Should my son hold or sell in Mount Gravatt East?

I really don't think anything anyone says here is going to make the slightest difference to a young man's way of thinking. After all, you can't put an old head on young shoulders.

Probably the best you can hope for is to delay the decision.

Does he have plans for the $20K or so the sale will realise? Travel? New car?

If not, and if his main aim is to be seen to be independent (not necessarily a bad thing), could you take over the operation of the property, recording any shortfall and having him pay to you any tax saving? If he would agree, could this continue till he is 25 and entitled to his inheritance? At that point the decision to keep or sell would be his sole decision?

Not ideal, but may be one way to get him to keep the property a bit longer.

But in the end the main outcome must be good relations within your family. If your son feels he was railroaded into a situation not of his choosing, then maybe it is time to accept that, as an adult, he is entitled to make the decision to sell. You can only offer advice.

My son was 19 when he famously said "I am old enough to make my own decisions, even if they are the wrong ones"!!!
Marg

 

Is there a succubus on the scene?

 

This exact thing happened to me @wylie
Except I was in the shoes of your son

Looking back at the decision I would very much look at keeping the house and maybe with some maturity he can come around. Sometimes with age and know how he can see how it will work but in the end selling may cause him to be in a worse way down the line.

I would hold on to it until when he sees how much it can set his life up

 

I say let him sell. Yes he will be sorry in time and then will kick his own butt. If neither of you will lose any money, put it down to a learning experience. When he is ready himself, he knows who to come to for help. I have 4 boys 25-33 so feel your pain. You don't want the angst of whenever you are together to be tension over a house. Thankfully mine have all bought old reno houses and need me more than I need them. And while I am there I get to spend more time with all my grandkids.

 

Make a family arrangement.
You buy the property from him...just not legally. Give him his equity. Take ownership and manage it, saying that the legal will happen when he is 25. Delay.

 

I think the many of the people in the other posts trying to (helpfully) convince your son based on money, are using the wrong arguments. It's about differing values, as many disagreements are.

I suspect the issue is about your relationship with him, not about the value of the house in future.

He just doesn't care about the potential pay off.

Addressing the issue with him based on creating future wealth is failing to communicate in the language of his values system. A kind of 'talking past each other'.

I see the house as a symptom of the issue, not the central problem.

How old is he. Did he find and select the house or did you? Did he want a house at all? What would he rather be doing?

 

And at the end of the day, if he does sell he is really no worse off than if he had never bought the house.

The lessons he has learned in choosing, researching and buying will stand him in good stead when he is ready to buy.
Marg

 

This. Relationship with son.

As an example.

My father helped me by paying for most of my car. I appreciate the gesture and work hard to make it up to him.

My missus, her father got her a car, she didn't want it, rather she wanted to get one herself, as she didn't want that hanging over her head that she owes him or is controlled by him.

Strangely enough, I've come to realize she has this mind set towards her parents, as when they were younger, the mother not the father, would say things like "can't you be nice, we got you a car?"

Again, not having a go at your parenting skills, I wouldn't know, no kids, but showing the importance of the relationship.

So let him do his thing, if anything, buy the property from him, and he can have it back/inherit once he gets older and understands you. (If possible)

My two cents as a young one.

Also, no money is worth it to cause grief between parent and child

 

Hold. It's one of the better areas in Brisbane for CG.
Will need to be patient with Brisbane as it grows from a Sydney suburb to a city in its own right..but it's making progress to get there and places like MGE will benefit.
Similar story in Melbourne.
Buy it doesdepend on what you will do with saleproceeds if you do sell amd how confident you are of getting higher returns elsewhere.

 

Definitely - and I don't think young people understand how a market crash will go down anyway. Many markets and assets will do well. In the OP's case, you couldn't be better placed to ride it out.

 

Most people are saying 'hold', you are not going mad!

But quite a few are also saying it's his decision - he'll be noticing these responses more ( just a human response, we all do this).

The heart wants what the heart wants.

I would write him an email explaining that your love and respect will continue, but that you advise him strongly to hold.

Ask him to reply. This is for later - in case he says in ten years time 'but you should have stopped me!'

Memory does funny things and it may be useful to have something to look back on - even it's just so he can say 'see, everything worked out fine for me!'

How does he feel about this issue being posted publically?

 

Where's @RetireRich101 with some graphs and stats to show past booms and also potential $cg

I'm no maths whiz but 5% growth over the next 5 years should find 100k coming his way

 

My vote is to hold. I think he is making a big mistake trying to sell now. This is my opinion based on decisions I made when I was a lot younger. These have hurt me financially.

 

If he wants to grow up he can stop being a ******** and move out. I can say that as I'm not his mother

 

I made the mistake of listening to my parents early on and buying at the peak!

 

Of course not.

You are both focussing on the posts that support your point of view. And you both hold valid positions with equally important reasons for both points of view.

Hope you can work things out amicably.
Marg

 

I made the mistake of not listening to my parents and not buying when I could have!