[stomachmonkey]

Am planning to relocate from NY to FL.

I own my own business so relo is all on me.

Went down a couple of weeks ago w/the wife to start scoping out communities.

I need to sell my house in NY 1st. Going on the market sometime this month.

Wife mentioned yesterday that we should consider renting in FL to give us time to find the right place. She figured 5-6 months.

I have a problem with that for a couple of reasons.

My wife is picky when it comes to houses. We had looked for a bigger place here in NY a couple years back. She looked for over a year and could not find anything. Real Estate brokers stopped calling her which I think is unheard of.

Second is the expense of essentially relocating twice in addition to the rent money. I figure 5-6months of renting will cost me around $10k. That includes storage for my stuff during that time.

Then there is the problem of finding a short term rental situation that would accomodate a family of 4 with 4 cats.

As far as Capital Gains on my house sale here in NY. I'll realize a profit of $350-400k on the sale. How long do I have to put some of it into a new house before I half to pay on it? Do I need to put the money somewhere to "protect" it. What would that be and what's the shortest term.

The fact that the RE market is in decline could work in my favor. If I sit for a bit I can probably get more house for less. But then I worry about interest rates going up and will that eat into any gains?

Anyone have thoughts on this?

Thanks
Scott