Question

Joy purchased a home in Maine on December 15, 1999 or $250,000 and lived in it full-time until she purchased a second home in Florida on October 1, 2012 for $380,000. In 2012 and 2013 she continued to have her primary residence in Maine. On October 1, 2014, however, she changed her primary residence to Florida. She needs to sell one of those homes before the end of 2017 as she needs cash for an investmenet opportunity. If she expects a minimum gain of $200,000 on either home, which home do you recommend she sell?

Answer 1

The first property has been lived in for 14 years. So in that time, it has surely withered a little and may also require some repairs before it can be sold off to another buyer. If this property is sold off, the amount of gain will stand reduced by the amount of repair money. The house was worth $250,000 in 1999. Rather old and situated in a not so known place. It will probably be hard to make a minimum gain of $200,000. In my opinion, Joy should sell her house in Florida. She has better chances of making her desired gain there. The house is recent and has not been lived in for long. So it is still new. Also she will get better price in Florida than in Maine as real estate prices sky rocket in popular and bigger ciities.