We Sold Our House…Congratulations! Now What?

“People are living longer than ever before, a phenomenon undoubtedly made necessary by the 30-year mortgage”. Doug Larson

So, we’re stuck. What choices do we have?

  • Overpay in today’s market?

  • Temporarily move in with others in our family?

  • Rent until something might become available, but then have to buy out the remainder of our lease?

 

Or (smiling now), there’s always this:

The plan is to keep looking but be flexible and not be “locked in” in case the next home pops up.

We did find an alternative.  “Extended Stay” at a local hotel/motel. There are many advantages to extended stay vs. renting. Extended stay rates can be much less than the typical overnight hotel rate, sometimes even half the cost. 

Other advantages include:

    1. No utility payments. No electric, heat/cooling, water, garbage disposal, etc.
    2. Free internet, including TV
    3. No additional property taxes or insurance.
    4. Housekeeping is supplied. We don’t even have to buy toilet paper.
    5. No maintenance. 
    6. Free breakfast every day. It may not be fancy but it fills the need.
    7. You may have a kitchen in your room. It will allow you to prepare many of your own meals.
    8. We have a pool, hot tub and workout room for recreation and fitness.
    9. You have security. Someone will always be on duty if you need help.
    10. You can accumulate ‘reward points’ that, if you want to travel, can be applied at other corporate locations to reduce, or even entirely cover, the cost of your stay.
    11. For payment, use a particular membership credit card (Sam’s Club or Costco for example) and get a rebate on a portion of your room cost.
    12. No lease. If we find our next home in one, two, or six months down the road, we can simply pack up and check out.

There are a couple of downsides to consider.

  1. You don’t get the same amount of space you moved from, so expect to rent a storage locker for whatever you kept to furnish your next home.

  2. Living quarters will be smaller than what you were probably living in before. It gets ‘squeezy’ after a while but be patient. Your sacrifice may wind up saving you tens of thousands of dollars when the housing market normalizes.