Free Guide
The Coastal
Downsizing Guide
A plain-English walkthrough of the decision, written for San Diego homeowners 55 and over. No fluff, no listing pitch — the numbers and the sequence.
What's inside
- 01 How Prop 19 lets you carry your tax base — and the three-transfer limit
- 02 The Section 121 exclusion, your basis, and what improvements actually count
- 03 Sell-first vs. buy-first, with the real cost of each path
- 04 Qualifying for a mortgage after the W-2s stop
- 05 The 12-month downsizing timeline, week by week
It's on the way.
Check your inbox in the next minute — and your spam folder if it isn't there. If anything in it raises a question about your own situation, reply straight to that email. It comes to me directly.
Questions
The five that come up first.
It depends on how much of the next purchase leans on the equity in this one, and on how much uncertainty you can comfortably live with. There are four workable sequences: sell and rent, sell with a rent-back written into the contract, buy first using a bridge loan or HELOC, or write a contingent offer.
Each one has a real dollar cost and a real risk. We put your numbers into all four and choose deliberately — rather than discovering the answer mid-escrow.
Often, yes. California Proposition 19 allows homeowners who are 55 or older, severely disabled, or victims of a wildfire or declared disaster to transfer the taxable value of a primary residence to a replacement primary residence anywhere in the state, and to do it up to three times. If the replacement home costs more than the one you sold, the difference is added on top of your transferred base rather than resetting it.
There are filing deadlines and county-level requirements, so we confirm the specifics with the assessor and your tax advisor before it becomes load-bearing in the plan. This is general information, not tax advice.
Section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code generally excludes up to $250,000 of gain for a single filer and $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly on the sale of a primary residence, provided you meet the ownership and use tests. Documented capital improvements over the years raise your cost basis and reduce the taxable gain, which is why those old permits and invoices are worth digging out.
Gain above the exclusion is taxable, and in long-held California homes that is a real possibility. Get your CPA involved early — while the plan can still be shaped around it. This is general information, not tax advice.
Usually. Retirees qualify routinely through asset-depletion programs that convert a portfolio into qualifying income, through Social Security and pension income, or through Non-QM products that underwrite assets instead of employment. Age itself is never a qualifying factor — that's federal law.
Having originated both conventional and Non-QM loans, I map the approval path with a lender before you tour anything, so the offer you write is one that can actually fund.
Twelve to eighteen months before you want to be in the new place is ideal, and three months is workable. The long runway is where the money is: improvements planned instead of rushed, the tax picture coordinated with your CPA across two calendar years if that helps, and the ability to move when the right property appears rather than when the calendar demands it.
There is no cost to starting early, and no obligation attached to a first conversation.
Contact
Let's map the equity first.
A first conversation is 30 minutes, costs nothing, and ends with a one-page picture of what this move looks like in your numbers. Whether that's this year or in three.