it's low because of the dip in housing sales/economy...i can still make some cash on her, but not what we where hoping....i am going to do a new roof and paint/fix a few areas where the trim has rotted and the siding split/curled...but the agent said, and i agree that doing any more would be a waste of money (i wouldn't get it back in the sale) everything is 21yrs old...although i've renovated every room in the house and made it "up-to-date"...the burner, windows, AC unit, driveway etc are 21+yrs old....the septic is up to code though.
so in the end here is my thinking...it cost me $35k a yr to live here (fixed expenses) so in 5 yrs (when i will be looking at early retirement) i would have spent another 175K not including any additional repairs or replacement of the above mentioned 20+ yr old stuff, will i gain that much in equity...i say NO way. they're talking 10-15 yrs before housing really begins to see any real gains like the last 20...so if i can sell for 410-420K i can take home about 140K, rent a nice place for 2k a month and save close to 15k a yr, in 5 yrs that will be another 75K in the bank!