Sell my only Rental?

Question

I have one side of a duplex that I rent out. I used to live there personally until I moved to a single family home about a year ago. My problem is that I have some debt that is making my financial situation very tight from month to month even with the rental income. Debt includes student loans, a HELOC, some credit card debt, etc. If I sell my property, I could get out from under most of my debt fairly quickly, but I would no longer have any investment properties. I also don't know when I would be able to have the financial flexibility of acquiring any in the near future. What would you all do? I think I have three options:

1) Sell my only investment property to pay off the majority of my personal debts and start over

2) Keep my property and continue to rent it out and pay down the debt over several years

3) Look at acquiring an additional property to help with cash flow

Thoughts???

1) Sell my only investment property to pay off the majority of my personal debts and start over

2) Keep my property and continue to rent it out and pay down the debt over several years

3) Look at acquiring an additional property to help with cash flow

Thoughts???

Geordy Rostad · Answer

@Jay Emery

Have you considered moving out of your single family house and renting something way cheaper and then renting out your house too?

I think I would be pretty hesitant to let that rental property go.

Can you refi it and get enough money at a cheaper interest rate to pay anything down (and let someone else pay it back)?

How about house hacking? Can you rent out a room or two and really juice your monthly income to start knocking those bills down?

Before you go and sell that rental, you should read Financial Freedom by Grant Sabatier. It might be just the thing you need right now.

Selling your rental would be a huge step backwards IMO unless it was not cash flowing.

Jaromy Emery · Answer

Thank you!

Theresa Harris · Answer

Go through your purchases and bank statement for the last few months.  If you pay for things with cash, start keeping track of where that money goes.  good luck!

Jaromy Emery · Answer

@Geordy Rostad

Thanks for the book suggestion for Financial Freedom by the way. Appreciate the help.

Jaromy Emery · Answer

@Theresa Harris

I'm looking into what I could possibly cut out of my monthly expenses now. I think there are some ways I can cut spending, but it will take some time to pay down that debt. Might be worth a shot to do that instead of selling the rental if I can help it. Thanks for the suggestions!

Theresa Harris · Answer

@Jay Emery Have you looked at way to cut your spending?  Bring your lunch to work, cook dinners rather than eating out, skipping buying coffee at the local coffee shop?

Jaromy Emery · Answer

@Theresa Harris

Thanks for the reply. My debt is between $40-$50k between personal credit cards and the HELOC I have. Interest rates are low, between 5%-7% because of balance transfers and such. And no new debt. It's risky for me to try and acquire a property on my own, but thought that it might be viable with partners possibly. More of a "continue to move forward instead of stepping back because of the risks" type of approach. I won't say I love that idea because of those risks, but a possibility I wanted to throw out there.

Jaromy Emery · Answer

@Jason D.

It's a recent rental property within the last year. I actually lived in the property as a primary residence for a couple of years and was fortunate to hold onto it when I purchased my current primary residence. I have a HELOC on the property, but minus that, I probably have about $50k in equity. I owe about $110k on the mortgage and could most likely sell it in the $180k range right now. I rent it for $1400 a month and mortgage/taxes/insurance runs be about $750 a month. If I don't sell it, I'll be looking at trying to trim down monthly bills, remove unneeded services and subscriptions, etc.

Jaromy Emery · Answer

@Geordy Rostad

Thanks for the suggestions! I don't have the room to rent out in my SFH, but I'll definitely check out the refi option on my current home and the rental. I really don't want to sell it if I can figure out a way to pay down my debt, but it's the quicker of the options I feel like I have right now, so I'm trying to see if I can hold onto it if possible.

Rachel H. · Answer

Interesting to hear about the mobile home renting option. Have known a few to do that as well. As long as you feel comfortable in the neighborhood you're living in. :)

Sell my only Rental?

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