Hey all, I am just starting to grow my 'stache, and I have a first question to start out with. I have a long way to go before I can claim to be mustachian, but this might be a start.
My question is if I should rent out, or sell my house. I am in the military and I will be forced to move within a year (most likely... nobody knows these days). Either way I am not going to buy a house at my next base, I don't want to have to worry about this dilemma again.
Details:
The house is a 1500 square foot house on about 10,000 square foot lot. 3 bedroom, 2 baths, and a very nice home theater that I put in (I guess MMM and I have that in common). It is Brand new, we are the first owners ever, and the neighborhood is very nice... for about a block or two. Just outside of our neighborhood is a less than stellar place to live, but it is close enough to affect my house value. The backyard is currently bare, but the front is completely landscaped.
Our original loan was for $206000 in April 2013, we have paid $1200 a month(including insurance), and are now down to $203000. We are getting 3.5% interest on our mortgage, we got a VA loan with 0% down. We had planned on living in the area for 3-4 years, but the Military has a different plan, so at most I will have about 2 years in. I got an online appraisal for the house value and it is between $200-$230000 right now. Based on the original builder's website the same house today goes for about $225000 plus options (ours had about $8-10k worth).
As far as local renting prices I think I might get $1400-1500 out of it a month. I would have to have a property manager because I don't know where I will be. While I knew my airplane was leaving my base with about 6-700 airmen, The news just announced that another plane that is only stationed there is moving, with their 1-2000 airmen, so the housing market will probably be hit pretty hard over the next year. This means that if I want to sell I should do it quickly, and if I want to rent I should move out and find a tenant with a good lease very quickly because I live about 5 miles from base and the market will be flooded with nearby houses.
Option 1: Sell the house for as much as I can, use the extra money (if there is any) to pay down my punch-me-in-the-face-really-hard 2013 Mustang and 2006 F-150 (upside down on both or else I would sell at least one right now). I would then sell one, or both vehicles and downsize a lot. My wife loves the car but she might be reasoned with to get a more practical vehicle. We hardly drive the truck unless we need to, such as camping or building materials and I now know that I can do all that without a truck.
Option 2: Rent the house, pay a property manager, and hope that I can break even. It is a new house so I don't expect anything to break anytime soon, but something always does so I am not sure how smart that option would be. I figure that if I break even on the rent vs repair costs ratio I will end up ahead a little because I will have paid down the mortgage for free.
Like I said I have a long way to go, but this is as good a time to start as any on my new 'stache. I currently make about $70k a year but most of that is going towards the house and car payments, and a few credit card debts too. After taxes I take home about $5300 a month, but we only spend about $1200 on necessities, the rest is paying down debt.
Let me know what you think would be my best option. Thanks!