Is the house worth renting or should I sell?

Is the house worth renting or should I sell?

Roanoke, VA · Member since 2018 · 3 posts · 1 vote

Good morning,

To start, I am new to Bigger Pockets and the forums an would like to say hello to everyone!

The subject at hand is the house that I am currently living in.  I am looking to move into a different home and am attempting to determine if it is worth renting my current home or just selling it outright.

It's a split level foyer home with 2,400 sqft, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, in a nice neighborhood. Three years ago, the house was refinanced for $145k at 4.25% on a 25 year conventional loan. The LTV requirement was met and the PMI has been removed from the payments which currently come in just shy of $1,000 a month for P&I, Insurance, and Taxes. Currently the outstanding loan amount is $34,000 under the tax assessment so I can use the equity in future property investing.

Yesterday an individual from a respected property group in the area stated the house would rent for $1,300 a month (which matches my research).  They charge 10% monthly rent, an extra 25% for the lease signing, and 5% for a yearly removal.  This group would be managing the property as they have low vacancy rates and only work with year long leases with no early terminations.  The first month charge would be $325, and $130 a month afterwards.  The tenant would pay all utility bills as well as maintain the yard.

The house is in good condition and has no immediate issues, all the the appliances are roughly 6 years old.  The average monthly costs would be ~$1130, leaving between $170 and $180 potential monthly cash flow or $1,750 for the first year.  The rent doesn't meet the 1% rule but the potential for positive cash flow is there.  Being a first time land lord, is this an acceptable number for a single family home rental?

Any advice would be well received.  Thank you!

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  • Real Estate Agent · Garden City, NY · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    8y

    @Christopher Reynolds

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_7vhsSBi7c

  • Roanoke, VA · Member since 2018 · 3 posts · 1 vote
    8y

    Thank you for the reply.  That is a very useful video which I have viewed before--always worth the watching again.

    A few more bits of information.  Regardless of renting or selling, I'm looking at spending around $2,000 for smaller repairs which include paint, replacing carpet in the basement, and replacing a bathroom vanity.  Due to the fact that when I refinanced I put no money down (because I used the accumulated equity), the cash on cash return comes to an astounding 624%.

    However, the numbers that matter are the NOI. If you factor in the different variable expanses for 5% for maintenance, Cap Ex, and Vacancy; the cash flow is -$25. I've lived in the property for 6 years and know everything is well sorted maintenance wise, and the property management group uses year long leases with no early terminations. Also some of that could be offset by

    I have also considered selling the house after two years of renting to avoid paying capital gains taxes on the property.  The next loan payment will put $325 towards the principal.  After 24 months of renting that would pay an extra 7,800 towards the principal.  Would renting it out for two years affect the property value?

    My realtor ran comps on my house this week.  The results basically showed if I listed tomorrow, the house could be sold 10k above tax assessment.  After factoring 6% for commissions and 4% closing costs (if the buyer won't pay them), I could walk away with ~$27,000.  Of course, I would be looking to buy a live in property to flip so ~$15,000 of that may go towards the upfront costs of buying the next property.

    Thanks in advance!

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