When my wife and I got married in 2011, we instantly needed a bigger house. We were both living in relatively small homes, and with two kids, one more planned within a year, and plans to adopt two more, we went out looking for a new place. We found it, and everything was great... except we couldn't sell my old house.
After six months on the market (and about that many showings), we decided to rent it out and have had a reliable tenant since November 2011. Now those tenants are moving out at the end of June, and I'm debating whether or not to keep or sell.
Here are the stats:
Home value = $180,500 (according to Zillow... I think it's likely to sell for closer to $170k)
Mortgage = $128,900 @ 4.375% -- 28 years left (we refinanced to improve cash flow when we turned it into a rental)
Monthly rent = $1300
Monthly mortgage payment = $838 (includes taxes and insurance)
Tenants are responsible for all utilities, and the current tenant has taken care of the lawn as well.
There are a few small repairs and maintenance things I need to do whether we sell or get a new tenant. I'm guessing they'll cost around $1,000.
We don't have any other debt besides the mortgage on our primary home and a zero percent auto loan (from pre-mustachian days, and I have the cash available to pay it off any time we want).
So the monthly cash flow is good, and the neighborhood is pretty stable. A month or two of vacancy will hurt our savings rate, but won't make us go broke either. On the other hand, I never really intended to become a landlord, and I could get a little bit of cash out of a sale that could go into other investments.
What do the real estate experts here think?