Relocating for work - what are my options?

Question

Hi all,

As described in title, relocating to another city in Texas for work.

I am 27 and currently have a home in Dallas that I bought Nov 2025. $359k at 5.49% with an FHA and 3.5% down. I'm looking to rent this home when I have to move in September of this year.

Once in new city, I plan to rent until my year of primary residence is up and house hack into another property. The houses I'm currently targeting are around $240-260k.

my main question is - is this a solid idea? I don't want to sell my home in Dallas and have come to terms that I'll probably be negative a couple hundred in cash flow. My thought is that with buying a much cheaper property in new city, my overall housing cost will be lower or about equal.

I plan to only stay in this new city for a year or two, and would also rent the property that I bought there when I leave.

John Nachtigall · Answer

This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but since you asked I think this is a terrible idea.

Being a remote landlord of a single property is not easy and given your age I assume you have zero experience.   You are already calculating cash flow negative and I suspect you have not included things like maintenance and insurance.  A single tenet who refuses to pay will lead to a financial disaster for you, draining thousands a month while you remotely try to have them removed costing you even more money.

I get it, you are on this forum and probably watch a bunch of videos with people talking about never selling real estate and equity and passive income.  You are thinking about the best case where you get a tenet that pays on time including utilities, always mows the lawn, and takes care of small maintenance items themselves.   Its a fine dream, but that is what it is, not a reality.

Lets take a middle of the road example.   You find a young couple with a small child in 2 months after you move, so you have to pay the whole mortgage for those 2 months.   They seem nice and sign a lease paying utilities and you are losing $200 a month compared to your mortgage.   They live there 12 months, are late twice, and have 1 clogged toilet that costs you $400 to hire someone on task rabbit to fix.   After they move out you have to have a deep clean/repaint for $500, not because they trashed the house but because wear and tear is a real thing and you need to make it nice for the next tenet to rent.   Oh and you have to move the utilities out and into your name at the beginning and end so there is your time used.

That is a very mild scenario.   At the end of 12 months you will have lost 5800 waiting for tenets + 2400 negative cash flow + 400 maintenance + 500 for turnover + $2500 in insurance for a grand total of $11600 lost over 12 months.   And that is a fairly best case with only 1 maintenance problem they always pay and minimal turnover costs.

Sell the house, concentrate on your career, max out your 401k and buy index funds and in 10-15 years you can have the financial security to try direct real estate investment responsibly.  Good Luck to you

Drew Sygit · Answer

Start interviewing PMCs NOW and don't make the mistake of going with the cheapest!

With no experience, you are bound to make mistakes - and it only takes one big one to financially ruin you.

You could try to rent out your other rooms for the next 3 months and get experience, but that is unlikely to be enough.

NOTE: just about anyone can DIY manage when everything is going well. It's how well the inevitable problems can be handled that separates newbies from experts.

Jules Aton · Answer

Agree with @John Nachtigall Sounds like a combination of accidental landlord and sink cost fallacy.

Stacy Raskin · Answer

Depending on how you rent the property, you might be able to break even or have positive cash flow. If you think a long term rental will put you negative, but it still makes sense due to your new housing costs, it can make sense to rent the property if you are comfortable being a landlord and dealing with everything that comes with that. Some people hire a property manager but then it's a matter of finding one that you would like to work with.

Diego Alvarado · Answer

Hi @Naim Jones

I hope @John Nachtigall didn't scare you :), but this is reality.

Going deeper onto your situation, and if you are confortable on the number that John run for you in this scenario, you have to go deeper on your situation.

At glance, there are two negatives that I am seeing:

- Property management won't be as a good option because you are going to expend 1.5% on those numbers + the cost of the PM.

- Selling will probably produce a lost as you bought it in 2025. And with that low down payment you may need to put money at closing too.

Overall, it seems that your idea fit the best, but with warnings, of course appreciation will help you and the rental market in DFW has moved up consistently, though you must look at your specific city and neighborhood market, age of your home, and partners in the area.

If you have a good local network, you can get away on all the repairs and stress that this could happen, the main thing is that when having a tenant don't try to cut corners on it. Make sure that you have someone trustworthy that will help you in the screening (because they have done a lot and have their own).

I hope you get to decide what to do next soon and don't get trap in the do's and dont's circle.

Patrick Parry · Answer

I’d separate the two decisions.

Keeping the Dallas house may work if your budget can handle the mortgage during vacancies and the occasional repair. But I would not judge the plan only by the expected negative cash flow.

Before buying again, I’d talk to a lender about how they will treat the Dallas house once you move. You bought with FHA in November 2025 and plan to relocate in September, so the occupancy and rental-income side needs to be clear before you build the next purchase around it.

If you are trying to use rental income from the Dallas house to qualify for the next loan, FHA guidance can get specific. For rental income from a property being vacated by the borrower, HUD says the borrower must relocate more than 100 miles from the current principal residence. The lender also needs a lease agreement of at least one year and proof of the security deposit or first month’s rent.

I don’t think it is automatically a bad idea. I just would not stack another purchase on top of a negative rental unless the numbers still work with vacancy, a repair, and tenant turnover.

Theresa Harris · Answer

Start by talking to a bank to see if they will lend you enough to buy a second home.  If you are planning on moving back to Dallas and into the home in a few years, I'd keep it (provided you can afford to financially).

As for renting by the room vs the whole house-renting the entire house to one person is going to be easier.  If you rent by the room, you are going to have to think about who keeps up the yard and deal with roommate issues.  You'd also have furnish part of the house (minus the bedrooms).

Stacy Raskin · Answer

3bed/2 bath can work as a roommate set up (most recently seems to be called co-living : ) but it can have issues perhaps that you won't see if you rent the house out to one group of people or a family. I think it depends on how hands-on you would like to be and what is important to you on the spectrum of ease and profitability.

Naim Jones · Answer

@Stacy Raskin thank you for your response. I was thinking long term just given I'll be a few hours away and would prefer not to spend on property management, but do you think other renting types would yield better on a 3B/2B SFH?

Relocating for work - what are my options?

Most Popular Reply