Opinions Please

Just a curious question from a old woman-- do you get a thrill when each wall is raised? does the smell of freshly cut wood give you a warm feel?--lol--then you'll never be done building. any anyone who dosent experience this dont have a clue to what i mean------

Lol...boy you hit that nail on the head ..I absolutely love building, planning, to build , seeing something go where nothing ever was before...the thrill is great.

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Christanie Farm...living life as it was intended

Bill Gates Would not want to buy my place----Not that he couldn't---My Price would be so high--He would have to be Crazy--LOL. Your Place will be worth more as the years goes by---------Hang around there another year or two--------You will know then if you want to sell or not. Sounds like a Great Place!!! Randy

Well, I still say it's just a house. People place too much emphasis on "stuff". Considering what the future may or may not hold, if it were me and I could get that kind of money, I'd sell. I would hate to think back and say "gee I coulda sold this place for a bunch of money way back before the housing market crashed and...blah...blah...and now George W. the III is repealing social security...."

It would be one thing if it were only $20-30K...after taxes and realtor fees you could take a vacation and buy a truck.

I can build a whole lot better set of memories for that kind of money.

Unless you got your retirement all taken care of and/or think S.S. will be around after while....well, memories aren't going to keep me very warm or fed.

Any time I have to drive through Buckskin and Floyds Knob to get anywhere (Evansville) is way far ...far.....far...............far....away.

So start building houses for other people while staying put in this one?!?

[/B]IDEAS ARE THE MOST VALUABLE LABORS[B]If you can see what others cant you might be at your highest calling building. If you enjoy all that goes into it it seems to me you are able to step into heaven simply by building for a liveing.There are people that fantazise about getting paid to do what they love to do seems to me like you could.

Only you, and you (and your family) alone can answer that question. It's simple: if you desire to keep your home more than you desire to have the money for it, then keep it. If you would rather have the money and what you can do with it, then sell it. People can give you every seemingly logical reason why you should sell or stay. But they cannot tell you what your heart tells you. Listen to your heart on this one.

PS: remember capital gains tax!

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Society has gotten to the point where everybody has a right, but nobody has a responsibility.

Do you need way more land? What are you contemplating doing with the land? I wonder how much you need for two people doing the work; which is why I wonder...have you considered selling the house and two acres and keeping the other 10 for yourself? That would net you probably $275,000 after taxes and fees (if applicable), so you could re-build and still have at least $100,000 left over even if you had it pro-built start to finish. Unless you're planning on a big hay or feedlot or other operation like that, how much land could you possibly need?

Stay a few years. That land will only go up in price and you will get the fun out of living in the house your family built. Then, when things are building up around you, cash in and leave if you need the money. Sounds like maybe you are decently well off if you are going to retire in a few years anyway? In which case you can afford to wait. However, I wouldn't let the kids have too much input on this. It's your life and you've got less ahead of you than they do, especially the years when you can work hard at things like building, etc. As they get a bit older they will understand that. 19 is too young to look at things like that yet and see what you need, as opposed to what they need. Let them know now, though, so they can get used to the idea of you folks moving somewhere else.

And BTW, they'll appreciate the extra money they inherit from you! LOL!

Jennifer

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-Northern NYS

Cap gains would only be an issue if they sell for over $1 million.

I agree with Turtlehead. I know money seems to be every bodies guiding light these days. But I'm from the old school. Land never gets any cheaper. Your debt free. Its something that belongs to the family. I know how I felt when they sold our family farm when I was young. The idea that you just pick up and move just to make more money or the grass is greener doesn't set well with me. I did it for 20 years. I surely wouldn't do it unless the other place was done and paid for!! Things happen and you could be left in a situation you didn't ever expect. YOu can always do a fancy barn, landscape or even build the furniture for your place. I guess I just doesn't like that everything seems to be a throw away now days. It leaves people without a sense of belonging or roots
Just my 1/2 cent

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Thinking is hard. Feeling and believing a storyline is easy.

FREEEEEEEDDDDDDDOOOOOOMMM!!!

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http://tnwoodwright.blogspot.com/

I've been in your shoes. We built what we thought would be our dream home. We had forty acres of beautiful rolling hills - built the barn, home, workshop. Had plans to put on a green house.

We built the house so we could retire in it (though we were only early 40's) two teenage kids - they helped and learned. It was our dream come true . . .

In the four years we lived there, we saw prices rising, taxes rising, mostly because we had only a 60 mn commute into a big metro area, and even though it was across state lines, it was expanding that way. Things started getting more "citified" and we soon realized we had not moved far enough away. I've watched as the "city" has overgrown my father's farm. Several siblings own parts of the original homestead, but they just have very large lots in an urban sprawl area. They deal with a constant stream of traffic, a community that is pressuring them to sell land so that more houses (tax base) can go in. They pressure by raising property taxes and adding assessments. Seems they are always fighting Town Hall. But they are ok, they like the prestige of owning the land, and have no desire to live a rural lifestyle.

I would hate it. It wouldn't matter that I was still living on part of the original farm, that has been in the family for 4 generations. It's not the land, it's the lifestyle that is important to me.

My husband and I, after a very painful period of time, made the decision that if we really wanted a specific lifestyle, we needed to give up that brand new home, the one we designed and helped build. So we packed up and moved to the middle of South Dakota, where it is truly a rural setting.

After three years, we're still remodeling this 100+ year old farmhouse, and I sure do miss my clean, new home (especially the kitchen LOL!)

But I've always felt more content at this place than I ever did at the place we built. And it's not the home, it's the community, the neighbors and the slow pace around us.

I'm glad we moved, because over all, the life we have now is so much the life we had hoped to have, but discovered the city was growing faster than we thought, and we had not moved far enough away. We've driven near the area we use to live, and it has kept growing and growing. I'm glad we moved when we did.

As it turns out, both our kids are actually much happier where we are now. Son is living with us while going to school, and loves being able to hunt and target shoot, and loves the friends he has made out here so much better than those he had back at the other place. Daughter comes and visits, and says this place is so much more restful than the other place.

Like others have said, you have to figure out what is right for you, and make the decision. For us, we realized we could fight and fight, but we would not stop the trend the area was moving towards (new zoning laws, tighter regulations, limiting land uses, etc). We couldn't stop the influx of people from the city, who only wanted large lots, not a country lifestyle. A lot of people would have loved what was happening, with the growth and new shopping closer by, and more affluent neighbors, but it was our nightmare. So we moved.

But we are not city minded people. Just a month ago, my husband was visiting with some neighbors (our closest neighbor is over a mile away, so we consider anyone living within about 5mile radius to be neighbors). They told him he sure didn't seem like someone who had moved from the city. DH took that as a compliment.

Good luck with what ever you decide -

Cathy

This is WRONG. You may be confusing capital gains tax with inheritance tax, which was recently raised to estates worth $2 million or more. Capital gains tax on real estate (which I have paid, several times unfortunately), is at a flat of 15% for all real estate sold for a profit held over 1 year. If held less than a year, you are taxed at the full rate.

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Society has gotten to the point where everybody has a right, but nobody has a responsibility.

If you've lived there two out of the past five years, you can exclude the first $500,000 in capital gains (250K each for you and DH).

Hi everyone, I am sorry I have not been responding but I had a 3-day weekend and we spent it working like crazy to take advantage.

Thanks for all your wonderful opinions...they have given me much to think about which is why I asked.

This weekend while I was finishing up the chicken house...I looked across the land with the fall colors and the peace and quiet...and almost got teary eyed thinking about leaving this place...it is home...the roots are down.

Thanks to all!

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Christanie Farm...living life as it was intended