We have 4 rental properties plus our main house.

RH #1: Owe $13,000 - rented at $1200/month (long term tenant moving out May). We could easily rent this property for 1400 to 1500 a month right away due to the school district.

Monthly Expenses:

Mtg: $530 (personal loan father-in-law at 3.25%).
Taxes approx $300/month
Inurance,vacancy,repairs: $100

$1200 - 930 = $270 net

Original purchase in 2015 @ $52000 + approx $10,000 taxes and repairs (in PA seller pays commission yay!) = $62,000

The market in Philadelphia is insane right now - and prices are right back up to 2008 - 2011 prices. We could easily sell the property for about $133,000 or more in about one or two weeks.

The other 3 properties have about the same monthly net. One will be paid off in 2, one in 3, and one in 7.

My husband is 46 and works full time from home in software engineering. I am 36 and manage the rentals and our 2 and 10 month old. My husband is very handy (and slightly controlling) over the maintenance of the properties. We have been lucky - same tenants in all of the properties- no major repairs - on 1920’s row homes.

Of course, Without kids - managing all this was easy. Now we certainly have our hands full and finding time to be good landlords and stay up with the “yearly - yes yearly” rental inspection can be stressful. And who needs MORE stress in their lives right now!?

My dream was to keep buying in that neighborhood- one a year - but that is not going to happen in the current market for us. We do have some debt - cars - some CC - and student loans. Altogether about $60k. The bulk of that is student loans at 6%.

Long story short -

Should we 1. Sell property number one for a cash net of approx $80,000 and pay off our debt.
130,000 - 6% RE Com - 6% Pa tax - (approx) $15,000 cap gain.

2. Sell them all and take the money and run (pay off all debt including main mortgage). And invest the rest until the market returns to “normal.”

3. Pay a management company. (Not my favorite option).

4. Hunker down and keep paying down the existing mortgages and deal with the stress! Note: 2 of the 3 tenants are lifers with no kids or pets (a landlord’s dream!!!) So management on those two properties is very minimal.

6. Sell two and keep the two more desirable tenant properties?

7. Do a cash out refi of property #1 @4% for 10 years (approx $900/month) from credit union for 80k to pay off personal loan, and some of our debts. (Not my husband’s favorite).

My husband is pretty much on board for selling - but this is my little red wagon, so I need some outside perspective of our situation - and what would be the best investment strategy considering we have also started a family later than most.

Thank you - and please let me know if you have any questions.

Sara

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