Sell property or rent?

[Jacob S.]

I'm looking for some insight from some experienced members. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have two properties: a house I have not been living in and a condo I have been occupying. The house is occupied by my ex but she is in the process of moving.

I have plenty of equity in both: about 100k in the house and 80k in the condo. I have a heloc on the condo.

I am pondering keeping both as rentals, but I'm not sure I can qualify for a third mortgage. I don't want to move back into the house.

The housing market is hot in my area now. Would it be wise for me to rent for a year and rent both properties out? I was thinking I would make a bit of money on the rentals and build up the rental history so lenders count the rent collected as income. Do lenders count the income after a year?

I was thinking this would be advantageous as the prices seem high and I'd like to see if the market stabilizes or cools over the next year.

Any other advice? Thank you so much for any insight.