Rent or Sell NE Phila???

[Michael Hartman]

Hi, my name is Mike and I currently live in the lower Mayfair/Tacony section of Northeast Philadelphia. I would like to move within the next year or so, and I'm not sure if I should rent or sell my house. I bought my house in 2008, and not surprisingly home values have dropped in my area. I estimate my house to be worth around $102-$108k. I currently owe $100,000. Based on my research, it looks like the cost to sell my house would be around $10,000(?). Ideally I would rather just sell the house than deal with a renter, but it looks like I'd be taking a loss, adding to the difficulty of applying a new downpayment on a new house.

My current mortgage including pmi, taxes, and homeowners' is $700 per month and I estimate I could rent the place for $1000. If I move, I would still be within a half hour if the property for maintenance and/or rent collection.

Basically, I don't really want to wait around for home prices in my area to rise (if they ever do) so as to turn a profit on the sale of my house. I could keep paying down the mortgage to break even, but that option isn't super appealing to me. On the other hand, mostly everyone I talk to about the idea of renting my place out immediately dismisses the idea with awful tenant stories, non paying renters, eviction nightmares etc etc.

Sorry for the longwinded post, just trying to figure out a strategy here. Thanks!