To Sell or to Rent, that is the ????
Ryan and I have a nice, cute townhouse in Cary, NC, but we are ready for a yard, no shared walls, a garage, and more space. In short, we are ready for a house. Problem is, we have to figure out what to do with the townhouse we have before we can even think about looking for a house. You're thinking - That's easy, just sell it. Yeah, okay, in this economy selling a home is as easy as baking cookies on the dashboard of your car in the middle of January (especially this one) in North Carolina. Unless the stars align, it ain't happening. Our house has been on the market for about three months and we have had four showings. One of the showings was yesterday, so I am praying for the stars to align any night now. We'll see.
Anyway, another option is to rent our property. The very thought of this makes me squirm with anxiety over the possibility of bad tenants, costly repairs, and all the "what ifs" that come with having a rental property. Part of me thinks that we are way too young to have that much responsibility. I mean, will we be able to keep up with the maintenance of our house AND a rental property. Oh geez, I feel a panic attack coming on. Just kidding.
So, while Ryan and I have definitely done the pros and cons list (in our heads), I am open to a good debate. Tell me what you think we should do and why. Now, I will say that we have other factors playing into this decision, but I love a good debate every once in a while. So, let's hear it. What do you think we should do?
 |
| our house |
 |
| kitchen |
 |
| dining room |
 |
| living room |
 |
| back deck |
Hey Bethany! Thanks for friending me. ;) I was in sort of the same boat. When I moved to New Orleans, I tried to sell my house and only had 1 showing in a month. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was going to lose a lot of money on it if anyone even bought it. So... I rented it. Because I was going to be out of state, I got a property manager. He listed the house for me, showed it to potential renters, ran credit checks, handles repair calls and collects the rent. He will also pursue appropriate legal channels to collect rent if the tenant does not pay on time. He charges a lease signing fee when a tenant is found and 8% of the rent per month. I think that is WELL worth the service he provides every month. In 6 months, I have had to buy a new refrigerator and pay for an easy A/C repair... BUT I knew both of those things could go at any minute when I moved out. So far, I have been very happy renting it. So all that to say, while there could be bad tenants and what not, it doesn't have to be as scary as it seems. If you guys really want to move, I think a property manager could really help.
ReplyDelete