Sell or rent out house

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greymouser7

greymouser7

Vagrant Vagabond “Veni Vidi Vici”
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Respectfully request advice:

I retire from the Navy in March.

I have a 4 bed room, 2 bath house here in the South East corner of Georgia.

Built: June 2006
Mortgage paid since then. Currently $1150 monthly @ 4.5% interest. 3 bedrooms are selling for $180K, which is a bit more than I paid for it.

??? Should I sell the house or struggle with renting it??

Renting would include 10% management fees & some other problems could come up that I have not thought of.

I have a place lined up costing me $500 a month in San Antonio when I retire. Parents are 73, 66 in SATX & most of the family is there.
I probably will inherit allot as I live there.

House is completely repainted, new water heater, but would probably have to buy new appliances if renting.

Is the investment & headaches worth the long term profit?

The military living in the area bring the money into the community (am at 1 of 3 relatively close bases) and the people usually rotate every 3 years.
 
greymouser7 said:
Respectfully request advice:

I retire from the Navy in March.

I have a 4 bed room, 2 bath house here in the South East corner of Georgia.

Built: June 2006
Mortgage paid since then. Currently $1150 monthly @ 4.5% interest. 3 bedrooms are selling for $180K, which is a bit more than I paid for it.

??? Should I sell the house or struggle with renting it??

Renting would include 10% management fees & some other problems could come up that I have not thought of.

I have a place lined up costing me $500 a month in San Antonio when I retire. Parents are 73, 66 in SATX & most of the family is there.
I probably will inherit allot as I live there.

House is completely repainted, new water heater, but would probably have to buy new appliances if renting.

Is the investment & headaches worth the long term profit?

The military living in the area bring the money into the community (am at 1 of 3 relatively close bases) and the people usually rotate every 3 years.
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Sell, because you can't tell what people will do to your house and the repairs you may need to make.

With the cash in hand, even if you take a loss, it is money you can put to work, whether for a new house, the bank earning interest, stocks, bonds, et cetera.

You really want to talk to a money manager. They will know a lot more than most people here, especially me.

Personally, I would dump it, eat the loss and put the money to work.
 
As someone who owns a rental house, my 2 cents. Yours is quite new so I wouldn't expect many property issues. You didn't state what kind of profit you would be earning. But that being said I agree whole heartedly with the previous comments. There is no way I'd own a rental that far away. It doesn't sound like you'll be scraping for cash in the future. Sell it and put the worry out of your mind. As stated, put the money to work in your new location.
 
Definitely sell it unless you have a local management company to handle it. Not being there to interview potential renters can leave you holding the bag on repairs, not to mention all of the headaches that come with being a landlord. I've been there & done that, & it was no picnic. If you sell the house, find an investment company to invest the capital so you don't get beat to death by the IRS.
 
first of all, thank you for your service

secondly, i would sell the house and take the sure money

keep in mind that "investment properties" are in a higher tax bracket then homesteads are, so if your are escrowing your mortgage now,there is a good chance your 10% will go to taxes and you are making no money on the price you have in mind now

you may be able to rent it, and get lucky and get good renters...or you may get a nightmare
remember the member on here, his parents passed away and his sister put renters in the house...they could have done less damage burning the place to the ground

if it were me, i wouldnt want the headache of renters
(then again, i got a wife and 3 kids, your situation might be different, and if your in a area with a large military population, you might be able to pull rank when needed)
 
340doc said:
, . . It doesn't sound like you'll be scraping for cash in the future. .
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Basically I start a second career over again (will return to school or trade school with my GI BILL {pays for rent at E-5 Basic Housing Allowance & S O M E of the cost of school}

I signed up for the (old program) NAVY COLLEGE FUND which was supposed to be an additional $40,000. For school somehow (probably not together).

Retirement for me is about $1500 monthly, and if I can find a commercial HVAC job, my wife just graduated from HVAC school. She's ten years younger than me so she has at least 20 years of career ahead of her ideally.

Being a woman, she doesn't want to work residential in HVAC (I guess due to vulnerability).

It might be tight for a few months as we settle in, but am trying to prepare for that now. I keep my sea and sub pay until I retire, which just happened to be a blessing that most sailors do not get (most don't want to deploy or retire off of a sea going command OR many sea commands can't support the way my '2 crew' sub can.
 
I agree sell/

My wife is a r/e agent so I see some of it. Find a GOOD agent and get true input. I would have several agents from different co. look at it and get all of their inputs. Find out if county apprasisal $ is indicator to value of your home. Realize, sometimes you will pay for updates to your home to get its full value and get it sold. An inspector will generally be used by the seller to make sure no issues as to condition.
Thank you for your service.

We attended a nice Mopar show there in SA last weekend. Great cars and folk
 
It is along way from you. I had a rental in Waco Tx and live in San Antonio. I had it for 10 years or more. It’s only 3 hours away but really far when an issue comes up. Went through 5 management companies some years with no problems and some every month for years. Best bet sell the house and buy a rental in San Antonio. If the House was paid off it would be an investment if not get ready for headaches
 
G-man 7 ,sell ... no maintenance, ....it's over ,it's DONE...
first of all, thank you for your service...!!!!!!
 
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Long distance rentals are not just a fiscal drain, but emotionally as well. Even if managed which will cost you, it’s another thing on the back of your mind. Be free of it and you’ll be better off.
 
rustyfish said:
Long distance rentals are not just a fiscal drain, but emotionally as well. Even if managed which will cost you, it’s another thing on the back of your mind. Be free of it and you’ll be better off.
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Sitting in the middle of one (sigh...)...
 
When I was in the Army, I bought a house in Manhattan KS, just outside of Ft. Riley. I came down on orders that sent me to S. Korea, my wife at the time couldn't go with me and she wsn't staying in KS with two pre-school kids. I was told I was coming back to Ft. Riley after my 1 year. I reached out to a real estate agency and entered into a management agreement with them. About a month prior to my PCS, I moved into barracks and the wife came back to Ohio. The house was rented out to a SGM (E-9) and I couldn't be happier. I was getting rent -10% and all was good. The rent checks came and I never heard anything more of it.
Prior to leaving Korea, I came down on levy to go to Ft. Knox KY. So I never even went to KS. Again, checks are coming, all's good. Until it wasn't.
I get a letter from the real estate agent asking me to contact her about the house. I call and find out the SGM was living in the house, but so was all of his Korean wife's family. There were about 15 people living in the house and mostly in the basement. Illegally.I asked the agent why she didn't know about all this and that's when I found out she never visited the house until after it was raided. So I paid 10% for her to write me a check and mail it.
I.N.S. came, arrested a bunch of people and the E-9 retired to avoid problems with the Army. I went out to see the house and it was a mess. They had built a bunch of tiny rooms in the basement and the neighbor lady said they were running a massage parlor out of it. (The cops never said anything so...) Anyway, in the end I wound up selling at a loss but not having the headache was well worth it.
I do have a rental now, but it's close.
The other thing about rentals is, you can't pay yourself until the end of the second year. You have to hold back a year just to cover what ever BS that pops up, and it will.
Another thing I learned, if you only charge $400 a month rent, you get $400 a month renters.
I'd sell, buy another house close to you, if you want to get into renting something out. There's money to be made, just avoid apartments.
 
gunbunny said:
When I was in the Army, I bought a house in Manhattan KS, just outside of Ft. Riley. I came down on orders that sent me to S. Korea, my wife at the time couldn't go with me and she wsn't staying in KS with two pre-school kids. I was told I was coming back to Ft. Riley after my 1 year. I reached out to a real estate agency and entered into a management agreement with them. About a month prior to my PCS, I moved into barracks and the wife came back to Ohio. The house was rented out to a SGM (E-9) and I couldn't be happier. I was getting rent -10% and all was good. The rent checks came and I never heard anything more of it.
Prior to leaving Korea, I came down on levy to go to Ft. Knox KY. So I never even went to KS. Again, checks are coming, all's good. Until it wasn't.
I get a letter from the real estate agent asking me to contact her about the house. I call and find out the SGM was living in the house, but so was all of his Korean wife's family. There were about 15 people living in the house and mostly in the basement. Illegally.I asked the agent why she didn't know about all this and that's when I found out she never visited the house until after it was raided. So I paid 10% for her to write me a check and mail it.
I.N.S. came, arrested a bunch of people and the E-9 retired to avoid problems with the Army. I went out to see the house and it was a mess. They had built a bunch of tiny rooms in the basement and the neighbor lady said they were running a massage parlor out of it. (The cops never said anything so...) Anyway, in the end I wound up selling at a loss but not having the headache was well worth it.
I do have a rental now, but it's close.
The other thing about rentals is, you can't pay yourself until the end of the second year. You have to hold back a year just to cover what ever BS that pops up, and it will.
Another thing I learned, if you only charge $400 a month rent, you get $400 a month renters.
I'd sell, buy another house close to you, if you want to get into renting something out. There's money to be made, just avoid apartments.
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I have friends who've done this and had differing experiences. One who bought a new place every time he pcs'd and now has 5 rentals all over and it's worked for him, but that is rare.

I am in this business, but everything I do is local so I can have eyes on the ground and I know all the right people if I have problems like a water main break, or a a/c that goes out, or the grounds aren't getting taken care of so no terrible surprises. So unless I knew my renter, I'd be done with it, especially if it's not paid for and has a mortgage. Hard to make any money that way aside from appreciation.
 
I’d look at renting it. What’s it gonna bring in a month? What’s the chances of getting a military family in it? I’d definitely look into renting it. If the numbers dont look good then sell it.


It’s funny the same people that talked me into selling my last house instead of renting it out are the same ones that have multiple rentals. Lol


Long distance rentals are all bad. Friend I work with lives here in nj and he rents his place out that he owns in fla. he has a great renter and things have worked out great for him.


.
 
FWIW I would sell!

I did the slum lord thing when I was at Camp Lejeune and too many people are not respectful of another man's property.

Just $0.02 from and old experienced fat man!
 
My oldest daughter (single) has a home in her home town rented to elderly couple and has been for 7-8 yrs. . She teaches school and lives 40 mi away, not far. She gets 100 % of the check as she handles it all. Works for her because she is close, she keeps a close eye on it, and has a GOOD family living there. NO One tearing anything up!
When I moved to Tx 2 yr ago, my place there was for sale, and when it did not sell and I could not seem to get there to do some work on it, I WOULD not consider renting it out!! I did sell it 6 month ago with a good down and a 2 yr balloon.
I agree if your rent was $2000/mo I would feel safe! Or if I knew the family, otherwise, NOT. Also I believe you said it has not appreciated much since purchase. You have taxes, repairs, and th fee from mgt.
I had a country neighbor back in MO, He and his old dad owned many country type rental houses. Low rent$ places. He pissed off someone and they fond his 1000 ac farm, that had a old abandoned house and a garage. The house was worth nothing basically, but he kept 2 old Ford project cars in the garage. The sucker burned it all down on night!! Sad even if FORDS!!
 
I don’t think you want to be a landlord. One issue and any profit is gone for the year.

I say sell and buy something to live in in Tx. Navy-Federal has zero down mortgages. Whatever happens you have your own place and it should build equity.

I’m renting my house in Michigan and have really nice folks for renters. But I’m looking forward to selling it.
 
SSVDP said:
I don’t think you want to be a landlord. One issue and any profit is gone for the year.

I say sell and buy something to live in in Tx. Navy-Federal has zero down mortgages.
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And by paying mortgage insurance for 7 years?
I would do some calculating on that, every dollar he puts down is money that he doesn't pay interest on
He has been paying of his mortgage for 12 years, and he would probably clear 50 thousand (just a guess and it's really none of my business) but if he were so inclined, I think a hefty down payment is a better option.

(Though it sounds like he is planning to rent, regardless)
 
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