Keep, Sell, Options

[Janine Smith]

I bought a house almost 30 years ago. Lived in it for 15 years. Started renting it out about 14 years ago. Monthly mortgage pymt is $500. It has a mortgage balance of $1600, and will be paid off in February 2015. Market Rents are between $800-$1,000.

How do I determine if this was a good investment?

How do I determine if I should keep this as a rental or sell it?

Any other suggestions or recommendations?

[Michael Evans]

You perform what is called a "Return on Equity" analysis, which is easy to do:

Return on Equity = Annual Net Income / Equity

So if you clear $700/month in rental income after expenses, then Annual Net Income is $8.400.  I don't know what the value of houses are where you live, but if you have $100K in equity (taking into consideration selling costs to get access to your equity), the you r Return on Equity would be $8,400 / $100,000 = 8.4%.  Then you have to ask yourself if you can make more on your money in another investment.

Hopes this helps.  God Bless You!