Who still owns there very first property they bought

[Mark Hughes]

One of my best rentals is a townhouse I bought as a primary and then kept as a rental property. Not only does it have great cash flow and seen good appreciation in the 10 years I’ve owned it, but it’s nostalgic and not sure I would ever want to sell it. How many of you still own the first property you ever bought??

[Chris Mason]

Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs:

better question for me is .. how many WISH they still had the first property they ever bought.

having bought my first one in 1975 in the SF Bay area you can imagine my answer to that  LOL

I would be interested to know how many folks have owned a property more than 10 years and more than 20 and more than 30... granted that's more years than many BP members are old.. but for the old dogs.. would be interesting to get some stats on that.

as so many people say they will never sell.. but I am not sure how many actually carry through or maybe they are still mid way through that journey.

We just (this morning) closed a parent to child purchase transaction in Oakland, parent had owned since the late 60s. Started as a call from an agent about a homeowner facing foreclosure (Dad is ESL, abusive/predatory adult child [other kid, not our borrower]) that didn't want to sell and just wanted to retire in place. Set it up so the buyer's cash to close was less than appraisal fee + $150 (not a typo, there is no letter k left out), no PMI. And thanks to CA Prop 13, they get their parents' property tax basis from what the property was worth when dinosaurs roamed the East Bay. Made sure the agent was made whole too, so that said agent will work on this outcome the next time rather than trying to turn it into a MLS listing. Between all that, buyers PITI on a SFR that appraised for $625k was less than they were formerly paying in rent for a crummy 1br apartment (with kids...). No way in the world this working class family otherwise would have been able to buy a $675k home in the Bay Area. This was probably the most rewarding transaction I've worked on in a long time, to go from "we are facing imminent foreclosure :(" to that outcome & keeping the family home. Dad can keep living there, kids (our buyers/borrowers) and grandkids move in, dad watches the grandkids allowing one of the parents to go back to work full time, and on top of that no more paying rent. 

The agent who helped this family keep the family house actually found me on BP and this is the first transaction I've done with him.

Point being:

Never Sell California Real Estate, Only Buy! No matter what other financial decisions you make, your kids will thank you for this one!

(but don't tell any listing agents that I said that)

(and, also, please sell your home ASAP... my buyers need inventory to buy!)

(pss: Fannie Mae removed the recession-era "anti family bail-out" guidelines a while back that previously would have prohibited kids from buying their parents home who were behind on multiple mortgages.)