Over the past few weeks, we have been going back and forth about what we want to do with the home we currently own in Missouri.
I realize I say this all the time about everything in my life, but I am an extremely indecisive person.
This decision has been a difficult one so far, and we are still leaning either way depending on the day.
There are many reasons for why we are undecided about what to do next as well. So, what should I do? Should I rent or sell my house?
Below are some of the reasons for why we keep going back and forth about whether we should rent or sell our house:
We love our house again.
We’ve been fixing it up and have been slowly falling back in love with it. I know, this isn’t a good enough of a reason to keep a house and it seems like we are just coming up with excuses to keep it.
Some of the things we’ve done in the past few weeks include:
- The whole upstairs and downstairs have been completely professionally painted. Trim, walls, doors, etc. and it all looks so much better now.
- We’ve replaced a light fixture with something much nicer.
- We fixed all of the curtain rod placements to make the windows look bigger.
- We’ve bought new curtains.
- We’ve deep cleaned the whole house.
- We replaced the broken garage door with a nice carriage door.
- We replaced our back door with something nicer as the last one had a cracked door frame after someone got locked out of our home.
All of these improvements have made us wonder a little more about what we should do with our home. We know we should probably just get rid of it and sell it, but the fact that it looks so much better than before definitely hurts a little!
I realize this is normal though when someone goes through preparing a house to be put on the market.
Our neighborhood’s value has tanked.
I’m not sure what has happened, but our neighborhood’s value has tanked significantly over the past year.
Our realtor already told us that we most likely either breakeven or we will owe a little money after selling our home because of realtor fees and the lower value of our house, so this is playing a big factor into whether or not we want to put our house on the market at the moment.
There is risk with this though. Our home value could continue to plummet. I doubt that would happen as it seems like the plummeting has stopped, but you just never know.
We could turn our home into a rental.
One factor that’s throwing me in a loop about whether I should I rent or sell my house is that we could potentially rent it out for the time being.
We are debating renting out our home, either on a long-term or on a short-term basis. Renting would be great because we could see if our house increases in value over time, while hopefully earning enough money to still pay off our mortgage each month. Another positive of this is that we would have a home to return to if we decided down the line that the move was not right for us.
A long-term rental would be nice because we would earn enough to cover our rent with hopefully minimal work involved.
On the other hand, we could also do more research into renting out our home on a short-term basis on a website such as Airbnb, VRBO or Homeaway. This would also allow us to have a place to come back to since we know that we already have to be back in the St. Louis area at least four more times this year.
Having a rental would require work.
In the end, we will probably just sell our home. However, if it sits on the market for a long time then renting it out will probably become more appealing.
Keeping our home on the side most likely wouldn’t be worth it. We would mainly be keeping it for all of the wrong reasons, mainly just that we are attached to the first home we bought.
What would you do in our situation? Should I rent or sell my house?
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I can so relate to the feeling of falling in love with your house again! We usually stall on updates/projects until we decide to sell, then we do all the things that we had put on hold. After 7 houses, we have an agreement to do the updates early, so we can enjoy them before we sell!
To sell or rent? I would sell. My sister rented her home in a high end neighborhood while they were out of the country. The renters seriously damaged the house, right down to stealing the large landscape rocks!
Yes, we definitely plan on doing the updates early with the next house we buy. Not making this mistake again!
I had a similar choice. We just purchased a new house yesterday. Our current house is 100% paid for and has belonged to someone in my family since it was built in 1957. After talking it over with my dad and my financial advisor we have decided to sell it. In the end, I don’t really want to be a landlord and dealing with a property management company doesn’t give me enough control.
That’s the approach we took. So I guess the real question for you is, do you want to be a landlord? Then if you do, do you want to manage it or are you ok with someone else pulling the strings for a fee.
We eventually do want to become landlords, so that is why this is a tough decision.
That is a tough choice. I guess you have to consider whether or not you view your move to CO as permanent, or not. I can understand the temptation to hold onto it, but personally I don’t think I’d be eager to be a long-distance landlord. Good luck with whatever you decide!
Thanks Amy!
Honestly, only rent out a house that you DON’T ever think you ever want again. Tenants could be amazing or awful and you don’t want to take what they do to a gorgeous house personally. Our first house is 5 miles away from our current one and it isn’t one we think we’ll live in again – it’s well kept, great looking, but is too small for our socializing needs. I treat it as an income source that needs to be well maintained.
For you, since you are moving out of that town, I would suggest selling. Plus, you are making enough right now to invest greatly for your future instead of needing rental income.
Good luck!
Thanks Crystal!
These are all great things to think about. Thanks!
Great article! I do know from other people who have rented out their homes that it is a great deal of work, and occasionally doesn’t pay off – but if it does, it can end up being better than selling, especially in this market.
Thanks!
We went through this same debate recently. Ultimately, we decided to sell because our home value was just $5,000 below its highest-ever estimated value (from 2008 before the crash). And although the rental market is good in our area, we knew we didn’t have the personalities to deal with tenants. Even good ones would likely end up stressing us out!
There were also some specific things with out house that pushed us to unload it. Somehow the downstairs AC unit and furnace have kept on going for 23 years — WAY beyond their expected lifespan. Who knows how long they’ll last. The roof is in good condition, but getting up there in age, and same for the water heater. There’s also something funky going on with our downstairs flooring; because of the way it was incorrectly installed it will cost double what it should to remove and replace (and it needs to be replaced). It was just a lot of stuff that inevitably will cost a LOT of money in the very near future, well before we could start making a real profit to cover the expenses from a rental.
If you’re interested in renting and there’s a market for it in the area, it makes total sense to hang on to your home. That way someone else is paying the mortgage but you’re the one who has an asset to sell one day in the future 🙂 Let us know what you decide!
Our furnace and water heater are super old too, but we get it regularly checked and everyone has always said it’s fine. I’m afraid it’ll need to be replaced eventually as well, so unloading now is another reason why we are wanting to sell.
This is a tough call. On the one hand, it would be nice to have the house as a fall back plan should you not like living in Colorado. But on the other hand, renting is a big deal.
The one thing that concerns me is how you say you’ve fallen n love with your house. My wife and I have toyed with renting out our house when we move, but the kitchen was completely redone and my wife loves it. It’s everything she wanted. The thing is, I know she would be heart-broken if a tenant came in and didn’t care for it like we do. Odds are this is more likely than not. So, if you really love your house, you need to ask yourself if you could stand seeing someone not take great care of it?
Our house was put on the market today. Hopefully someone will buy it! 🙂
Would I rent or sell my home? I would do just like you are doing and look at all the facts, actually writing them down on paper may help to see the benefits and liabilities of each. I am so like you in getting attached and in being indecisive. I know you are looking forward to this move but I might would look at renting my house for a short term period like 6-9 months or a year in the event the move does not go as we thought it would. Also, look at the housing market in did it drop overall or was it in my neighborhood only, which I’m sure you have done.
I believe in praying, praying and praying some more and God ususlly gives me an answer that I’m at peace with. I know you have to be nervous but it will work out like it should. I do believe that.
Thank you Christy 🙂
It’s a tough decision but if I were in your situation I would probably keep it and rent it out. I think when it comes to property, unless you remain living in it, it’s better to take emotion out of the equation and make a business decision. One of my bigger regrets was selling a property I owned as it would’ve been a great long term rental and we ended up selling at a loss.
What you have to look at is whether you want to (a) be a landlord, (b) might return to the area, (c ) is there potential for growth, (d) rental return, etc. Then weigh up the pros and cons. If you rent it out, one day it could become a source of semi passive income.
We put the house on the market today, but if it neighborhood keeps tanking and our house doesn’t sell, then we plan on turning it into a rental.
Personally, I would sell it. When you rent, you run the risk of someone ruining your house and then it can cost a ton of money to fix it up. Since you’ll be living far away, you’ll need to spend a monthly fee for a company to take care of the rental for you and take care of issues that arise. Whatever you decide to do, good luck 🙂
Thanks Barrie!
It is really a hard decision for a hose owner. Should he rent or sell his house. From my point of view i would suggest if you love your house then don’t sell it as you can’t get it back. So it is better to rent it as it is another way of investment.
Personally I would lean towards selling.
I’m a risk-adverse person and renting may have the most potential upside (rental income, potential increase in value over time of the house) but it also has the most downside (bad tenants, decrease in the value).
I’m about one year away from selling the first home I ever purchased and I’ve tinkered with the idea of hanging onto it as a rental as well. Ultimately, I think I’d feel more comfortable with investing in bonds and stocks, mainly due to the small amount of effort required.
Haha, I always struggle with decisions as well, but once you pull the trigger the next steps will fall into place. Perhaps the worst decision of all would be to wait and just do nothing!
Best of luck!