One of the main questions we get asked about our trip is what we did with our home. Even before we sold, we had a lot of debate amongst ourselves and with friends and family over the best plan. Selling meant possibly losing money and not having an automatic place to return to after the trip. Renting meant becoming a landlord at precisely the time we were trying to let go of that kind of day-to-day responsibility. And of course there are other options, like having a family member stay.
We eventually chose to sell, and you can read all about it here. What helped us come to that conclusion was the help of professional, one who had the experience and market knowledge to listen to our situation and put all the cards on the table so we could make the best decision for us.
You may not want to sell your home. You may be dying to sell your home. Either way, the best decision for you might not be the one you have in your head right now, and talking to a professional will clear the fog and help you make the best choice for your situation.
At Meet, Plan, Go in Seattle we are pleased to have Patricia and David Wangsness of Wangsness Connections as our Gold Sponsor. Patricia and David are long-term landlords, successful Realtors in the Seattle/Bellevue area, and Patricia has even spent quite a bit of time living abroad. They also work with a lot of people who relocate for work for a few years and don’t know what to do with their homes, which is a very similar situation to what some of you have right now as you plan your trip.
I spent a little time with Patricia in her studio talking about real estate, what to think about when you set out for long-term travel, and the joys and pains of being a landlord. She also talks at the end of our interview about her travels and one of her biggest lessons.
Check out the video below (click here if you don’t see it) and get to know Patricia. If you are in the Seattle area you can meet her at Meet, Plan, Go in Seattle on September 14 (hurry, only 7 tickets left!), and if you can’t make it you can always connect with her or David through their website.
About Betsy
Terrific advice - the house is certainly one of the biggest dilemmas when making this decision to travel long term.
Wow - you two must be getting extremely excited…basically a month to go! We will hopefully be leaving next May-June, and we actually decided that we will rent it. Both of my siblings live very near us, and should be able to “landlord it” while we are away. Also, and this was the deciding factor, we recognized that we definately would want a home to live in when we came back, and if we didn’t immediately have jobs this may be a lot tougher to get a mortgage. This is especially true, as both of us generally lean towards commission based jobs, where often you need a few years worth of “strong salary” on file, before the bank starts tossing you money.
But, yes, if we were leaving for three years, I think that this would have been a long enough time period away, that selling would have made the most sense for us as well.
Skott and Shawna
Skott and Shawna,
You have the right idea about renting. Just make sure that you follow the laws about tenants when screening and approving and have a good lease. Also, have a regular inspection schedule for your siblings to view the property. Everyone has a different idea of clean, wear and tear and what yard work should be. Better to get things clear up front than to be disappointed and have to pay money when you return.
We didn’t make a decision to travel the world for 3 years, but DH and I (and our 3 young children) decided to move overseas…. and made the decision to sell our home. We also didn’t want the responsibility of having to manage it long-distance but it was also a conscious decision that ‘home’ needed to be where we were going, not where we left.
We viewed our moving (to the Middle East) as going on an adventure of a lifetime and 11 years later we’re still on it. Though we’ve grown somewhat tired of where live, the opportunity and ability to travel has definitely been the highlight for us.
Having been on short trips to many of places you plan to visit I look forward to reading of your adventures as you’ll have the time to dig deep into their lands, culture and people.
Good luck with everything!
Just this problem is the reason I never bought a house in the first place. If you rent, you can leave just about any time you want and never have to maintain anything. If you have ambitions to travel, don’t get stuck with an illiquid asset.
There are three options when you travel, rent your house, sell you house or leave it vacant. Leaving it vacant is probably the least attractive idea because you run the risk of systems failing, water heater, power outages, not to mention the security of having someone break in and help themselves to your stuff. If your going to be gone for 3-6 months, you probably don’t want to rent, because there aren’t many people that want to move in and move out in 3-6 months, unless they are renovating a home and need a place to live while the work is being done. If you are going to be gone 1-2 years, having someone rent can help cover the expenses, but you will have to do lots of preparation for a renter and you may not have the house in the same condition when you return. There are lots of good and bad scenarios I have heard of, so do some homework and let me know if I can help.