Should I sell my duplex?

[Martha Daisley]

Hi all,

I have a little 2/2 duplex that i bought real cheap during the housing crash. It was a short sale for 45K. Currently i owe 35K on it.  I have been renting it out the past 3 1/2 years. When the latest tenant moved out i was rennovating it for the next tenant when my handyman mentioned i should check how much its worth because the housing market is up now. So i checked on zillow and holy moly! Its showing that its worth 130K.  I called a realtor friend to do a market analysis and he came back with 120 to 125K.  So its looking like if I sell it, I can clear around 66-70K after realtor fees and capital gains tax.  Should i do it?  Its been making us good rental income these past three years (about $550 per month profit after mortgage, insurance and taxes). However i think this is probably the peak value i can get from selling it , probably wont go much higher than this( i think). I was thinking i could just save the 70K for now, buy another property at short sale or forclosure but get it financed while interest rates are low, and then later on when interest rates are higher and house prices go down a bit, use the 70K cash to maybe get a second property. What do you guys think?

[Dave Foster]

@Martha Daisley, Wow I don't know.  I hate to turn away potential business but you're making an annual return on your down payment of probably over 100%.  There's nowhere else in the world where you could legally invest $5K and get a $6K return every year (plus the principle the tenants are paying down). That's all star kind of return.  You don't mention difficulty renting or maintaining.  I don't even know if I'd mess it up with a refi.  Instead of selling and waiting.  Don't sell and wait while you save up another down payment.  

If your goal is to move up in property class then sure you may want to 1031.  But if not stand pat and enjoy the rewards of a great deal.