What would BP do? - What to do with Primary Residence

[Ricardo Meza]

Our current residence, a condo, turns out would not make for a good rental property. I simply could not get rental income to cover the current mortgage, HOA, taxes, and anything else to make it cash flow positive. So the idea of buying a new primary residence, and renting the condo, I don't think is going to work.

I desperately want to move away from an HOA situation, and towards a single family home for our next move.

We could comfortably live in the condo for another 5 years, if we had too, but we'll likely out grow it by the end of that term.  So what strategy would you consider?

1) Stay put and invest in a rental that does cash flow?

2) Try to work out a 203k loan deal for the next primary residence? - perhaps add square footage for a rental piece.  

3) Rent the condo anyway, and count on the equity?

4) Sell it and move in with mom? (not going to happen, but I still love you mom!)

5) Your more creative idea?

Let's presume there is $100K equity in the condo, and some monies in a Roth IRA and 401K we could leverage if needed.

Finally, I've considered the idea of moving into a duplex or triplex, but my wife and I aren't convinced this living situation is for us...yet.

Thanks everyone for reading and participating!   

[Leon D.]

#3 is out. Never count on the equity. 

#4 as you said, is out.

My answer to 1, 2, and 5: dump the condo. Use the HOA savings to either increase the size/value of your new SFR/MFR primary residence (since your mortgage payments can be higher by that HOA amount), or use the money you save by not paying an HOA to buy/invest in real estate.