Should I sell my San Jose home?
Hi BP,
I'm considering a corporate relocation out of state and trying to decide whether I should sell my San Jose home or rent it out while we’re away. We expect to spend 3-5 years out of state for the job, and then return back to the Bay Area.
We've owned the home for 4 years and it has appreciated a nice amount. The company will likely help us sell our home.
From my vantage point, I think the reasons to sell are:
- Free money from the company to sell our home (~$80k commission)
- We’ve been in the home long enough to qualify for the married couple capital gains exemption and will likely take advantage of the full $500k
Reasons to hold and rent would be:
- Keep our 2014 low-ish tax base. If we bought today, our taxes would be ~$8k higher per year.
- Risk that prices increase substantially over the next 3-5 years, and outpace any of the benefits above
Leaning towards selling since it’s hard to pass up free money, I’m not sure prices have much further to go from here, and we’re not sure we’d like to move back to the same home that’s been rented for 3-5 years anyway. Am I thinking about this properly? What am I missing?
Thanks in advance for your help!