Any Realtors on Site? Do I Have to Wait 5 Yrs. to Move?

I am not a realtor, I am a landlord of several houses. In this economy you probably won't make a profit. The market is very different in different parts of the country and still down in most areas. It will never be what it was for a very long time. You will probably get what you paid unless it was a short sale or foreclosure then you can get more. I wouldn't worry about capital gains in this economy. So if you are not happy then I would sell it and find a different neighborhood.

You would have to decide that on what your owe and how much you can sell your house for. Don;t forget to add in the expenses for selling your house. We have sold homes 1-2 years after we purchased them. You probably won't make money, but if it worth it to move, then go for it.

I doubt that there is an actual rule of thumb for when to sell a house. There are too many variables with length of owning just one. Whether or not you make money on the sale is dependent on what you paid for it and what you can sell it for. You then have to add up the cost of selling, such as commissions, inspection fees, title transfers etc and subtract that amount from the difference.

You don't have to have plans to sell your home to talk with a realtor. I recommend finding one who specializes in your neighborhood and ask this question. (S)he can give you an estimate of what you can expect to sell it for now as well as a summary of expenses to be paid while selling it. Then you can decide whether or not to sell.

I think that any 'rule of thumb' is out the window in the current housing market. You'll have to just get an appraisal from a realtor and see what they say. As others have mentioned, don't forget to add in the closing costs that you'll pay for a new house when deciding.

In the meantime, any chance you can try to make your neighborhood into more of a comfortable place? Start a book club and invite some of them, start a bunco group. Maybe you can be the person that changes the feel of your neighborhood.

We (my mum and dad) bought and sold every 2 years for 35 years (with a few rentals interspersed for crappy markets)... WHY? Because under 2 years you pay through the nose in taxes (capital gains and others).

Historically speaking, every 10 years housing prices double in urban areas and go up by 1/3-1/2 in rural areas. They usually do it in a bubble, and then it slumps for 2-3 years... slowly climbs... bubbles... pops... slumps...climbs...bubble....pop...slump. For the past 200 years (with a little bit of wiggle room for massive economy events like the depression and various wars), houses double in value every 10.

But it's 2 years to avoid getting raked over the coals.

We sold a house when we were in it less than a year because we hated the neighborhood. The people there were very uppity and it wasn't a place we wanted to raise our kids. Shame on us for not doing better research before buying. We went back to our old neighborhood, to an older, smaller, less opulent house. I'm sure people thought we were crazy, but our family was much happier after the move. We lost money in the deal, but gained our happiness back. Sometimes, it's not all about the money!

I highly doubt that. We bought out house 6 years ago, it is now worth about 60k less than we paid for it! And we are in a "good" neighborhood (Chicago, mind you, that got very overheated, but we were promised a "stable" town).

I am hoping that value of our house is back to what we paid for it in 5 years. This housing boom still has a good 2 years to sort itself out.