Sell or Rent Primary Home

[Danielle Harris]

Good afternoon! My husband and I are in our early/mid-50s and own our home in Grand Prairie, Texas. We are debt-free, including our mortgage. We are in the heart of the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex, minutes from Dallas and Fort Worth, the DFW Airport, AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Park. The location is great! Our home is in an estabilished neighborhood and the current value is about $275K. We are interested in purchasing another property but aren't quite sure which is the best approach. We are looking for insight as to what may be the best decision in today's market. These are the options we are considering:

1) Purchase another property in the community we would eventually like to retire in and sell our current home. This is an expensive option, but we could take advantage of the current home sales market and low interest rates. We would pay the majority of the new home in cash and finance a small amount. We could pay that off in 5-10 years and then purchase another property for rental. 

2) Purchase another property in the community we would eventually like to retire in and use our current home as a rental property. We believe we could get upwards of $2K per month in rental income and the taxes and insurance for the home are about $650/month.

3) Sell our current home and purchase two homes: One to live in and eventually use as a rental property and purchase a cheaper home to use now as a rental property. With this option, we would pay cash for a cheap rental and put a good down payment on the home we would live in until we are ready to use it as a rental.

4) Stay in our current home and purchase another rental property that doesn't need a ton of work to maintain. We aren't really interested in flipping at this time.

We have some experience in property management. We have rented our current home before and have since moved back in and have completely updated the home.  We don't have experience in selling a home. We aren't sure which option is the best way to take advantage of home prices and interest rates without taking on too much debt at once! It's a lot to consider:)

Thank you in advance for your advice/input!

Danielle