I wish you well on the rent houses but in this climate with the moratorium against foreclosures, I'd be VERY careful regarding who you rent to. I just got finished re-reading the new pronouncement from the Feds that have estended the current moratorium until the end of January and would expect it to be extended beyond that. I can tell you that it is brutal to have to tell a landlord with no money to service his mortgage that he cannot get an eviction order.

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Forum consigliere

Larry, I am sorry to hear of your divorce but glad to see the positive results of your sale.

Best wishes to you and hopefully the new wife of the future will already own a big house!

Congrats on the sale. As far as remarrying, I've done it twice (after losing half my #### twice) so I have experience.
1) Put her name on the deed, this way if it doesn't work out she already has the house.
2) 3 Bank accounts: Yours, Hers, and joint. In a divorce this won't help you (I got skinned in my 2nd divorce as her lawyer "won" me having to give her 1/2 the value of every gun that went through my 01 bound book even though it was a business account) but in a marriage it will save "money fights."
3) Make sure her kids and yours get along. Should either of you "dirt nap," "dead people money" will bring out the long knives quick.
4) I'm sure there's another piece of advice but I'm so old I forget. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

Thanks Onomea, I appreciate your advice.

Other side of this is that there's also mortgage forbearance right now. Millions of people aren't paying for their homes, and once that forbearance ends, available inventory is going to kick up substantially. So it may not be a bubble right now in the technical sense, but inventory is artificially low.

My next-door neighbors, for example, are going to be getting divorced and haven't made a payment since March. She lost her mind, hasn't worked in over a year, and kicked him out in September or October. As soon as they're required to start paying again, house goes on the market...

Realtor across the street puts out little newsletters every month. The latest one had some insane (IMHO) selling prices in it. Suspecting BS I did a Zillow on our place. Allegedly it's worth $100k more than we paid less than five years ago. No wonder my bank has been bombarding me with home equity offers.

As for mortgage and other fees, I find the US real estate market grossly overpriced in that respect. 6% realtor fees? Percentage fees on remortgage deals? Nope, l'm just buying/selling property, not feeding a large village.

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Release the Kraken

If you live in areas served by Redfin, they're putting downward pressure on realtor fees - they do some homes for as low as 1% on their side of the transaction. When we bought our home in 2019, we paid 5%, 2.5% for each broker rather than the customary 3% for each.

Those are almost always negotiable. Standard is 6% but if you're looking for a house worth serious money and it's an easy market you could easily negotiate that rate.

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Come and take it!!

Indeed. Speak to my negotiator.

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Release the Kraken

We have a house in Florida and I've been getting 5-10 calls and text messages a day wanting to buy it. I've even been getting a few calls wanting to buy our house here in Atlanta.

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μολὼν λαβέ

My Dad bought a nice place in Tidewater Virginia, along a tidal river, emptying into a bay, that empties into the Chesapeake, in 1970, for $80K, I think it was, after returning from Vietnam.

About 10 or so years later, I was sitting on the porch with him, and a coupla guys drove up and asked if he'd sell the place.

Dad said, "Sure. $999K."

The guys left.

I thought, point taken. If they want to give ya crazy money, maybe. But if you're happy where ya are, and don't need the money, why sell?

Congrats on selling your house and getting more than you expected.
Listed mine in November it sold in 15 days. Thanksgiving delayed it a bit but I'm not complaining got what I wanted. About $35k more than I was offering it as is 2 years ago. it also helps to have a mother who has been a realtor for close to 40 years.The closing is in 2 days.
A couple of neighbors sold their houses in less than a week, and one of the sellers got 4k more than the listing price due to a bidding war.... And this is in Illinois where so many want so bad to get out...i'll be retired and gone before summer.

That is EXACTLY what I do. These "I buy ugly homes" creeps contact me routinely. My fave was the guy who sent a Google Earth photo of my house on a postcard. Only problem was, that was my house BEFORE the 2018 fire and the construction of a new house. What a dope.

When they are lucky enough to get me on the phone my answer is never less than one million dollars and sometimes I say two million. "Well, that's a little out of our price range" is the usual reply. NO &^%$ SHERLOCK?!?! What part of I know the real estate business better than you, genius, do I to have explain to you?

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Come and take it!!

Houses in My neighborhood are going like hotcakes. Most go for 30 to 35K over asking. Real bidding wars. I'm moving to South Dakota Black Hills to get out of Blue Colorado. I think a lot of the moves to the western midwest is as much for politics as opportunity. I'm moving for the first reason. I'm retired so opportunity doesn't matter.