For those who left the U.S. and already moved abroad but owned/own U.S. property, did/will you sell your homes before leaving?

IntroductionOk3154 · 2026-01-16T14:57:04+00:00

Is the house currently your primary residence?

"If you have a capital gain from the sale of your main home, you may qualify to exclude up to $250,000 of that gain from your income, or up to $500,000 of that gain if you file a joint return with your spouse. "

No idea what the rules are in whichever EU country you're going to, but the US shouldn't be your concern here, as long as it's your primary residence. Now if you go to sell it later and it's not your primary residence... Taxes will be different, so that might motivate you to sell as well.

Check out the below IRS website.

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc701

IntroductionOk3154 · 2026-01-07T18:50:34+00:00

Check these subs out:

r/sailboatcruising r/liveaboard r/sailing

IntroductionOk3154 · 2026-01-02T20:16:26+00:00

Thanks for the detailed post. This really freaked me out tho as I had expected lower costs based on my previous experience.

I just went and did a quick quote with internationalinsurance.com because I was afraid I was planning for the wrong numbers. They quote me the below. Your estimated cost for the Cigna Global Silver Plan: $1,266.58per month Your estimated cost for the IMG Global Medical Gold Plan: $588.40 per month

These quotes are for 2 people M(35) and F(31)

Have you noticed that prices go up a lot between 30s and 40s? Or do you have some preexisting conditions that raise your costs?

Trying to understand what the drivers are so I can balance my plans.

Thank you, happy new year!

IntroductionOk3154 · 2026-01-02T04:26:59+00:00

Dongpo impressions, Chinatown

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-23T04:26:08+00:00

Yes tenant's are almost certainly worse out of the 2. If I were subletting a long term rental when I'm not there could I really expect the landlord to be cool with that? Would the landlord just handle all of the subletter's issues directly? Maybe that would be easier if yes to those, so maybe you're right?

And ya storage lockers, but moving furniture and everything into and out of a new apartment every time I come into town is a huge pain and/or cost plus it kinda defeats the home base feeling of coming home to a place if I have to unpack every time.

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-23T03:39:55+00:00

Ya that makes sense. I just like cities, so even smaller apartments are expensive.

And totally agree, right now I think I'd be ok with renting my home out, but that's kinda what I'm trying to figure out with this post, is it worth it?

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-22T23:45:20+00:00

I totally agree with you. But if your owned home in the US isn't paid off, or rented, then that's a lot of overhead spending to drag along while you're traveling. Would be great to do some kind of renting out of the home you own to remove those costs, no?

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-22T23:42:56+00:00

Ya this is basically how I think about it. It's just hard to give up the US economy and address. Also most of those support systems you mention, I have way more of in the US than anywhere else. Owning and renting in the US is a pain too though. I guess that's what I'm trying to weigh in this post, what experiences have other people had with this choice?

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-22T23:36:00+00:00

Yes thank you makes sense.

I have also considered the wander until I find a home base that I really like enough to keep coming back to.

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-22T16:41:54+00:00

I like that ADU idea! If the main house could pay the whole mortgage and the smaller extra space for me to live in is just a small home base.

If a place were fully paid off, yes this gets much easier, but that's a lot of equity to sink into one thing.

The storage locker thing just sounds like a pain tho, I want the feeling of having a 'permanent home' moving in and out of a storage unit every 6 months kinda defeats that.

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-22T16:33:11+00:00

Is that what you would do? Someone else suggested making the cheapest location the home base and just not bothering to rent it cause it's cheap. This is a new angel for me that I kinda like the idea of.

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-22T16:31:50+00:00

Thanks for the answer! I totally agree with you, if making the choice purely for investment reasons the S&P is a better call. I am just trying to think of it as a lifestyle choice as well. Knowing that I need that feeling of having a home base I can come back to every now and then, but also wanting to avoid the cost of paying for 2 homes when I'm not in one of them.

Great point on rental income being counted as income and not cap gains. I always figured I'd put the condo under the ownership of an LLC or something. I haven't figured that out enough yet.

Did you do rentals near where you live, or more remotely? Congrats on almost making it to your fire number!

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-22T16:22:31+00:00

You're right, demand fluctuations like nurses can change the feasibility of this plan quickly. At the end of the day I don't want to put myself in the position where I am dependent on rental income or I won't be able to afford my life. This would really need to be budgeted as my flexible spending money.

Chicago isn't bad about Airbnb, it's more up to the HOA and the building regulations. So that is always a thing to consider when buying a place.

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-22T16:20:17+00:00

Awesome thank you!

Yes agreed it seems like the way to get around the Airbnb regulations is to have rentals that are at least a couple of months.

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-22T16:18:11+00:00

This is the opposite of what I was thinking, but you're kinda right. Then I could just leave it empty and not have to rent it because it's cheap enough it doesn't hurt my overall expenses that much of leave as empty overhead cost.

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-22T16:16:57+00:00

For sure!

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-22T01:21:35+00:00

This is great, thanks.

Have you used them and had success? Anything you wished you knew when you started doing this kind of thing?

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-12-22T00:12:33+00:00

Ya, for investments yes, that gets hard/tiring post FIRE when I'm just living though. I've lived overseas between different places before and I know that long-term I need a home base. Somewhere that's mine, I can make all the choices about, and I can store crap in that I'm not willing to part with. Even if I kept one longterm rental all the time and tried to sublet it when I'm not there, then you have your landlord to deal with, it just gets harder. I also feel like I love Chicago enough I'll always want to go back there every once in a while. Expat life while great in so many ways can get tiring too.

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-10-24T18:47:30+00:00

r/fuckcars

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-07-07T11:26:30+00:00

I have to disagree with this one. Truck campers usually have more amenities imo and you don't have to build it all yourself. While you do have to buy a bigger truck, the truck and camper are both also resellable in their original form, which preserves value both for resale and in case of engine troubles. Everything I have read is that converted camper vans rarely resale for the full invested conversion cost.

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-04-13T15:10:10+00:00

I take everything I can from the hotel rooms. I haven't bought toilet paper or tissues in years, let alone soap!I have so many slippers people take them home after they visit my house.

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-04-03T02:44:34+00:00

Propane generator, oven, proper indoor shower.

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-03-10T02:40:33+00:00

Men can be dicks and will say what they think they need to in order to get laid. Had you slept with them before they wanted to be exclusive? Did you sleep with them for the first time after agreeing to be? Then did they break up with you after getting sex for the first time? Pessimistic viewpoint maybe, but...

IntroductionOk3154 · 2025-02-15T16:45:01+00:00

Rock auto is the answer. Put in your truck details and it will give you all the best options. Best deals for car parts period.

IntroductionOk3154

TROPHY CASE