Accidental Rental Property

[Derrick Carpenter]

Hello everyone,

I have a rental property in Bentonville, AR.  This home is a A property in an A neighborhood and was my personal residence prior to moving from Bentonville 4 years ago.  I rented the property to a mid-level executive at WalMart headquarters 4 years ago and they have paid like clockwork every month.  The home is about 8 years old, so the up keep is low and a hail storm just allowed me to put a brand new roof on it at no cost.  

Currently I rent the house out for $1,800 per month.  With a 15 year mortgage on the home, I am still able to get about $150 of cash flow per month out of this house.  The renters are paying off the mortgage roughly $8K per year for me based on a 4 year run rate.  The house is worth roughly $240K and I owe roughly $135K on the property.

While this has been a good rental property for me to learn on and it has shown me the value of a class A property, I am not sure this type of property would be one I would purchase today to add to my portfolio.  So, the question is, would you keep this house or sell it and get the equity out to go get more cash flow properties?

Is there anyone out there that has made this area of the market their niche and could discuss with me a plan for keeping this property and potentially getting more like it.

All thoughts welcome.

Derrick

[Derrick Carpenter]

@Account Closed In your suggestion, I am assuming that when buying for cash, the theory is that I should purchase a home at greater than 20% below market value, so then when you get a loan you have enough equity still in the home that the bank gives a loan?  Assuming yes, I would then be able to get all of my money out of it and purchase the next house and do the same thing again.

thanks.

Derrick