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AS PART OF OUR retirement strategy, my husband and I plan on using the money we make from the sale of our home in Oregon to help cover part of our retirement expenses. We already own a second home in Arizona, which we’ll move into once I leave my job. We’ve played around with different ideas for how best to use the money, including making a large, onetime payment against our Arizona home’s mortgage.
More likely, however, we’ll use the cash to help cover our living expenses until I’m eligible to receive Social Security. Even though I can access most of my retirement account money when I turn age 55, I’m hoping to hold off tapping my nest egg until I’m at least 65. Once I leave my job, we’ll still be eligible to receive health-care coverage through my employer. We will, however, have to pay premiums of about $7,000 a year for the two of us. The money from our Portland home would help cover that expense.
When we started making our plans, we assumed we’d get back little more than our down payment—$80,000—when we sold our Oregon house. But over the past year, the equity in our modest home has increased sharply. Our ideas for how best to use the money have also grown by leaps and bounds.
I started making a list of items we might want for our Arizona house, including new kitchen appliances and new flooring. A few new electronic gadgets also made the cut. Every day, as I checked the latest estimate for the value of our home on Zillow, the list grew longer and more diverse. Our latest idea: Using some of the money to start a small business—which might eventually create a stream of income for us during our retirement years.
If you haven’t spent a summer in Arizona, you might want to hold on to your Oregon house for awhile. Not only is the drought and Colorado river water shortage impacting the state, it is a special kind of place when the summer heat reaches 115-120 degrees.
My wife and I love Arizona and we own a condo in Scottsdale, but we now live in a green climate in the Midwest where I especially enjoy the summer tomatoes from a nearby farm stand.
We’ve spent a few weeks in Arizona in the summer and have definitely experienced the 115 degree days. My husband worked in Saudi Arabia for awhile, so he knows what he’s getting into. I’m a warm weather fanatic so I’m not concerned. Our home happens to be in a 55+ community where about 50% of the residents leave for the summer. This makes it quite nice for the full-time residents since we have access to six swimming pools, four recreational facilities and a variety of indoor activities during the summer months when it’s much less crowded.
Sounds wonderful. Half of the true Zonies leave in the summer for the beach in San Diego. I used to go fly fishing up in the mountains near Farmington, New Mexico
Unless you have a big cash cushion, it seems like a good idea to use the cash from the sale of the house to live on vs paying down the mortgage on the other house.
I’m curious, what type of small business are you thinking of?