.