All Forum Posts by: Clarissa David

can you find another tenant to rent out your bedroom? If you can get this to cashflow and buy another primary you can keep building your real estate empire.

@Clarissa David

need a few more numbers - need to know what it would rent for when you moved out, and also all expenses. PITI and HOA are just two. Need capex, repairs, vacancy, property management, any utilities you'd remain liable for, etc.

if it would only rent for $2K obviously you'd be CF negative significantly every month since PITI + HOA alone is $2500+.

but maybe it would be $3K.  and maybe the HVAC is brand new.  or not.

that's what we need to know.  we're still not dealing with actual numbers here yet.

It's not the best time to sell, but if you have enough equity and expect to sell under market value and still make a profit you should do it. This property is a money drain not an investment. 

@Clarissa David

what are the numbers now with you living there?  what would they be if you left?

 Look at a few homes that are for sale in your price range to get an idea of where that gets you.  Then I'd probably sell, but only if you can buy another home.  While the market is slow in many areas, it will go up again in the spring and the longer you are out of the market, the harder it will be to get back in.

 Then, I'd sell it now.  While you may get a lower price in the winter, if you turn around an buy a home you will also be buying it at a lower price.  If you can afford it, I'd suggest a single family home with no HOAs.

Talk to a local realtor or two as they will have a better idea about the market. You don't say how long you've had your condo, but for the HOA to almost double is not a good sign and suggests something is wrong with the management. I'd get out.

I had a condo I purchased to live in (my first place) and then rented it out.  They kept having special assessments for various things and after a while, I decided I'd had enough of that and sold it.  A few months after I sold, they had a dozy of a special assessment (in the millions) and I was so happy I sold when I did.

One way to look at it is since you are selling one place and buying another, the worse a time it is to be a seller on your current property, the better a time it is to be a buyer on a new one, and vice versa. So it would balance out.

That said, you would probably be replacing a mortgage at a lower interest rate on your current property with a mortgage at a higher interest rate on your new property, and that would really eat into all the savings you were hoping for. I would look carefully at that math as you decide what to do.