New investor seeking advice from experts!!

[Dries Nijenkamp]

Hey everyone! I’m new to the forum, I am 25 currently active duty Air Force. I have one single family house in Saint Petersburg fl. That is doing great, but in April I purchased another single family house also in st Pete and I have done a pretty comprehensive rehab on the house I’ve done all the work myself and spent around 40k. My mortgage is 2600 per month and I bought the house for 360k I am going to be getting out of the military in March and moving to a different state to go to school. My plan was to rent out the house but I just found out my taxes went up bringing the monthly payment to 3100 this is definitely higher than market rent in this area. It’s a 4bd 2bath 1400sqft 2 car garage. I think if I sell it I can get around 450-500k but it’s in an appreciating area. Very nice neighborhood and good schools. I really don’t know what to do. I have a newborn on the way and am getting out of the military to go to school full time. I feel like selling is my best option but I’ve put in a lot of hard work the past 7 months. I also don’t want to miss out on the appreciation. Sorry for the long post thank you all.

[Sean Hudgins]

Firstly, congratulations on a great deal. That hard work has paid off if you can sell it for 450-500k. With the insurance issues in FL, although a fantastically appreciating market, this deal may be a better bet for taking the cash and deploying elsewhere. Realistically, when you move, you will want property management if you live out of state, so you will be pretty far into the red every month. How long have you lived at this property doing the flip? Can you stretch it out to get the 2-year primary residence tax exclusion? 

I would keep the first rental if it's cash-flowing, liquidate the second home, and use that money to invest in the area you are moving to. Or have a healthy chunk of change for the transition to civilian life. I recently made the transition from dual active income to self-employed, and those extra savings have made that process a lot less stressful and opened up a lot of options for me.