I pay taxes on both properties. To be honest, my old neighbors don't even want me to sell and I may even move back as my career starts to wrap up. I'll gladly ditch the house I am living in now if that is the case.

When I bought the house back in 2008, it was at the peak of the last housing boom. When prices tanked, I was basically stuck with the house unless I defaulted or waited the market out to just break even. Now that I am getting closer to retirement, I can't just give the house away now since there is real equity involved. I am honestly hoping to break even when, not if, the prices collapse again.

We rented it once for way below market prices. The person still managed to cause thousands in damages to the house. After that experience, we are done with trying to rent. We don't want that hassle and we don't want to pay a management company that would force us to charge high rent.

But yeah, I agree. It doesn't make sense for me to sell that home now and there are no extreme financial penalties for me to keep it. If voters decide I should pay additional penalties, so be it. It won't be financially viable for me to keep the house.

Home ownership is not easy or cheap and some people don't understand that. I don't flip houses for a living and I don't own hundreds or thousands of empty homes. Families that own a home or two are not the problem. The issues with housing are at a much grander scale.