Keep or Sell a condo with negative cash flow

[Kartik T.]

Hello new member here findings the forums very informative. Here is my situation and questions

I have 1 primary residence (Condo) and 2 investment properties (both condos) both of which are rentals. I am not a professional investor have bought the places for living in them and then eventually moved 

For Investment property 1 I am cash flow negative. For investment property 2 I am breaking even. Here is my questions on Investment property 1

Bought in 2006 for 600k, Current market value is 600k, outstanding loan balance is 360k. I have been paying the mortgage from past 11 years. Currently I am -$550 per month on the property. This is a condo in Southern California and I am paying Mello Roos + HOA fees. Here are my options

1. Sell the property and barely make any money after paying mortgage for 11 years

2. Sell the property and purchase another property with +ve cash flow that does not have HOA and Mello Roos. This will require some effort and time on my side as I do not live in Southern CA anymore

3. Keep the property for another 20 years until the mortgage is paid off. Then I will be cash +ver 

Any thoughts on what I should do? I do not need the cash now but at the same time do not want to be financially stupid

Thoughts?

[David Stone]

If you can refinance to become positive cashflow it would definitely be worth it.  Otherwise I would sell it, consider it a learning experience, and move on with a better investment.  You can make up for this, just keep moving forward

We still own our brand new expensive house... we lived in it, decided we hated the payment and rented it, we pay $100 a month to rent it out but it was better than losing it and it got us in the game.  The rentals we have been able to acquire over the past couple years more than make up for its negative cashflow, and the market is finally letting us sell it to pretty much get out of it.  As soon as the lease is up, we are selling it.  (Haven't been able to refinance, bank wanted us to bring $10k to the table, not worth it for us)

Hope all works out with your situation!