Sold my house today at a loss. Lesson learned: a house is a liability unless it cash flows
We closed on our house today. We had to move out of state for work, so living in it wasn’t an option, and renting it out meant losing money every month.
We took a real loss, more than I’d like to admit😭😭😭. But we ran the numbers: taking the cash out now and putting it, plus what we’d keep paying every month, into the S&P 500 or even a ~6% return, versus holding and selling in 2028. Holding only came out a few tens of thousands ahead in the better scenario, which wasn’t worth the market risk or the landlord risk.
My takeaways:
• A house is a liability, not an asset, unless you can make sure it’s cash flow positive.
• Nobody can predict the future. Not the market, not rates, not where your job takes you.
• Peace of mind is worth something. I’d rather sleep well at night than hold and hope.
I hope I won’t regret it if the market bounces back next year, like people who sold in 2020? But I need to move on and focus my energy on making the money back.