Blue 98 Ram Air

iTrader: (29)

I just inherited a house in Houston. It is appraised at $114,000. The house is paid for and has $2300 in taxes due at the end of this month. My birth mom whom I got the house from has it leased until June for $1230 a month. Should I re-rent it to the same people that are in the house now or go ahead and sell to buy my own residence in dallas? I would lean towards renting it out however I live in Dallas and not sure how often I can go to Houston to check on things. Any ideas? A rental property would be nice to have to suppliment my current income. However I see things being much more of a headache than it would be worth.

Charlie Hustle

iTrader: (8)

I have no experience in this field yet, so take this however you want...But I think your last sentence pretty much sums it up. You wouldnt be able to check on the property/residents nearly as much as you would like to. I would sell it in a heart beat and get the house you want in Dallas.

CANTEX

iTrader: (2)

If its already occupied by renters who have shown to be good tenants I would rent it out again.... Its paid for already so even if they move your not stuck with a note.(just tax an insurance) each month someone pays is gravy on top of what you sell for later. Look at it this way, keep it another year an it pays all the agent fees and crap you have to cover when you sell.

Blue 98 Ram Air

iTrader: (29)

Good point. I guess a trip to Houston every now and then wont be too bad. Maybe I can meet up with some Houston Tech members this way too.

osvaldo

iTrader: (4)

Hey I'm in the market, show me some pics send me some info!

Shackleford

iTrader: (12)

Or you could pay someone to keep an eye on it occasionally.

BizZzatch350

iTrader: (33)

Sell, you don't live in Houston for one and secondly its a huge pain in the ***. My parents have owned rental property before and lived out of state, the only reason it worked well because the property manager was really good and a good family friend for 20+ years. The rent being well over $2.5K a month also helped with the kinda people who lived there. But down here, unless you live in the same city and plan to make a business out of it, not worth it, its a ton of hassle to deal with and the fact you live 4+ hours a way makes it worse. You could use a real estate agent or some thing but theirs fees, just sell it and make what ever money you can. The house doesnt sound like tis an area thats an investment either.

Corny40

iTrader: (7)

Yeah, what part of town is it in?

venomhp

iTrader: (13)

honestly I would rent it out and deal with the hassle while the market is crappy right now. Theres certain tax advantages of being a home owner and renting it out. Its 100% paid for so I would pay the taxes for it and rent it out until the economy comes back around or atleast its a sellers market instead of a buyers. Ultimately its up to you and what financial shape your in if you can afford to rent it out. Theres a lot of liability in owning a home, especially when you cant keep an eye on it. it would be a nice addition to your bank account/car fund though. I just wouldnt be in a hurry to sell something when the market is so crappy

ap2002

iTrader: (8)

I would rent it out for sure, especially cause its payed off!, it wont hurt to make a drive every 2months or so... thats my opinion...

not trying to steal your thread, but to whoever is interested, my house will be going up in the market next week (s.e. houston, sagemont area) , and its valued at about the same... pm for details...

hypr

Let me prefris this by saying this is what I do for a living...Considering the present market I would rent it and use a good property management company, then when the market comes back, revisit selling it if you want.
There are tax remifications that may work out well for you to keep renting for now.
Just my 2 cents.
Bob

chupr0kabra

iTrader: (10)

I vote for renting it out, but make sure you hire a good property management guy/company. While it will cut into your profits from the rent money, it will save you the headache of getting phone calls in the middle of the night because the toilet overflowed.

We just sold our house, and I REALLY wanted to keep it and rent it out, but we needed the cash for the down payment on the new house. If we had the liquidity to do so, I would have kept the house as a rental, no question.


-Mike

smokinHawk

iTrader: (48)

holy moly you are getting $1230 for that $114k house, its a gold mine ride it out.

-Ross-

iTrader: (2)

This is a no-brainer. Rent it out. (Lease)

Earl Filter

iTrader: (1)

Long distance landlording = trouble.

Turn it around: If you had $114k in your hand, would you buy this house as a rental property to lease out? If the answer is no, then sell it.

A-Dub

iTrader: (6)

If the tenants have good history, stick with the contract. Its money in your pocket. In my neighborhood, vacant houses for sale are almost guaranteed to be burglarized. If you do decide to sell, having tenants in the house may save you more headaches than it creates.

Splitz

iTrader: (1)

No brainer here.

Rent the bitch out. Hire a property management company that is IN Houston, you'll pay them a small percentage of their fees, but well worth it.

It's extra income, to where you don't have that income right now.

BUY a house where you are living and claim that as extra income to lower the interest rate, but have a backup incase you loose the renters. If you can't get more renters, sell and pay off your house if you buy.

hypr

Prefect advice!
Remember all the fees are also tax applicable as well as any other expenses associated to renting the property.
Also ask about rent gap insurance through your property insurance company agent. In Califorina it is standard for income properties. This will help protect you in an event of rental loss in many cases. Ask your agent for particulars and details of this.
Lenders will credit much of your rental income (as much as 75%!) against your debt to income ratio when applying for a mortgage on a home where you are moving to.
Bob

Modsquad

iTrader: (6)

X2!!

It's a great asset, it can back you up later on down the line to get more property. For the most part, real estate always increases in value...and has for at least the last century for the most part....I'd love to inherit a home like this, I'd use it for collateral to buy another rental, then another & lease them out & let other people make payments on property that I'll be earning equity on. Markets are cyclic, it will be a buyers market for a while, then a renters market....sooner or later interest rates will rise & more people will rent than buy & you can make even more $$ from it. In this case, it's paid for....

I'd suggest meeting with the people that lease it now, if you like them or have info that they have been good tenants, try to get a new lease with them, especially if you check the place out & they have it in good shape.

You may want to see if you need to carry any special insurance tho to cover you.

redsox_ws6

iTrader: (2)

Pimp/Rent that bitch out...lol, home values in Houston are going up regardless of the shitty market, metaphorically don't you some times wish you could go back in time to buy Microsoft stocks, well this Is your microsoft stock, it's not gonna loose value on the contrary value will go up. Especially now that the rest of the US sees that a sluggish economy doesnt impact Houston like every other major city. People are flocking to Houston like if it was 1849 and they discovered gold.