Problems with our Current Rental and Deciding Whether to Sell or Not

Problems with our Current Rental and Deciding Whether to Sell or Not

Member since 2022 · 1 post · 0 votes

Hello! 

I am new to Bigger Pockets and am excited to learn more about real estate. I wanted to ask advice of some of you who have a lot of experience in long-term rentals. 

My wife and I purchased a home at the very beginning of 2022 and "house-hacked." We lived in a little apartment above the garage and rented out the main portion of the house. 

Pretty soon after purchasing it, we have had several problems, many of which likely occurred due to our lack of enough due diligence. 

We have had a pipe burst during the cold winter months, the roof needed to be replaced (thankfully covered by our insurance), and some issues with electrical, which hasn't been majorly updated since it was built in 1973. Our sewage line has also backed up into the basement, several times.  Our biggest expense was replacement vinyl siding, which costed around $40K. We paid this out of pocket. We didn't know the siding needed to be replaced because it was just recently replaced by the owner before selling it to us, but probably with bad quality paint/siding. 


Just last week, the water heater (which was installed in 2020) suddenly leaked way too much water out of the overflow pipe and flooded a good portion of the basement. That will cost us about $4.8K out of pocket (our insurance deductible under our Rental Dwelling policy). 


Our tenants pay $2,700 in rent and the mortgage+fees comes out to $2,360. Recently, our real estate agent did a market analysis and estimates we can sell for between $575K-$585K, resulting in a net gain after all of our fees of about $100K. We have $150K in equity. 


Would you recommend we keep the house or sell it?  I know that there are issues with any house, but it seems to us as if we have had way more of our fair share of problems since we acquired it. Would it make more sense to move the money we make from selling to a different property that could potentially increase our cash flow? 


The house is located in Utah County, and I think over time it will appreciate very quickly relative to other markets. But these issues have just been really discouraging to deal with. 

Let me know your thoughts, and thanks for reading!

Peter









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Residential Real Estate Agent · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2009 · 381 posts · 134 votes
1y

Sounds like you need to have a relationship with a couple of good contractors, 40k for vinyl siding sounds high, what was the material cost.  Can fix the water damage in the basement yourself.

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  • Residential Real Estate Agent · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2009 · 381 posts · 134 votes
    1y

    Sounds like you need to have a relationship with a couple of good contractors, 40k for vinyl siding sounds high, what was the material cost.  Can fix the water damage in the basement yourself.

  • Broker · Logan, UT · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    1y

    Welcome to the wonderful world of real estate!

    It sounds like you've absorbed a bunch of problems already and a new sewer line and the current basement situation will cost you way less than the $50K in fees to sell it.  You have a decent loan on the place that you won't be able to replace from a cashflow standpoint.

    So keep at it.  In my estimation it takes 2-5 years before a rental is broken in and feels like a good investment.  Until then it can be really stressful.  Everyone who has done this for a while has had a property or two like this one. 

    Write it up to an education, spend some time sharpening your support team (particularly in the trades) and start thinking about how you can do it again!

    It may feel like a kick in the head, but you're on the right track.

  • Member since 2024 · 8 posts · 5 votes
    1y

    Hi Peter,

    I live in Wasatch County but am over in Utah County a lot. I agree with William that the rate you have is probably better than you'd be able to get moving into another property with rates where they are today. 

    I'm a General Contractor and may be able to help. If you've gotten most of the work done already, no worries. Keep me in mind if you need any help in the future.

    John

  • Member since 2024 · 5 posts · 2 votes
    1y

    Thank you so much for your thoughts and advice. I'm going to find out the extent of the leak damage. If it's minimal, then I'll pay out of pocket. I appreciate your help!

  • Andrew HasserPro Member
    Salt Lake City, UT · Member since 2023 · 7 posts · 1 vote
    1y

    Hi Peter, I'm in Salt Lake and co-host the Utah Real Estate Exchange meetup in Riverton. You should come out and grow your experience and portfolio. You'll also find contractors who are investor-vetted, and who will not gouge you like it seems your siding contractor did.

    Regarding this property, if you sell, don't forget that your net gain that you've calculated also needs to account for the cost of selling the house. Between agent commissions, concessions, and seller-paid closing costs, I always plan to pay as much as 10% of the sale price (8% minimum), so that'd take a pretty heft cut out of that figure, leaving you with maybe around $40-50k.

  • Dave FosterBusiness Member
    Qualified Intermediary for 1031 Exchanges · St. Petersburg, FL · Member since 2013 · 9k+ posts · 9k+ votes
    1y

    @Peter Marriott, If you decide to sell and find that the property has become more of a financial burden opposed to an income stream, you may have the opportunity to take some of the profit tax-free and defer the tax on the rest.

    Since a portion of the property is your primary residence, you could take advantage of the 121 exclusion, which allows you to take the first $250k ($500k if married) of the gain tax-free for the portion you lived in.

    For the rest of the property that was used for investment, you would be able to utilize a 1031 exchange.

    A 1031 exchange allows you to defer all of the capital gains tax and depreciation recapture from the investment portion to reinvest into another investment property with more potential.

    So there's lots of potential to utilize both of these tools to find a better-performing investment property. And put some money into your pocket tax-free at the same time.

    The 1031 Investor5137 Reviews
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