Teardowns don't always make economic sense

Q: My wife and I are thinking of tearing down our house. We love the neighborhood.

Our street is experiencing a lot of teardowns. Our house is a 1946 ranch that would probably fetch north of $500,000 if we sold it outright. We paid $249,000 10 years ago, owe $170,000 and have been paying down a 15-year mortgage at 4.75 percent for the past four years. We also make an extra payment each year. We have a small second mortgage that we used to pay off my law school loans.

The houses being torn down are much smaller than ours and sell for under $400,000. more...

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