What are the numbers?
Your purchase price, rent estimate, taxes, insurance, etc should all be shown before anyone can make a recommendation.
Good point. Here are the numbers.
Purchase Price: $265k
Mortgage: $247k left @ 4.5% (conventional; recently started paying down about $300/month extra towards principal)
Insurace: $1k per year
Taxes: (gulp) $5k per year
A mortgage payment breakdown on an average month with no extra principle payment breaks down like this:
$350 towards principal
$950 towards interest
$520 towards escrow (insurance and taxes)
Total monthly payment with no extra towards principal: $1,820
Rent Estimate: $2,000-$2,300/month ballpark. I did some research and that's the range for rentals in the surrounding area, in similar houses (2 BR, 2 BA). I think I can command the high end of that given the work that I have done to the house and the specific location in the area.
One other note: I refinanced into my current loan in the fall of 2011 (I was in a 10 year interest-only loan and wanted to be conventional), and at that time the house appraised for $285k. This was prior to renovating the original bathroom, so that should come up a bit. Also, the housing market has started coming up since then, so I'd estimate that I could consider the home value to be closer to $300k now.