Losing money on condo - sell or rent/hold

[Zack D'Aiello]

Hi All,

Definite newbie question here as I'm just starting out my RE journey and taking a lose on my first purchased property.

I purchase my condo in San Diego about 1 year ago and I just rented it out starting this September for a 1 year lease so I can move back home with my parents and save up for a flip or a BRRR.

I purchased the condo for 310K and my monthly mortgage/HOA/expense total is $2,269 and my tenant pays $1,850 a month along with utilities. So I'm losing $419 a month. Basically, I'm about to refinance which would save ~$100 dollars per month off my mortgage, but I would still be losing ~$300 dollars a month on it while I'm back living with my parents and saving.

So my two options are to either hold onto the place and take the 400 dollar a month loss and sell it immediately next August or continue with the refinance, save $100 a month on it, and hold onto the place for at least 3 years so the refinance would be financially viable.

Either way I'm taking a loss with my first stumble into real estate, and this condo definitely feels like a huge obstacle in terms of how much I can save.

Thanks all for any input or advice