Should I sell or rent out my condo

Question

I purchased the condo in January in Cincinnati, OH of 2017 for $131,000, my down payment was $14,000. I ran into some issues shortly after moving in and had to do some repairs. Altogether, I have put in about $12,000 into this property which wasn't all planned. Today the Zestimate is ~$150,000. My mortgage, interest, insurance and HOA all come to $1,100 a month. I can expect to get $1500-$1700 a month if I choose to rent it out. Also, I have to move out of state for work which means I might need a property manager, ones I'm seeing are around $85 a month. What would be the savvy move??

Jonathan Greene · Answer

Unless your condo is going to print money when you go, sell it now and use it to invest where you are going. The numbers on condos can be pretty tight especially if you need property management for one tiny unit. Even if you break even on the deal, there is no reason to hold it just to hold it. Unless Cincinnati is projected to go way up, which it's not, condos are tough to scale up in value because there are always new ones being built that will be better, pushing your value down.

Andrew Powers · Answer

I recommend using the bigger pockets calculator... seems like you have many of the numbers to input to the calculator... it's really easy to use. Use the calculator, be conservative with the numbers, and see what you get. If the returns (cash flow, COC ROI, etc) are aligned with your goals, then keep it. If not, then investigate modify the numbers you put in the calculator if it makes sense, or if you could do something different with the property (ie more updates to get more rent $?).

If you are strapped for cash, then sell it?

Natasha Young · Answer

Hi Kunie,

It kind of depends what you are comfortable doing. What area of town is your condo located? You can't always trust zestimate. What you need is to get comps for your area to see what your condo would actually sell for and what rents are in the area so you can make an informed decision.