The tax that's stopping older homeowners from selling their valuable properties

shapecharge/Getty, Anna Kim/Getty, Tyler Le/BI

• An extra tax on home sale profits over $250,000 was designed to target wealthy homeowners.
• But as home values have soared, the tax is impacting middle-income people, too.
• Two older homeowners told BI they want to downsize, but have been discouraged by the tax.

Many older homeowners have benefited from soaring home prices in recent years, but as they look to cash in and downsize, some are discouraged by a federal tax that applies to a growing number of home sales.

Since 1997, home sellers have had to pay federal capital gains taxes on profits above $250,000 for a single person and $500,000 for a couple. The policy was designed to target the most affluent. But because the tax isn't indexed for inflation and home values have climbed so much, it's begun to impact middle-income people too.

Some older Americans who have retired or are near retirement told Business Insider the tax has deterred them from downsizing and they fear it will eat into crucial savings. The tax may be discouraging empty nesters from selling their larger homes to growing families, worsening a shortage of starter homes.

The share of home sales subject to the tax has more than doubled in the last few years. In 2023, 8% of US sellers made more than $500,000 in profit on the sale of their homes, the property data firm CoreLogic found. That's up from 1.3% in 2003 and 3% in 2019. If the threshold had been adjusted for inflation, the $250,000 cutoff for individual home sellers in 1997 dollars would be about twice as high — $496,000 — in 2024 dollars.

"What we know, anecdotally, is that people are feeling locked in," Selma Hepp, chief economist at CoreLogic, told Business Insider. "There are a good share of people for whom this is the only source of wealth savings."

Some retirees are reluctant to sell

David Levin, 71, has lived in Manhattan Beach, California, since 1978. Now retired, Levin and his wife want to sell their four-bedroom house and buy a smaller home in their neighborhood that they can grow old in.

Their housing investments have paid off — the couple paid $632,000 for their home in 1991 and it's now worth an estimated $2.8 million, according to a local realtor Levin consulted. While they've benefited from their soaring home equity, selling at that price or higher would come with an extra large tax bill.

Levin estimates that he and his wife will have to pay several hundred thousand dollars in capital gains taxes when they sell their home. Because the couple is relying on cash from their home sale to support them through retirement, Levin doesn't think they can afford to stay in Manhattan Beach — or live anywhere close by.

"If we sell our house, pay the capital gains tax, with what we're left over with we can't find anything to buy that's anywhere as nice as the home we're in," he said.

Levin, who operated retail stores before he retired, and his wife, a homemaker, both volunteer at their local community college, and they live on Levin's Social Security checks and retirement savings. But they're relying on their home equity to help support them as they age. "Our house has been a piggy bank, so the house is what secures our retirement," he said.

Levin was quick to point out that he feels these are "rich people's problems," but they're indicative of how even well-off boomers are struggling to retire comfortably in the communities they've built their lives in.

"How can you feel sorry for us? I mean, we have so much more than most people have," Levin said. "It's just the circumstances of our lives make us stuck in our home."

Longtime resident David Levin says he can't afford to downsize in Manhattan Beach, California, despite owning a nearly $3 million home there.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Relief may be on the horizon

Some Washington policymakers are taking note of the strain on some of their constituents. Democratic Rep. Jimmy Panetta, whose district includes several pricey coastal California housing markets, has introduced a bill that would double the tax exclusion to $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for joint-filing couples and index it to inflation. The More Homes on the Market Act is designed to incentivize more homeowners to sell and boost the housing inventory.

"I firmly believe that such a simple, straightforward fix would allow homeowners to downsize, sell their homes, and secure their nest-eggs," Panetta said in a statement to BI. "It's also a commonsense way to help expand the housing market, tackle housing affordability issues in our communities, and better ensure that more families have access to owning a home."

Raising the threshold for the capital gains tax on primary home sales and indexing the tax for inflation would be a boon for buyers and sellers alike, Hepp said.

"It would provide some velocity in the market and maybe release some inventory that's not efficiently utilized, like baby boomers living in a really large home when they would prefer a smaller home," she said. As of 2022, the real-estate company Redfin reported empty-nest boomers owned twice as many homes with three or more bedrooms as millennials with kids.

Andrea S, a 60-year-old homeowner in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Sherman Oaks, hopes Congress will pass Panetta's bipartisan bill before she sells her home to pay for her retirement.

"I'm kind of hanging on for that, quite frankly, and hoping they get it through," she said.

The former agent and producer, who requested partial anonymity to protect her privacy, bought her two-bedroom bungalow in 1994 for $245,000. The home is now worth about $1.3 million, according to a Zillow estimate reviewed by Business Insider. She's weighing a slew of different factors in deciding when to downsize, including rising home insurance premiums and mounting home maintenance costs.

"I'm gambling," she said. "Do I wait for that big write-off? What happens if they don't insure houses anymore? Is that going to make the cost of my house go down?"

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I saved $50K to take a 'gap year' from work. It helped me reprioritize my life and find joy.

Alma Rex-Ezonfade

• Alma Rex-Ezonfade spent over a year saving up $51,300 to take an "adult gap year."
• She initially found it difficult to do nothing but learned to enjoy herself and explore new hobbies.
• She launched her own clothing brand, is applying to 9-to-5 jobs, and plans to take more sabbaticals.

Editor's note: This list was first published in May 2024 and most recently updated on January 2, 2025.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 31-year-old Alma Rex-Ezonfade based in Toronto, Canada. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

On my 29th birthday, I opened a savings account and put $500 in it. I had told myself that for my 30th birthday, I would gift myself a one-year sabbatical, and this was my first step in making that dream of taking an "adult gap year" a reality.

I was tired of working and always being on top of things. I immigrated to Canada from Nigeria when I was 22 for my master's degree and started working right after graduating. It felt like I had been running on a hamster wheel, and I was just going, going, going, going.

I calculated my budget for the year

Before taking my gap year, I was a customer success manager at Astreya making around 110,000 CAD ($80,500) and a content creator. Between my 9-to-5 salary and my income from working with brands and doing campaigns, I was making nearly 200,000 CAD ($146,600) a year.

I calculated how much I actually needed to save based on my spending at the time.

For necessities like rent, car payments, groceries, gas, my phone bill, and utilities, I estimated around 4,200 CAD ($3,100) a month. I also decided I wanted to travel, which I knew would be a bit pricey because I'm not a budget traveler. I planned for 18,000 CAD ($13,200) for two big trips and a number of smaller ones.

Altogether, I calculated that I would need to save around 70,000 CAD ($51,300) for my sabbatical, which I did by putting most of my content creator income into my sabbatical fund. If I didn't have my job as a content creator, I would've picked up a part-time job to generate that supplemental income.

I also cut back on expenses. I was never too shy to say "I can't afford that" or "I can't do that activity," because I was planning for something that had way higher priority than going out and spending $200 in one night.

I left my job but struggled to not do anything

Saving up took me a little longer than I had planned, but I quit my job in April 2023.

The day I quit, I just spent the whole day at home, watching the TV blankly. I didn't do anything else; I just needed my brain to shut off.

On Monday, I woke up at 8 a.m. as usual because I forgot that I didn't have a job. Then I remembered I could sleep in, but I was already awake, so I tried to figure out my new routine.

I started to put together a plan, and then I realized that would just defeat the whole purpose. The plan was to let go.

Still, I didn't feel like I could just not do anything. I found myself planning for my upcoming trips, brainstorming content ideas for my YouTube channel, and posting more regularly on my Instagram page. I had thought about starting my own clothing brand for years, so I started working on ideas for that too.

One of my friends said to me, "The whole point was for you to not work. Why can't you not work?"

The week after I quit, I checked myself into a hotel for a couple of days, ordered room service, and cried the entire time. My tears were tears of gratitude, tears of exhaustion, tears of relief. I was letting myself feel like, "Okay, I did it and I'm here."

I was used to being a high performer, managing a team, having deliverables, and doing all these things. I had to get used to the idea of not working and get over feeling like I wasn't useful because I wasn't being productive. I had to shift to having my validation come from my own happiness and seeing my value beyond my work output.

Three weeks into my sabbatical, one of my former bosses reached out to me to tell me about a contract role at Google that she wanted me to interview for. Honestly, I almost took it, because I wasn't used to the idea of not having work.

It took some getting used to, but eventually, I was able to go a whole week without doing any work.

Did I make the right decision?

The first few months when I was on sabbatical, I was so sad.

I looked at all the money that I had put in my sabbatical account and thought of everything else that I could have done with that money rather than lounge for a whole year.

Maybe I should just take it out and buy a house, I thought. I even asked my real-estate agent friend to look up properties for me, but I knew that if I bought the house instead, I'd be miserable, always wondering what I could've achieved if I just took the year off.

I remember talking to my therapist and trying to validate the decision time after time. At the end of the day, I realized that I was at the best point of my life to give this gift to myself. A few months in, once I settled on that, I started to have fun with the idea that I was on a sabbatical.

I learned to enjoy myself

I enjoyed having the luxury of time to do whatever I wanted.

I fell in love with working out again. I started coloring, drawing, and doing ceramics. I started reading again and got back into writing. I spent more time with myself and with my family. I picked up childhood hobbies again, like building Legos and taking Polaroid photos. I also cooked more and tried new coffee spots in Toronto.

Enjoying ceramics.

Alma Rex-Ezonfade

Some of my favorite memories from my sabbatical are the many days I spent just sitting on my couch watching TV and only getting up to eat. I finished all six seasons of "Downton Abbey" in one week. I also watched all of "Schitt's Creek" and a lot of Korean shows.

Working on my clothing brand became a passion project. I learned about fabrics and the fashion industry — I enjoyed just learning things for the sake of learning.

I visited friends and family in other countries, did some birthday trips with friends, went on a seven-day cruise to the Caribbean, and spent four weeks traveling Europe.

Enjoying Punta Cana.

Alma Rex-Ezonfade

I launched my own clothing brand and am looking at full-time roles

In May, after a full year of my sabbatical, my sabbatical funds were almost fully drained, and my income as a content creator was keeping me afloat. I thought I'd be panicking about my finances, but taking the time off helped me develop a mindset shift; I knew I'd figure it out one way or another. I was the most broke I'd ever been, but I'd never been happier.

That month, I launched my fashion brand, which has been doing well. I've been focused on running and growing it full-time, and in the near future, I hope to hire a team to take over the day-to-day tasks. In the meantime, I've been financially relying on savings and my content creator income, including several brand deals.

I've always been open to returning to a 9-5 workplace after my gap year, and I've been applying to roles that allow me to leverage my skills as a customer success manager, an entrepreneur, and a creative. I plan to continue running my clothing brand full-time as well.

I plan to take many more sabbaticals

I'm very happy with my path. I just feel kind of sad that I had to take a whole year off of work to find joy in my life.

One of the biggest things I'm taking away from this sabbatical is realizing that a lot of things are not that serious. When you're an immigrant, a lot of things are that serious; I had to start life over again in Canada and I had to excel at this life. But I just kept going and going and going, and I realized that I needed to enjoy life.

I'd absolutely do a sabbatical again. My loved ones have pointed out that I'm less grumpy, I shout less, and I'm less controlling. My plan is to work in a corporate job for another three years to get more experience and knowledge, take another year off at 35, and repeat that cycle until I retire.

My sabbatical was really about redefining what happiness looks like at different points in my life. I needed time away to de-stress and prioritize the things I thought were important, and now, I'm going back with a fresher outlook on my professional career and personal life goals.

If you took a sabbatical and would like to share your story, email Jane Zhang at janezhang@businessinsider.com.

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I quit my teaching job and earn more money as a freelance writer. Here are the 5 keys to my success.

I quit my teaching job to be a writer and I've never been happier.

Courtesy of Andrea Anderson

• After teaching for 8 years, I quit so I could spend more time with my children.
• I began freelance writing and soon started earning more money than I did as a teacher.
• I found following five strategies helped me become — and stay — successful.

In 2019, I had been a middle and high school English teacher for eight years. I also had two young children. Even though I truly loved my job, I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, so at the end of the school year, I quit my teaching job in order to stay home full-time.

I knew that I still wanted to be able to contribute financially while spending the majority of my day with my kids, and frankly, I had no idea how to do it. So, I went back to the thing that I've been doing my entire life — writing. I started freelance writing in the spring of 2019, and by the end of 2022, I had replaced my teaching salary with my freelance earnings. It was a big moment.

Fast forward to 2024, and I make more than I did as a teacher and get to write about a range of topics that include home improvement tips, product reviews, design-inspired pieces, personal finance, and more. My clients have included Real Simple, Popular Mechanics, Apartment Therapy, and US News & World Report.

As I look back on the early years and the years that followed, there are a number of things that contributed to that success and that I will continue to do to reach future goals.

I started where I was with what I had

If you wait for conditions to be perfect before starting something, it may never happen. I started my freelance writing business with a school-issued laptop and an hour in the mornings. It wasn't ideal, but it was what I had.

When I quit my job, I bought a $175 laptop and often worked from my bed with a baby sleeping next to me (or on me). Now, six years later, I have a little office nook and a computer with two monitors, but this never would have happened if I hadn't started when I did.

I also had no idea how to find clients, so I made an Upwork account, which at the time allowed you to connect with clients for free. I started sending proposals to any assignment that looked interesting or I had a passing knowledge of and got a few clients. I wrote for an affiliate beekeeping website (we had bees at the time), a property finder in Spain, and a luxury countertop brand.

I determined when I work best

All of my kids are in school now, so my days are much more flexible as far as work is concerned. But when I had the kids at home with me, the only time that I truly had to work was when they were sleeping. For me, this worked out ok because I'm naturally a morning person, but some days I was waking up at 3:30 or 4:00 am to get my writing done. I did what I had to do to get the hours in and my assignments completed.

While I definitely don't think that everyone has to get up early to be successful, it really paid off (literally) for me to zero in on the fact that I work best in the morning. That knowledge was even more solidified when all of the kids started school this year. Even though I have the option to work at other times, I still get up before 5:00 because that's when I'm the most focused.

I kept pushing forward

In 2019, I chose "relentless" as my word of the year, and I've chosen a word every year since. I really did feel relentless that year and in the years that followed. Every time I wanted to sleep in a little later or I was feeling discouraged about the progress (or lack of) that I was making, I reminded myself that I needed to be relentless. Often, that was the push I needed to reach out to one more person to pitch a potential story or get up and finish an assignment.

I learned to pivot when necessary

I focused on writing about building materials and real estate during COVID when the housing market was exploding. When that started to cool off, I moved into more home improvement topics. Being able to pivot when necessary, while not always easy, keeps your foot in the door even as it revolves. When I lose clients, my immediate thought after I get over the disappointment is to look towards the next thing and evaluate if I should continue doing what I'm doing or pivot to something that can lead me down a new path. Now, I'm also focused on writing "The Simple Freelancer," my Substack newsletter that offers simple tips for freelance success.

I set up systems

I read James Clear's "Atomic Habits," in 2022, and it shifted the way I did a lot of things in my life and business. In it, Clear talks about the importance of systems and routines. Once I started to set up systems for different facets of my business, like my morning routine and how I track assignments, things really started to take off. A lot of times, it seems really difficult to reach a goal, whether it's to replace your current income at a new job or something else entirely, but the systems that can help you get there are much more manageable.

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'Missing You' features actors who appear in other Harlan Coben shows. Here's where you might recognize them from.

Richard Armitage as Ellis Stagger in "Missing You."

Vishal Sharma/Netflix

• "Missing You" is the latest adaptation of a book by Harlan Coben.
• It follows detective Kat Donovan whose fiancé disappeared.
• The series includes several actors from other Netflix shows based on Coben's work.

The latest Harlan Coben Netflix thriller, "Missing You," features a handful of actors from previous adaptations of the author's mystery novels.

Rosalind Eleazar plays detective Kat Donovan, a woman whose fiancé, Josh Buchanan (Ashley Walters), disappeared without a trace eleven years ago.

When she spots his profile on a dating app it forces her to reexamine her life, including the suspicious circumstances surrounding her father's death.

"Missing You" was released on Netflix exactly one year after the previous Coben series, "Fool Me Once," starring Michelle Keegan, which was one of the streamer's most-watched shows of the year.

The cast of the new series includes three actors who subscribers might recognize from previous Coben adaptations.

Richard Armitage plays Ellis Stagger in "Missing You" and previously appeared in "Stay Close," "The Stranger," and "Fool Me Once."

Richard Armitage in "Stay Close," "The Stranger," "Fool Me Once," and "Missing You."

Netflix

Richard Armitage plays a major role in "Missing You" as sergeant Ellis Stagger, Donovan's police boss who is involved with the mystery surrounding her father's death. The series marks Armitage's fourth appearance in a Coben Netflix series.

In 2020 he played Adam Price, a father of two whose wife goes missing shortly after a mysterious stranger (Hannah John-Kamen) approaches him out of the blue and tells him a secret.

Then, in 2021, he played paparazzi photographer Ray Levine who is one of the major suspects in the murder of Stewart Green (Rod Hunt) in a cold case that resurfaces in the present day.

And in 2024, he played Joe Burkett in "Fool Me Once," Maya Stern's (Michelle Keegan) dead husband who mysteriously appears on a nanny cam in their home.

James Nesbitt plays Calligan and also appeared in "Stay Close"

James Nesbitt in "Stay Close" and "Missing You."

Netflix

Irish actor James Nesbitt plays Calligan, a nefarious gangster, in "Missing You" and it's insinuated that he had something to do with the death of Donovan's father.

He has a pretty murky backstory, as one police officer tells Donovan that Calligan almost murdered his classmate with a claw hammer when he was at school.

Nesbitt previously starred in "Stay Close" with Armitage and played detective Michael Broome, the police officer who investigates the disappearance of Del Flynn (Ross Boatman), a businessman who vanished exactly 17 years after Green went missing.

As is the case in all good Coben TV shows, he realizes he has a surprisingly personal connection to the case.

Marc Warren plays Monte Leburn and appeared in "Safe"

Marc Warren played Monte Leburn.

Netflix

Rounding out the Coben alumni is Marc Warren, who plays Monte Leburn, the hitman who confessed to killing Donovan's father — despite having no reason to do so.

His actions confuse Donovan as she tires to find the truth truth about his death.

Audiences might recognize Warren from "Safe," in which he played Dr. Pete Mayfield, the best friend of Tom Delaney (Michael C. Hall), a widower. Delaney asks Mayfield for help when his daughter, Jenny (Amy-Leigh Hickman), goes missing after a house party.

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