Quote:
Originally Posted by castlebreakfast
I grew up in a house on the north side of the lake (moultonboro) that remains very dear to me. My two brothers and I have long since grown up and moved out but we still visit to enjoy the lake, the surrounding area of mountains and beauty, and so on. We didn't have any other houses - we lived in it year round and my parents continue to do so (which made us the rare year-rounders in our neighborhood of summer homes).
Now my parents are getting older and my father is thinking of selling the house and downsizing to a smaller dwelling closer to a city where he and my mom can live. His reasons for doing so include: downsizing as mentioned, the tough cold winters in NH, his desire to be closer to Boston to take advantage of the cultural and other opportunities of the city. But Most importantly, he wants his 3 children and wife to get the substantial inheritance such a sale would offer - he spent something like 20+ years paying off the mortgage and the last time the house/property was appraised (years ago now) its value was around $700,000, so now it's probably (we hope) substantially more. It's his biggest asset by far and I am not positive how much the inheritance would be if the house is not sold. It's a 2 story on about 2 acres.
However, we can't get rid of the nagging feeling that despite the benefits that would accrue to us, we could be missing out on a treasure if we "lose" this house by selling it. This is our favorite place in the world (not the house structure itself necessarily - just its precise location on the lake (it's a lake + mountain view facing due west) and the access to the surrounding area). I like the idea of having it as a place our families can enjoy whenever we want in the years to come - but we also understand the value of an inheritance like this and the needs of my father and mother who have different considerations from mine and who after all still live in the house year round (I am only there perhaps 6 weeks out of the year now). The winters do get tough as mentioned, and the house structure and dock have not been renovated in many years - it's in fairly poor shape actually and the new owners will have to do a lot of renovation work, though it's still livable as is. One thing to note is that we don't actually use a boat anymore ever since my father sold his so we're not as avid users of the lake itself as we used to be. Water depth is decent but water quality is 'mucky' and not great. The view faces due west and you get fantastic sunsets over a mountain.
We're just worried that if the house is sold, we'll regret it and will feel grief over losing the gem we could have kept.
One option - the neighbor's house has been in his family for a few generations now (so they at least chose to go the route of keeping the house rather than selling it) – and they rent it out - so perhaps my brothers and I could rent that house for a week or two at a time each year if our house gets sold? Though of course we wouldn't have that nice feeling of permanence (how long will the neighbors be renting out their place for after all?) and *ownership* that you get from being able to call your house your own.
Any thoughts or advice from this community would be very much appreciated! I understand that this may not be the right place for such a post – and ultimately it's a personal decision on our part – but I figured I'd reach out to other Winnipesaukee people to get their takes - thanks for reading.
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I know this is a very emotional issue for all involved, but before spinning your wheels too much then why not sit down first with a financial advisor to show the cause/effects on each person involved if the premises were kept versus if it is was sold?
Looking at it from this perspective could be a slam dunk for keeping it within the family versus selling it (or vice versa).
Just a thought.......