Rent or Flip, that is the question.

[Charles M.]

Hi Bigger Pockets Community. I am new to the forum and was introduced to BiggerPockets.com through "The Book on Rental Property Investment" that I am 3/4 of the way through reading. I am looking for suggestions/advice regarding a situation I am in with a house I purchased. Jan 2019 I purchased a Single Family House that had been abandoned/vacant for a couple of years before it was listed. The previous owners skipped town and the house sat until the bank took ownership and listed the house for sale. The house is right next door to my primary residence so I was very interested in purchasing with the plan to rehab and rent it. I refinanced my primary mortgage to pay cash ($40k) for the house and will have put about $60k of improvements into it when I am finished. At this point I am at a fork in the road. Do I rent or sell. My intention was to rent, but with the real estate market where it is I am not sure which decision is better in the long run. The house is a 3br/2ba 2,700sf ranch on 2.5 acres. Based on comps in the area I should be able to get somewhere between $225-255k for it if i sell. When I run the numbers (using $249k as the sales price), I see myself clearing about $75-80k after paying fees, est. income taxes, and repaying myself for the purchase and improvements. In that scenario, I give away about $55k of the equity for fees and taxes. When I did the rental analysis taught in "The Book on Rental Property Investing" I see myself with a monthly cash flow of $325-ish of which (I think) almost 1/3 would be due as tax at the end of the year. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks