Vasse: keep it or sell it?

Where we got to

When we spoke on 21 September you asked me straight out whether selling Vasse was the right call. I said I'd run the real numbers once your statements came through. They're below.

This page shows what Vasse actually costs you to hold, what a sale would leave in your hand after the loans and tax, and how keeping it compares with selling it over the next five years. The figures in the yellow boxes are yours to change, and everything updates as you go.

What Vasse costs you to hold today

Straight from your CommBank statements, July to September 2026, turned into a full year.

What a sale would leave you with

Move the sale price to whatever your agent thinks it will fetch. The loan balances are my estimates from your repayments, so check them in the Athena app and change them here if they're different.

The tax line is an estimate only, using this year's tax rates, the 50% discount for owning Vasse more than 12 months, and the cost base above. I've used $480,000 as a starting point (the land at $218,000 in 2008 plus an allowance for the 2014 build) because I don't hold your actual figure. Your accountant will give you the real number, and any building write-offs you've claimed over the years lower your cost base and raise the tax.

Keep or sell: five years from now

Five years takes you to 68, around when you said you'd want to tidy things up anyway. Both sides below assume you spend exactly the same each month. If you keep Vasse, that money goes on the loans and holding costs, as it does now. If you sell, the same money goes onto Wanneroo until it's paid off, then into savings.

Pick how Vasse might grow:

Both sides count what you'd have left after paying out every loan on both properties and, for "keep", after selling Vasse in five years and paying that tax. Your Wanneroo home is the same either way, so its value is left out, but what you still owe on it is counted. Rent and holding costs rise 3% a year. Vasse's interest is tax deductible and Wanneroo's isn't, and the page allows for that at your tax rate. Savings earn 4% a year before tax. This is an illustration, not a forecast.

What it means for Wellbrook

• Selling would make Wellbrook easier, not harder. You'd lose the Vasse rent, but you'd also clear about $470,000 of debt, including the deposit loan. When a lender works out what you can borrow, getting rid of that debt helps you more than losing the rent hurts you.
• Keeping Vasse still works. What matters most for Wellbrook is your income. A permanent role at Northern Star helps a lot.
• Settlement is still expected around Q2 2027, with the deposit paid and nothing due before then. We'll sit down properly once you've got a few weeks of pay behind you.

My view, with my finance hat on

I'm not your agent, your accountant or your property manager, and I don't gain anything either way. Here's how I read your numbers.

Vasse costs you very little to hold, and part of what you put in goes straight off the loan. If it keeps growing the way Busselton has over the last 30 years, keeping it comes out well ahead. That's why my first instinct on the call was to hold if you can.

The asterisk is a real one, though. A sale today could knock most of Wanneroo off. At 63, with work only just settled again, a nearly paid-off home is worth more than a spreadsheet can show. If that peace of mind is what you want, selling is a perfectly sound decision and I wouldn't talk you out of it.

Either way, there's no wrong answer here, just a trade-off between possible growth and certain security.

Questions worth putting to your accountant

• What is my actual cost base for Vasse, after any building write-offs I've claimed?
• Did I ever live in Vasse? If so, does any of the main residence exemption apply?
• Would the tax be lower if the sale fell in a year when I'm earning less, such as after I retire?
• Could extra super contributions in the year of sale reduce the tax? (Worth asking your financial adviser too.)

What would help me next

1. Where the sale is up to. Any offers, or the price your agent is guiding.
2. A screenshot of your Athena balances for both Vasse loans and Wanneroo, so the numbers above are exact.
3. Your cost base once your accountant has it. Pop it in above and the tax line updates.
4. Your Northern Star contract and first two payslips when you have them, for Wellbrook.

Call or message me whenever suits, Case. Happy to go through any of this with you.

This page gives general information only and is not personal financial, tax or legal advice. It's based on your bank statements from July to September 2026 and the assumptions shown, all of which can change. Please speak with your accountant and financial adviser before deciding to sell.