Yes paid up home. Made certain to have done that before pulling the plug on working. Meanwhile, home mortgage is just a portion of home ownership. I added up our home “ownership” costs on an annual basis. It came to circa 10K. Wow, how could it be so much. Well, property taxes and insurance costs (florida) alone bring them to 9K. Throw in maintenance and easily top 10K.
Meanwhile, our home is 60% of our net worth. So, why not sell it? Well, the taxman would be happy for sure. So, here we are with a paid for home. It looks nice. Our heirs love to see it. But the term “house poor” comes to mind. Ten years ago the costs were under 5K.
If you don’t own your own home , then your alternative is living somewhere and paying rent instead.
Yes it’s true homeownership is expensive even if you are mortgage free, but compare that to your alternative of paying rent.
Most, if not all, of the gain (sales price less cost of improvements less cost of purchase) would not be subject to tax.
You may want to check the IRS rules on selling your primary residence, some of the capital gain is excluded from the tax, up to $500,000 if filing a joint return.
“Well, the taxman would be happy for sure.”
Assuming you are married, there is no tax on the first $500k of capital gains over adjusted basis (purchase price + capital improvements + buy/sell closing costs).