selling or turning primary residence into a rental

[Bruna P.]

Hi,

I'm new here but have found valuable information on this site so I decided to join.  We currently own a townhome in Virginia since Nov 2015.  We are now debating about selling it vs turning it into a rental property since we are planning on moving to a better school district.  See details below:

Primary Residence: Northern Virginia

Purchase date and price: Nov 2015 - 325K

Loan balance as of today: 297K

Monthly mortgage payment: $2058.00 (30 year fixed at 3.625%)

Home value: 350K-360K  (based on 4 renovated townhomes that sold during summer 2017 in or close to our street)

Our home has been renovated too: new hardwood floors in main and second level, new kitchen cabinets and tile floor, two updated bathrooms, lighting fixtures, etc so it can possibly go for a little more than 360K but not more than 370K

Rentals are going for: $1700-$1800 in our area.  Not sure how easy is to find a tenant though.

We can probably refinance into a conventional loan and drop PMI or get a lower PMI rate since our townhome has appraised in value. If we refinance our estimated monthly payments (30 year fixed) could be around $1800-$1900 so we wont make any money on a monthly basis.

or

Should we just sell it, and take 40-50K (gain) add some savings and put 20% down to our new home which will probably be in the 375K-400K price range.

What would you do and why?

Thank you in advance for your time!