Should I sell my house or rent it out?

[Anonymous]

I no longer live in VA but still own my SFH (in Reston) worth about 650K. The house is fully paid off, but it needs some work.
It’s been sitting for almost six months now since I moved away. I thought I was going to sell, but I just can’t bring myself to list it. Now I’m considering renting it out.
We’re not extremely wealthy and this house is about half of our total net worth.
Should we sell this house or rent it out? Were currently on the west coast and if we moved back to Reston it wouldn’t be for 15-20 years. This decision has me paralyzed! Please advise.

[Anonymous]

Emotional attachments aside, it is too much NW to be tied up in the house. Sell it and put the money to work.

[Anonymous]

How much would you make if you rent it out? You have to also count expenses for management company since you are really far away and won't be able to manage this property on your own. If you can get a good return on the money you have buried there, then consider it like any other investment returning a steady percentage, except RE also tends to appreciate with inflation. Not going to appreciate more as we are in RE bubble, but you never know what happens 10 years from now when you move back.

Just do the numbers. You can take the income from the house and invest in markets or use to pay your bills in the new place.

[Anonymous]

Sell it. Being an absentee landlord is no fun. I did it once and never again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Emotional attachments aside, it is too much NW to be tied up in the house. Sell it and put the money to work.

Not everyone is good putting money to work and RE can return good income compared to investing into mutual funds or dividend paying stocks. Plus it appreciates with inflation, protecting your principal equity. If you are a trader and can make your money grow without a risk, don't assume everyone can too.

[Anonymous]

How are you paying for housing at your new location? Did you buy something or renting? You could use the rent from your house to cover your housing costs at a new location. If you sell you could pay towards owning property in your new location, but if you plan to return back (like if you have family here and see yourself needing to come back) then I wouldn't sell.

We bought a house in a desirable suburb over 10 years ago and had to move for work for several years, but we knew we wanted to return back and would have to eventually. Our house had a mortgage, but rent covered all our expenses, so we didn't have to carry negative cashflow on it renting it out. I am super risk averse and market investing beyond slow grow funds scares me. Years later we moved back and appreciate being able to live in what had become a very expensive neighborhood. We are glad we didn't sell, because we would not be able to buy at today's prices there.

[Anonymous]

sell it

[Anonymous]

If you were close I would say rent it. We’ve owned a rental property.
Because you’re on the other side of the country though I would suggest selling.
We owned a rental 15 mins away which as relatively low maintenance. Now we own in Rehoboth about 2.5 hours away. When there is an issue the renters don’t want to deal with like a chirping smoke detector, shower door off rails, mouse droppings spotted, etc…. We either have to make the trip or find someone local we have to pay to go take care of it for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sell it. Being an absentee landlord is no fun. I did it once and never again.

+1

Even with a management company to manage it, you are responsible for fixing everything that goes wrong, and quickly (not 2 weeks later). Also, renters rarely take care of a place in the manner you would. SO with an older home, you would notice things that go wrong before they become a major issue (and expense)....the renters won't, you will find out when it's a major issues/major expense. Just not worth the stress if you don't plan to be back anytime soon, if ever at all.

I don't know many people who have made money while renting their home, but I know plenty for whom it turned into a nightmare and cost them plenty.

Just sell

[Anonymous]

I would try and keep it unless you needs the funds as down payment on a new house. While renting can be hit or miss it is a relatively safe investment. The stock market has seen so much uptick in recent years that I think the chances of big gains there are slim for the next few years IMHO. I would at least try renting. You may get lucky with a tenant. Try it for a year and if it doesn’t work out then consider selling.

[Anonymous]

I incidentally have rented out my house in Reston. We had a management company and broke even--my spouse didn't want to price it too high since he wanted to focus on getting great renters. We got amazing renters who took amazing care of the house. We had planned moving away permanently but after two years we decided to move back to Reston. Tell you all this because we would have really regretted selling the house. I think if we did it over again, I would have set the rent slightly higher and put it back into the house right away with small upgrades that wouldn't put off the renters--like new screendoors or a new deck.

[Anonymous]

I vote for selling it. The housing market is decent in Reston and managing a rental from afar not as a pro usually isn't worth it. Better to get the money in hand. That said, I would do a quick check with a property management company for what they think it will rent for and what their charges would be. If it's 50% less than what you are paying in mortgage for it (or imputed mortgage), it's worth it to hold onto. But the chance that your random SFH makes a good real estate investment are usually pretty slim.

[Anonymous]

Sell

[Anonymous]

Oh dear, you should have put it on the market in the spring, you would have made far more than $650K. If you can get it on the market in the next 2-3 weeks, go for it, otherwise wait until February/March.

[Anonymous]

Sell, a renter can destroy it.