Being moved for work. Do I keep my primary residence and rent it?

[Matt McGuire]

I bought a house before I knew about Bigger Pockets and wasn't considering renting it. Now I'm being relocated for work and I'm thinking about keeping this house to rent. The problem is, I cant make the numbers work. Its a $300k house and the tax rate is 3.2% so PITI is $2150/mo on its own. I don't think I will be able to get that much in rent. But, it is in an up-and-coming neighborhood that I am confident will appreciate. What would you do?

[Dave Foster]

@Matt McGuire, I think your interests will best be served selling at this point.  

1. You're early in your REI career and both converting a primary to rental and doing it long distance successfully as one of your first REI gigs isn't the easiest.

2. In general primary residences with all their "personal touches" that make them a home do not make the best rentals.

3. As you go through life you want to take every penny of profit you can from any source when you can  tax free.  Because you are moving due to an employment situation you can sell that property and take at least a % of the gain tax free.  If you have lived in that property for 2 out of the 5 years prior to sale you can exempt the first $250K of gain ($500K if married) tax free!!  If you lived in it for 1 year and have to move for job related reasons you'll still get 50% of the gain up to those $250/$500K limits.

Take the money off the table and look to your next acquisition close to where you're going to reside as you get to know that market.