Advice on inherited home, remodel, sell vs rent, refi vs income

[Christopher Pride]

Thanks for looking.  Very much in need of some advice, here.  Sorry if it's a bit long.

I'm stuck between 4 scenarios and hoping you can help me figure out a smart choice.

Backstory: Wife and I were sailing our boat to Mexico when my Mom got sick.  It's rite of passage but after a year of mourning, we're trying to figure out what to do. Mom left me her home in Southern California, as well as some funds. We decided to stay in the house temporarily.  It needed a lot of work so, rather than just cut our loss and sell, we're doing the remodel and waiting for the sailing season (winter) to come around.  Neither my wife or I want to stay in Southern California.  We wouldn't want to invest in LA, either so this would be the only property here in the future, according to our plans.  Currently this house is the only property we own, as well.

Goals: To sail over the winter but other than that, I am wanting to hustle, not afraid to travel, find and work on projects.  A goalpost I am trying to reach is $5k passive income per month. I believe that to be easily reachable but I like realistic goals.

I am an unlicensed real estate broker in Oregon (exp 2008) so I know the process, but don't have access to the MLS. Very interested in multi-families, commercial and land development. I have a good handle on buying and selling residential, concepts and terminology but I want to expand in to full-time RE investing. I can run a CAP rate but beyond that I am not exactly savvy. Reading more and more but I have an issue that I'm racking my brain trying to figure out.

The 4 scenarios:

1. Stay in the Home, Air BnB the master and stay in a small portion of the house until October, sell in the down season. This will roughly cover the mortgage as-is, but we will be selling the house out of season and well...a lot of people are talking bubble. Sales numbers in this area are half what they were last year so we're feeling pressure to get it done if #4 is the choice.

2. Rent it, assuming the mortgage. This will net us approximately $1200/mo if we manage it ourselves.

PITI $1650, Rent ~$2850

3. Refinance and rent it. This would free up capital to do some transactions, plus keep it for a hopeful increase in value.  

Equity: $420k Mortgage: $250,000, interest rate: 3.6%

4. Sell. Estimated gross sale price of $675,000. Would free up the capital, as well as remove some emotional baggage, keep us from having to come to LA.

What scenario would you lean toward and why?

Last question:  Should I look at a HELOC, hard money, a partner or some other form of financing to help me get over the hump of a kitchen/master bath remodel?  Which one would you recommend? 

We're approximately $10k in CC debt right now, currently racking up cards a little faster than we're paying them off.  We can clear them up in 2 months but the problem remains, I need to finance the rest of the remodel, approximately $30k.

Thanks, guys in advance for any help or insight you can provide.

[Michael Ealy]

Originally posted by @Christopher Pride:

Thanks for looking.  Very much in need of some advice, here.  Sorry if it's a bit long.

I'm stuck between 4 scenarios and hoping you can help me figure out a smart choice.

Backstory: Wife and I were sailing our boat to Mexico when my Mom got sick.  It's rite of passage but after a year of mourning, we're trying to figure out what to do. Mom left me her home in Southern California, as well as some funds. We decided to stay in the house temporarily.  It needed a lot of work so, rather than just cut our loss and sell, we're doing the remodel and waiting for the sailing season (winter) to come around.  Neither my wife or I want to stay in Southern California.  We wouldn't want to invest in LA, either so this would be the only property here in the future, according to our plans.  Currently this house is the only property we own, as well.

Goals: To sail over the winter but other than that, I am wanting to hustle, not afraid to travel, find and work on projects.  A goalpost I am trying to reach is $5k passive income per month. I believe that to be easily reachable but I like realistic goals.

I am an unlicensed real estate broker in Oregon (exp 2008) so I know the process, but don't have access to the MLS. Very interested in multi-families, commercial and land development. I have a good handle on buying and selling residential, concepts and terminology but I want to expand in to full-time RE investing. I can run a CAP rate but beyond that I am not exactly savvy. Reading more and more but I have an issue that I'm racking my brain trying to figure out.

The 4 scenarios:

1. Stay in the Home, Air BnB the master and stay in a small portion of the house until October, sell in the down season. This will roughly cover the mortgage as-is, but we will be selling the house out of season and well...a lot of people are talking bubble. Sales numbers in this area are half what they were last year so we're feeling pressure to get it done if #4 is the choice.

2. Rent it, assuming the mortgage. This will net us approximately $1200/mo if we manage it ourselves.

PITI $1650, Rent ~$2850

3. Refinance and rent it. This would free up capital to do some transactions, plus keep it for a hopeful increase in value.  

Equity: $420k Mortgage: $250,000, interest rate: 3.6%

4. Sell. Estimated gross sale price of $675,000. Would free up the capital, as well as remove some emotional baggage, keep us from having to come to LA.

What scenario would you lean toward and why?

Last question:  Should I look at a HELOC, hard money, a partner or some other form of financing to help me get over the hump of a kitchen/master bath remodel?  Which one would you recommend? 

We're approximately $10k in CC debt right now, currently racking up cards a little faster than we're paying them off.  We can clear them up in 2 months but the problem remains, I need to finance the rest of the remodel, approximately $30k.

Thanks, guys in advance for any help or insight you can provide.

Christopher based on your situation, I would say #4 makes the most sense. You don't want to stay in the area and you have no real estate experience yet.

Sell, take the money  (by the time you pay the selling cost, you will end up with $350K cash maybe), learn and then do a deal or partner with one who has experience.

Me personally, I am biased towards multi-family apartments as a cashflow generator. With that amount of cash, if you want to be totally passive, $350K at 8% yield will give you about $2300 a month cashflow not counting a share of appreciation of the property - with NO WORK on your part so you can continue sailing  (maybe even throughout the year!).