Taxes on Selling Primary Residence

[macmarauder]

Basically my wife and I are wanting to sell our home in Colorado Springs Colorado, move into a rental, and wait a year or two for the market to die down. When we bought our home the local market was pretty much at the bottom of the 2009 recession. Right now the market has not only recovered but is much higher than average. So when we sell we will make a bunch of profit. We are wanting to move one city over, Denver Colorado and wait about 1 or 2 years for the market to die down before buying another home.

I know when you buy a home that you have lived in for at least the past two years and buy another home right away you don't have to pay taxes on the money but what if you have a break of one or two years in between? 

[PaulaM]

The 2 of 5 years requirement does not have to be consecutive. You need 24 months in total within that time frame. The link below goes over the basic rules.

 Primary Home Sale Gain Exclusion

[NCperson]

buying another home is not a pre-requisite to shielding the profit on the sale of your current home.... that was a requirement many, many years ago but it is no longer the case 

[DaveT315]

Provided you have used the propery as your primary residence at least two of the five year prior to sale, you can take the capital gains exclusion regardless of what you do with the money.  No need to purchase a replacement home any more.