Possibly relocating...what to do w/ devalued house

[Randy Thaler]

Just thought I'd post something to get some opinions from people more experienced than myself. My wife and I are thinking of relocating to another state. In the meantime, we purchased a house a year ago which, from what I can gather, is worth about $30-35,000 less than what we paid. I've been toying w/ the idea of eventually buying an investment property to hold as a rental. If we do relocate, would it make sense to just hold onto our current house and try to find a renter, then sell in a year or two, when the house has hopefully recovered some of its value?

If so, how do I go about determining how much I'd be able to get in rent for this place? I suppose the obvious goal would be to try and cover our monthly mortgage payment, and then some, but it's a pretty hefty monthly nut, and I don't know how easy it's going to be to cover it. We're talking well over $2500 per month. I don't feel I know enough about the rental game or the rental market around here to make an informed decision right now.

We have enough liquid cash to cover a down payment on another house, if we do move, and I suspect I could probably handle a little bit of a negative cash flow on the current house if I had to, but I'm just not sure that makes sense. Any suggestions? Thanks.