Why is it a bad idea to buy a home and sell it after a few years instead of renting?

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I have this impression that it’s seen as a riskier decision to buy a home, knowing you won’t live in it long enough to pay off the mortgage and then sell it when you’re ready to move away, when compared to renting a home. Am I off base on that, and if so, why is this the case?

In: Economics

32 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

I was always told that selling your home after less than 5 years was a bad idea but it depends. I bought my Seattle condo in 2012 for $105k. I sold it 7 years later in 2019 for $225k. Had I held onto it for 3 more years I could have gotten $275k. In my case, I was living paycheck to paycheck and had crushing amount of credit card debt. Selling that condo and moving on was the best financial decision of my life, no regrets, would do again. If you’re wondering, the total amount of fees and closing costs came out to roughly $18k. The closing costs are one big reason to avoid selling your home too early as it’s pretty expensive.

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