Should I rent or sell?

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@Sean Michael Look at your total returns, not just your cashflow. I think of this as a four layer analysis - most people stop at layer one, which is fine, but it's not really ... enough ... when big $$ are involved.Layer 1 - Cash in My Pocket or "Cash Flow"You figured $5000 per year for this.Layer 2 - Impact of InflationI'll assume it's a $600k Denver house (with $250k in equity). Assume a go-forward inflation rate of 1.5% and ignore likelihood weighting for a moment:Annual Value Increase: $9000Inflation Expense on your $250k in equity: $3750Net Value Increase / year because of your leverage: $5250 You're claiming Layer 1 net cash flow of ~$5k per year. Add those together and, assuming no market-based appreciation (or depreciation), you can reasonably count on a year 2 ROE of $10000 / $259,000 = 3.9%. The positive impact of inflation on total returns is an outsized benefit of leverage in high-value markets.Layer 3 - Risk This requires informed projections, but is real. It's all about assigning risk weights and likelihoods. On top of the obvious property-specific physical risks, there are many others. What are the environment risks - flood, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, weather impact on the physical asset? What are the tenant risks - tenant class, local employment opportunities, local culture? What are the regulatory risks - rent control, tax policy change, city inspectors, CO costs? What are the legal risks - tenant screening, non-payment, inside/outside asset protection? What are the neighborhood risks - is progress advancing towards or receding away, stability of neighbors, competition in the area, brand of the area? Whether you assign actual numbers to each and model in order to get an aggregate present value or just rely on gut, there's some sort of current value to the potential positive or negative risks that a property has. Buy a good triplex or quad and you maybe have a Year 1 Layer 3 present value of $7,000.Layer 4 - Appreciation or DepreciationAlso requires informed projections, but is equally real. I don't mean to be ivory tower about it, but post-high school education or advanced coursework in data science or financial modeling with risk sensitivity goes a long way towards brain training here. Consider both types of appreciation/depreciation:Market-based, either from changing CAP rates (commercial) or market-wide value changes (residential)Market rent, meaning the rate of change in market-wide rent levelsNot interested in arguing the actual numbers - that's where the more information and familiarity you have for an area, the more successful you'll be at investing. Suffice to say, there's a present value you can assign to both market-based and market rent appreciation that takes into account the relative likelihoods of both happening at any given level to the positive and negative. On a $1.25M fourplex in North Park, I'm going to assume there's a year 1 present value of ~$21,000.Bottom LineAdd it all up and you've got a risk-weighted present value for an investment opportunity. In this theoretical example, you've got a Year 1 value of +$38,250. Or, assuming you put that $250k into a Layer 1 and 2 equal investment in SD, an annual return of +/- 15%. Up to you whether that's an attractive use of your capital.My point in typing this out is just to hopefully provide some structure around considering the entire investment. Not modeled here are the soft costs - your time, and the value of experience gained - which I would argue should be modeled into the present value as well. It can be fine to just do quick analyses since full analysis can actually be an impediment to action, but when investing I think we should all at least acknowledge when we're going with our gut and when we're proposing a defensible, numbers-backed strategy. Good luck, and looking forward to welcoming you to SD!

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@Sean Michael welcome to BP!It depends what your goals are and how much you believe in your Denver market. If you're looking for cashflow, it would seem to be a no brainer.But if you're ok not getting cashflow, do you think the market is going to appreciate greatly where the home is? It may be worth it. Don't forget, depending on how far along in your mortgage you are, you could be "earning" several percent/year in loan paydown, plus what the market appreciates.When I moved about 1.5 years ago, I had a similar thought, and concluded that my money is much better put to use elsewhere, so we sold.Good luck with the move and the decision!

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@Sean Michael another thing to keep in mind. If you're sitting on a bunch of capital gains, you should consider the impact of selling within the next three years (assuming you've been there the last two) to capitalize on the personal residence exemption.Let us know what you decide!

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Put a lockbox on the property and self manage.

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@Simcha Davidman Denver seems like a great market right now. At least in my industry (software/tech), companies from Silicon Valley seem to be moving in on a monthly basis. The population growth is high and it seems to be a top alternative to SF for many people in tech, along with Austin, Seattle, and (maybe) Portland. I do feel like we are at the top of a market cycle right now though. Real estate price growth is starting to flatten. No one knows, but I would confidently say that we are closer to a top than a bottom.

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Sean, I hope all is well. If I were in your position I would sell the single-family home. I would then take the $250K and invest in multi-family and start to build a portfolio. You can invest passively alongside a syndication or your own multi-family deal. I hope this helps and good luck, and safe travels on your move!

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There are paid sources like neighborhood scout or case shiller. These sites allow the user to obtain the data at one site using a range of criteria. However, I can usually find similar data just by doing an internet search. Verify the date because data that is two years old can be very different than the data today. The census (government) is a good source of things like population, salary, etc. it can provide some insight if the market is expanding or constricting good luck

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Where is a good place to find market data like you mention here?

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@Scott Anderson I would do that, but as a first time landlord I'm worried about running the process myself and finding the right people to fix things when they pop up. I may end up giving this a shot though.

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Where in Denver is your house? Have any friends you trust that would be interested in house hacking for you? I've found that if you have a good location you can get more money by renting per room. If someone you trust is in there as well, they can keep an eye on things and eliminate property management fees.