An introduction, and where do we go from here?

Question

We currently own two rental properties. Neither were purchased as investments originally, so they aren't the best deals.

Property A: Purchased for 100,000. PITI is around 730/month. Currently rented for $900. Mortgage balance is $87,500. Would likely appraise today for $110,000 on a good day.

Property B: Purchased for 75,000. PITI is $422. Currently rented for $950. Mortgage balance is $64,000. Hard to know this home's value because it's a bit unique for the area, but our best guess based on the most similar comps around would put it at $90,000 pretty easily, possibly more. This market has exploded since we purchased last year.

So the question is: Where do we go from here? We are currently living in a rental ourselves, but are looking into possibly buying it from the owner to make it our long-term residence. We want to get started on better investments ASAP so that we can start building our portfolio, but we're unsure of where to go first. Do we buy our primary residence first? Do we buy an investment property first? Do we do something to try to get equity out of one of our properties? Should we try to sell property A?

We're still very new to this and overwhelmed with all of the information available. We are primarily interested in Fix and hold properties. Purchase below market, put money into to rehab, and rent back out long term. Any tips, advice, or just telling us exactly what to do next is very much appreciated :)

Kevin C. · Answer

For home B, we could almost definitely sell it and sell it quickly but we like keeping it around because literally everything in it is new. New heat/ac, roof, water heater, floors, toilet fixtures, plumbing, and electrical. There is very little (knock on wood) that can go wrong with it. Now if we got it appraised and it came out at $120, then we would seriously consider it, but at $90 I'm not sure.

For Home A, we have tossed the idea around calling up the current tenants and seeing if they want to buy for $115+ with a two year option. Their credit wasn't bad when they moved in and they've been model tenants for almost two years now so we assume they're in a much better place to buy than they were before. I think we'll discuss it again and maybe make a move on it because keeping that house around makes me nervous (Older house, older equipment)