Hoboken, NJ Apartment, Rent it out or Sell?

[Lilly S.]

hi bigger pockets community,

I am not sure if this is the right place for this question, so please feel free to let me know if I should ask it in a different section.

I bought a place in Hoboken nj within the last two years. I figured I’d be in the place for at least 2-3 years. For personal reasons, I may need to move a few hours away from NJ (likely the beginning of 2017).

i am trying to figure out whether i should sell my apartment now given the hot spring market.  If I do not sell, I could in theory rent it out.  Given where rents are at the moment for my apt compared to my carrying costs, I would expect to take a monthly cash flow loss of about $400 (plus whatever extra fees come up with the apartment itself, the condo association, and vacancy losses). i can easily cover the cash flow loss each month.

i am trying to take into consideration that i would have had to rent an apartment these past 2 years if i did not buy this apartment.  As a result, adding up all of my entry/exit/carrying/capex costs from owning minus the cost of renting would likely be a smaller “loss” of 10-15K.

my question is, and i know this is a tough question, do i just accept my "loss" and try to sell this apartment now given lots of buyers and low interest rates or should i hold onto it, accept the cash flow losses, and hope that the appreciation in this area continues to increase as it has for many years at this point. fyi, it is in a desirable location and close to transportation into Manhattan. one other factor to consider is that i have a 7 year arm.  I also understand that Hoboken doesn’t seem to have the friendliest laws when it comes to being a landlord, so if this has any bearing on the decision, I’d appreciate hearing about that too.