Rent my house or sell it for money

[Johanna S.]

Hello

all, I am looking at the Idea of selling our primary residence and buying our first investment property . we bought our house 4/2 2 years ago for $179,000 the house is 3 blocks from a (local university)

We owned $173000 and pay for it monthly $1379 with everything included.

similar houses are selling for $220,000 to $280,000 rent in the area for the same or close to sqf and beds and baths is about $2200-$2500 .

Should we?

Sell now, and use cash to investing?

Live in it for another year, and get more money?

We would Love to get others opinions on this situation We are just trying to find out how to finance our dream! 

[Dustin Heiner]

I think you are on the right track. Funny but I was actually in the same position as you 6 months ago. For my personal residence, I owed $171K and the appraised value was $275k. I wanted to have the equity in cash so I could invest in more properties.

What I did was refinance my property and cashed out $50k out of my current residence. The increase in mortgage was about $300 a month.

With the cash, I purchased one property for $9,000 cash in a depressed market in Ohio and now earn $350 a month from the rents.

I then used the rest of the money and invested in a rental property in Houston. This property will net me almost $800 cash flow each month.

So, I refinanced my house with cash out and bought two properties with it. Now I have $1,150 coming in each month from the $300 increase in mortgage.

I am very glad I did it.