Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also, I can't imagine you've had your house for 5 years. If you buy a house and sell it before you've owned it for 5 years, you pay a capital gains tax. So this is even less you'll get for the house overall. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That is incorrect in most cases. Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you sell your primary residence, you can make up to $250,000 in profit if you're a single owner, twice that if you're married, and not owe any capital gains taxes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also, if you have resided there for at least 2 of the five, you are not subject at all. Please disregard the false info Chio provided. The first part of primary residence sales was quoted correctly. Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you sell your primary residence, you can make up to $250,000 in profit if you're a single owner, twice that if you're married, and not owe any capital gains taxes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- However, in order to qualify for these rules you need to have claimed the property as your primary residence for at least 2 of the past 5 years (730 days). These rules only matter if you have a gain on the sale of your house. If it is going to be a loss, then it doesn't matter if you wait for 2 years because there is no capital gains tax to avoid. By the way, losses on the sale of your primary residence are not deductible. Overall, the real estate market has been hurt by several factors. One not mentioned yet in this thread is that the # of foreclosures has risen dramatically the past few years, which has added to the glut of homes on the supply side.