Hi all, my husband (age 24) and I (age 27) are longtime lurkers on these boards and have found ourselves in a bit of a predicament. We bought a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom 1000sq ft. ranch in upstate NY September 2015. In early 2016, we moved to Spain on a 3 year contract for work (this was unexpected however the professional and personal opportunities were too good to pass up). We currently have a tenant in the house that just informed us that she purchased another house that will be closing in the next 45-75 days, so thus she is looking to terminate her contract. Luckily, we have pretty good language that holds her responsible for paying the remainder of rent unless she finds a mutually suitable tenant to fulfill the remainder of her contract which is until the end of March 2018 for the rent and she additionally will lose her security deposit.
We will be moving back to the US in April 2018, the location is TBD. It is possible that I could be transferred to work in another state once I fulfill my contract here, my boss isn’t sure at the moment.
Our main concerns with continuing to rent are my parents are doing the property management/upkeep and vary in how I would like to do it but nevertheless have done good so far, there are many major trees around the house that could potentially fall or need to be removed (none are currently dead), the gas furnace is about ~25years old so we could be running on borrowed time and a replacement will be about $4-5k, and we are thinking about starting a family here shortly but would not feel comfortable with a newborn and if there were long lapses in having tenants.
Mortgage Info
$143k Purchase Price Sept 2015
$100k Approximate Current Mortgage Balance
3% interest on a 15 year mortgage (bi-weekly payments of $395)
Insurance and Taxes are roughly $5200 per year (NY taxes suck!)
Current Rental Income $1400/month
Expenses ~$100/month snowplow, lawn care, water, garbage, etc.
We have put approximately $3k into updates with electric, lawn care, etc.
We are looking into possibly selling and think we can get ~$155k or possibly more, there is a shortage of houses in our area, especially for starter homes. Ideally, we would try For Sale by Owner but have little experience in selling a home. We like our home but know it is not our forever home, we want an additional bathroom, and separate living/dining room area, and a different school district. When we move back if it is to the same area as our parents we have no problem moving back in with them for a
MMM Readers what do you suggest continue renting or try selling?
Let me know if you need any additional information.
