Should I Sell or Rent Out?

[Chris Menne]

I am considering moving out of state in the next year or so, and wanted to get some opinions on either selling my current house, or turning it into a long term rental. I don't own any rental property so this is all new. If I rent it out, I'll be hiring a property manager because I don't want to deal with trying to manage it from out of state.

Some numbers:

Purchased with 0% down VA loan

Purchase Price: 189K

Mortgage: 172K

Rate: 2.25%

4 Bed / 2.5 Bath

~2400sq/ft

Built in 1992

Zillow Sales Estimate: 280K

Zillow Rent Estimate: 2,100/mo

Roof and AC are less than 10 years old. Solar panels and backup battery system installed in 2022, I have a loan for the system so that would eat into any sales.

I'm in San Antonio, Tx. Lots of military bases around, that's actually how I ended up here. The house will need a new fence soon, so I'll have to factor that into the scenario.

I'm not sure which choice is the best option for me. I feel like having such a low payment and rate make it stupid to choose selling the house, but since I haven't been in this position before, I thought I'd ask here.