Hi there
I'm a newbie to the forum.
I'm oscillating between keeping and selling a 2 bedroom property I own in Sydney's inner west suburbs, about 8km from the CBD in a suburb that has seen very cosmopolitan and demographic changes over the last decade.
I purchased the property in 2009 for $500K with a 20% deposit. It was pretty much a dump and I did a quality but basic renovation in 2013/2014 and have spent approximately $150,000 on it all up (the back half of the house was decrepit and we had to demolish it and rebuild, plus we made other improvements such as adding attic storage, built in wardrobes etc). We didn't go up a storey, as is popular at the moment in this area, because I was afraid of overcapitalising.
Anyway, fast forward a couple of years since the renovation, and extremely similar 2BR properties in my suburb are selling for crazy prices - in the range of $1.3m to $1.5m (and I have seen some over this price and the mind boggles). My current mortgage balance is approximately $300K. That is, there is a possibility of a gigantic windfall if we sell.
What I am interested in hearing are opinions on whether I should keep or sell the property? I'm a little concerned about the market bubble in Sydney. We are also thinking of moving next year to a much lower cost of living area in regional NSW to be close to family in any event. I am thinking we could realise the equity, purchase a lower cost home outright and have a significant amount of money to invest in a managed fund. However, one of my partner's arguments in favour of keeping the property is that once the mortgage is paid off, we would have a rental income from the house in retirement.
Interested to hear some thoughts!