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submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

After 33 years and four children, Baby Boomers Marta and Octavian Dragos say they feel trapped in what was once their dream home in El Cerrito, California.

Both over 70, the Dragos are empty nesters, and like many of their generation, they’re trying to figure out how to downsize from their 3,000-square-foot, five-bedroom home.

“We are here in a huge house with no family nearby, trying to make a wise decision, both financially and for our well-being,” said Dragos, a retired teacher.

But selling and downsizing isn’t easy, appealing or even financially advantageous for many homeowners like the Dragos family.

Many Boomers whose homes have surged in value now face massive capital gains tax bills when they sell. This is a kind of tax on the profit you make when selling an investment or an asset, like a home, that has increased in value.

Plus, smaller homes or apartments in the neighborhoods they’ve come to love are rare. And with current prices and mortgage rates so high, there is often a negligible cost difference between their current home and a smaller one.

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[-] PugJesus@kbin.social 35 points 9 months ago

Most homeowners don’t have to pay capital gains on their home when they sell. Thanks to tax legislation from the ’90s, a gain of up to $250,000 for a single tax filer or $500,000 for a couple filing jointly is exempt from tax. That’s providing the sale is of the homeowner’s primary residence and that they meet other requirements such as living in the property for two of the past five years.

That means if a couple bought a median priced home in 1987 for $100,000 and they’ve lived there as their primary residence and are selling it today for $550,000, the $450,000 gain from that investment is not taxed because it falls under the $500,000 exclusion to capital gains taxes.

However, if those same $100,000 homebuyers lived for 37 years in an area that has seen enormous growth in home values — as is the case for many parts of California — and their home now sells for $2 million dollars, that’s nearly $1.9 million in profit, of which only $500,000 is excluded from taxes.

Oh, how horrible. /s

[-] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

If it was just a problem of paying more taxes then the argument would be bullshit. The main problem is buried at the end of the article:

A homeowner who keeps all the profit of a home that sells for $500,000, for example, may find that a condo in their same area, where they can age in place, is $450,000. After calculating realtor fees and closing costs, the profit hardly covers the new purchase, let alone provides any extra income for retirement.

This is the real reason they are not moving. They would be stepping backwards financially instead of stepping forward.

[-] ComradePorkRoll@lemmy.world 27 points 9 months ago

Feels like the crux of this whole thing is that housing shouldn't be an investment.

[-] newthrowaway20@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Good luck changing that. Housing has been a promised vehicle for wealth growth to multiple generations.

[-] Pringles@lemm.ee 1 points 9 months ago

Or build more apartments maybe? The entire housing crisis in the US could be easily solved by adding sufficient apartments in the right places.

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[-] drdabbles@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

... What's the issue?

They paid for the next place, including fees, and still have $50k in their pocket? How greedy does someone need to be, exactly, before we consider the behavior repugnant?

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[-] Dkarma@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Their home is worth 2mil. They absolutely would not be stepping backward.

[-] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 2 points 9 months ago

It's a ridiculous scenario considering the real value of their home. They might as well have invented a scenario where these people only get $100k for their 3000sqft, 5 bedroom home and then have to pay $2M for a one bedroom condo on the bad side of town.

[-] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 2 points 9 months ago

That's a fictional scenario, though. Why would an entire house be selling for the same price as a tiny condo with HOA fees? These people have a huge house worth millions of dollars, so I'm confused why they would use a $500k sale price in their hypothetical scenario.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Sure those are made up numbers but they illustrate a real issue. Where i live, and I’m sure other high cost of living areas, it’s the land that’s expensive, in short supply. The actual house might be a much smaller part of that.

What that turns into is prices may be insane, but a house isn’t much more than a condo isn’t much more than a vacant lot. Then when you buy, taxes are reset to the new value, so property taxes will now be much higher and realtors commission will be insane. So they need to take a mortgage and take a cost of living hit on the taxes, then are clobbered by high interest. They may literally not be able to afford to downsize

[-] PugJesus@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago

Condos generally aren't much cheaper than houses. They would have the same issue if their region's real estate was half as expensive. They would have had this problem 10, 20, 30 years ago if they were retiring. If you sell a house in an expensive area and want money left over, you either have to choose a shittier house/apartment to live, or a cheaper area.

[-] stoly@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

I forgot about all the people howling and foaming at the mouth about the "death tax". Boomers gonna boomer I guess.

[-] dmtalon@infosec.pub 1 points 9 months ago

Haha, I mean I get it... Giving away money to uncle sam sucks but I agree with your sentiment. They are coming out ahead, that house was an investment that is paying dividends. I am hoping to have that problem some day!

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Contributing financially to the democratic society in which you spent the entire time of gaining monetary value able to vote which enabled the increase in value of your property? That’s the thing here, this isn’t throwing money away, and it isn’t imposed without your say. Taxes aren’t fun, and we don’t always like where they go, but as adults we should be able to respect them. They’re part of how our society functions and a necessary component of many nice things we need in order to prosper.

This long time anti tax attitude in this country is part of what destroyed our infrastructure, ruined our regulatory bodies, and contributed to our massive wealth gap.

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this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2024
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