Poll: Physicians, what is your current house market value?

[Hank]

We are beginning to consider selling and moving to a smaller home in the 1 million price range. But while downsizing and simplifying sounds very appealing, jettisoning decades of possessions sounds quite tedious and annoying.

That's one good thing about the frequent moves in the military: every three or four years you have to pack up all your stuff and move. If you have a box that you haven't opened since the last PCS, you probably ought to sell it or donate it. (Sure, if it's packed full of krugerands or cold weather clothing and you now are PCSing from Miami to Alaska, you might want to keep it, but you get the general idea.)

[Hank]

HCOL folk haven't responded in force yet. $1M in our zip code gets you a duplex 3BR/2BA if your lucky.

Just last year we sold our 3700ft for $2M -- A standard tract 2500ft home is nearly $2M now. The price appreciation is just phenomenal this past year and hasn't really let up.

-- something where Michigan suburban Bloomfield home would be ~$700k.

Sure, but the weather outside in February is a little nicer in San Diego than in Detroit. There's your sunshine tax. (Plus the income tax, gas tax, various business taxes and fees. OK, Tampa, Austin, and Reno are sounding nicer as I think about it.)

[Hank]

Bought for $778K a decade ago. Zillow has a ludicrous Zestimate of $2.2M. A more realistic valuation still would be north of $1.5M.

I'd like to keep my primary residence to about 10% of total net worth, but first world problems are making that increasingly unlikely. Seems like the kids will have to work a lot harder than mom and dad to afford the same neighborhood.

[White.Beard.Doc]

My good friend is an embodiment of the American dream. He graduated from medical school while living under the oppression of a totalitarian Eastern European regime. He and his physician spouse escaped in their 20s and became successful beyond their wildest dreams in the good ol' US of A. They built a castle high on a hill with distant views not that far outside one of the most expensive and desirable coastal cities in the country.

They raised their family and spent over 30 years living in their dream castle. Now that it is time to downsize, they recently sold for almost 4 million. Unfortunately, in one of their recent minimalism exercises, they accidentally rid themselves of the suitcase that contained all of the construction records and receipts related to building their dream house. So now they are facing capital gains taxes on millions of dollars because they cannot document any of the construction expenses. I told my friend to ask his accountant if they might estimate what the reasonable construction costs would have been at that time, so they could use that estimate to help establish the cost basis, but they were told no.

Whoops! Be careful what you throw away when that minimalism bug strikes.

[Hank]

My good friend is an embodiment of the American dream. He graduated from medical school while living under the oppression of a totalitarian Eastern European regime. He and his physician spouse escaped in their 20s and became successful beyond their wildest dreams in the good ol' US of A. They built a castle high on a hill with distant views not that far outside one of the most expensive and desirable coastal cities in the country.

They raised their family and spent over 30 years living in their dream castle. Now that it is time to downsize, they recently sold for almost 4 million. Unfortunately, in one of their recent minimalism exercises, they accidentally rid themselves of the suitcase that contained all of the construction records and receipts related to building their dream house. So now they are facing capital gains taxes on millions of dollars because they cannot document any of the construction expenses. I told my friend to ask his accountant if they might estimate what the reasonable construction costs would have been at that time, so they could use that estimate to help establish the cost basis, but they were told no.

Whoops! Be careful what you throw away when that minimalism bug strikes.

I'd find a second accountant. Maybe a third if necessary.

[bovie]

I'd like to keep my primary residence to about 10% of total net worth

Any particular rationale behind this?

[Turf Doc]

Bought for $778K a decade ago. Zillow has a ludicrous Zestimate of $2.2M. A more realistic valuation still would be north of $1.5M.

I'd like to keep my primary residence to about 10% of total net worth, but first world problems are making that increasingly unlikely. Seems like the kids will have to work a lot harder than mom and dad to afford the same neighborhood.

I've noticed this at my parents place. The type of people who are moving into their neighborhood are very different than the type of people who lived their for the last 20 years. What I don't understand is how much longer this can go on for.... has it always been this way?

[wideopenspaces]

Still too much work. Is there a company that can do the match idea for you?

If my brother isn't already back in jail at that point he'd probably do it for whatever the market rate is for a bag of coke or whatever.

[wideopenspaces]

if you can convince your parents to do just one thing, convince them to keep all of their financial records in one place that is easily accessible. As long as you know that you’re not throwing out any important documents, the rest of the stuff in the house is just stuff. You can hire a company to do an estate sale to liquidate all of that stuff. You may not get the best possible price for it, but as an already-over busy working professional saving your time is going to be more important than getting the best possible price for your parents’ junk. You just need to make sure you’re not throwing out documents you will need to settle the estate.

Honestly there is no way they know where that information is or will do any estate planning. Cleaning out the house will probably be the easiest part of the whole thing.

[Hank]

Any particular rationale behind this?

No hard and fast rule for why I wanted to keep primary residence to roughly 10% of net worth. Part of it is trying to avoid being house rich and cash poor. Another part is trying to make every dollar work for us and increasing in (readily accessible) value.

While we're relatively lucky to have Proposition 13 in California that keeps property taxes from growing too much, I just want to be in a house that's at the 20th to 30th percentile of valuation in a nice neighborhood with good enough schools and no HOA. Ocean views and nice weather are rather nice bonuses with the current location. That said, it's a crazy price for a boring 3 bedroom / 2 bath house that's less than 1600 square feet and more than 65 years old.

[SLC OB]

No hard and fast rule for why I wanted to keep primary residence to roughly 10% of net worth. Part of it is trying to avoid being house rich and cash poor. Another part is trying to make every dollar work for us and increasing in (readily accessible) value.

While we're relatively lucky to have Proposition 13 in California that keeps property taxes from growing too much, I just want to be in a house that's at the 20th to 30th percentile of valuation in a nice neighborhood with good enough schools and no HOA. Ocean views and nice weather are rather nice bonuses with the current location. That said, it's a crazy price for a boring 3 bedroom / 2 bath house that's less than 1600 square feet and more than 65 years old.

Wow... keeping your primary residence to 10% of your net worth is a lofty goal in California!
We bought 2013, bottom of market, with a bank owned home in California. The bank realtor (who happens to be my patient and likely why we "won" the bid) said it was one of the last bank owned properties. It is now worth 3-4x what we paid for it... so about 1/3 of our net worth. The equity in the house is equal to our retirement funds... which have been growing years longer than we've owned the home. I don't think we are house poor but that is only due to appreciation and getting a steal of a deal when we bought it.

[artemis]

Honestly there is no way they know where that information is or will do any estate planning. Cleaning out the house will probably be the easiest part of the whole thing.

The good news is that YOU don’t have to do it unless you really want to. You (and your siblings) CAN refuse the role of executor and leave settling their estate to the state if you really don’t want to deal with cleaning up the mess that is your parents’s estate.

[FIREman]

Bought in 2017 for 380k (LCOL suburb in Northeast) Market value estimate is now 530-570k

We originally bought with a 30-year physician mortgage and later refinanced to a 15-year conventional. Since the refinance, is it incredibly gratifying to watch our equity grow each month. (Though the temptation to upgrade is real.)

[Tim]

The good news is that YOU don’t have to do it unless you really want to. You (and your siblings) CAN refuse the role of executor and leave settling their estate to the state if you really don’t want to deal with cleaning up the mess that is your parents’s estate.

Now the bad news is that YOU will probably be the only one to step in when “Next of Kin” needs to call Adult Protective Services. That alone gets you involved. They then ask to speak to someone in the family. Standing there, siblings take 3 steps back. That leaves you. Will you be able to hang up? You 100% can refuse. Will you?
Few physicians have that ability. We went through this for 5 years with a BIL. There is a difference between incapacity and estate. A death certificate. You are a responsible human being, the siblings appear to have the potential of taking 3 steps back. GAP years are a PITA for some situations. Make your own plan.

[Lordosis]

If my brother isn't already back in jail at that point he'd probably do it for whatever the market rate is for a bag of coke or whatever.

Yikes!