Becoming a landlord

[Wesley A Sanderson]

We currently live in our house and looking to move within the next year or so. I was thinking about renting my house instead of selling after we move. Is there anybody that can look at my property and tell me anything that I might have to fix before renting?

[James Murphey]

The first thing I would do is the math. Make sure it will cashflow properly. Many people neglect to actually do the math, and just think I have my house paid off, or the payment on my house is low enough to rent it out and make a few hundred dollars. If you house is worth 200k paid off, and you rent it out for 1000 that is 5% annual return. You would most likely get more than that with low cost index funds and not have to manage it. I would make sure that it makes financial sense. You might want to take sale your house, and make an investment into something else ,or maybe take HELOC and look for another investment. There are a lot of options. I would just want to make sure that my money is keeping up with inflation and making a reasonable profit. Hope this helps.