This may actually BE a good time to sell, since inventory is still tight, so you have less competition from other sellers.
As far as being a landlord, if you cash-flow, what’s wrong with being one? Let some other dumbkopf pay part of your mortgage on your new pad.[/quote]
Agree that this is the time to sell. For those of us who sold at/near the top in 2004-2006, especially if one was selling to rent, there was a non-stop barrage of advice and opinions from the peanut gallery who would constantly ask why we were willing to “give up all that equity” by selling out of the market…effectively short-selling the housing market. IMHO, that is EXACTLY when it’s time to sell.
Remember, be a seller when nobody else is selling, which is almost always because people erroneously believe that prices will continue to go up from that point. It’s admittedly not easy to do because it’s a very contrarian position, but most contrarians are pretty happy with their decisions once everything has settled.
You have severely constrained inventory, incredibly low rates, unusually massive numbers of investors (and many of them are leveraged…so don’t pay to much attention to the “all cash” stories) scrambling around in the RE market, and a sizzling hot “spring selling season” on your side — this is what’s causing the frenzy right now. What conditions do you see in the future that would cause prices to rise further and/or give you a better opportunity to sell?
Of course, if keeping the old house as a rental would **realistically** provide a positive cash flow, that’s a reasonable option as well. But be sure to consider all of the costs involved: vacancies, maintenance/repairs (possibly more than if you were living there yourself), eviction/non-collection of rent for an extended period of time, etc. Also, do not count on rents rising or remaining stable since the “foreclosure crisis” is pushing an unusually large group of people into the rental market at this time, and if investors continue to buy homes to rent out, that will also put downward pressure on rents.
Good luck with whatever actions you decide to take. It sounds like you’re not under a lot of pressure, which is always helpful.
