The flip or rent question in my shoes

[Jordan Sitzler]

Hey, BP!  My wife and I have closed on our first ever property, investment or otherwise.  We bought it through a hard money lender at 1%/month and 10% down.  What I am now trying to do is refinance it so I can have my first property in my young portfolio.

The facts: Tacoma, WA duplex.  All-in cost of 240k so far, with it needing no more than 6k.  Pretty turn key.  Both units currently rented for 2k total.  I am into it for right around 22k.  

Our goal is to build a rental portfolio so keeping it would be ideal, but we are young, inexperienced, and have a small but growing income.  Also, most of that 22k was borrowed privately so I need to get that back to them within the next 4-5 months.  

Given that I have a small nest egg, should we flip this property (305-315k) and gross about 35k to use to the next purchase (which we will still have a hard time financing in a refi), or keep this and make it work?  I'm calculating 150/month cash-flow after all expenses with room to raise.  The payday would be nice, but we would be in the same scenario with another purchase, only this time with our own money.  I like that this property is already rented and turn-key.  Thanks!

[Christen G.]

Congrats on your first purchase. I'm glad it's cash-flowing. Do you have another way to pay back that private money that's not flipping this property? It'd be great to keep it and push rents, increase cash flow over time, gain equity, etc... if you can.