At a crossroad, need opinions

[Matt Foster]

I have a rental property located in Metro Detroit (Macomb County) in a very nice neighborhood.  Just got a 30-day notice to terminate the lease from my tenant.  I need to decide whether to sell it or find a new tenant.  

Here's the facts:

Monthly rent: $1,400. 

Gross Annual Income from rent: $16,800. 

Net Annual Income from rent:  $11,553.

The property is worth $155,000 and is free and clear.  

The primary focus of my business in 2017 will be fix and flips.  I was literally a day away from putting a good faith deposit of $3,000 with a hard money lender that would give me access to up to $750,000 ($250,000 per property up to 3 properties) at 5.5 points and 1.25% per month (so if I hold a fix and flip for 5 months it would be 11.75% interest).  

On one hand I like the rental because it provides steady rent and tax benefits.  On the other hand, we don't have a lot of cash on hand in the business because it's tied up in this property and it would be nice to cash out and use those funds in future fix and flips.  I could save a healthy amount of money by avoiding some or all of the hard money costs.  

Any opinions on what the best move here is?  

Thanks in advance.  

[Brad T.]

Good question, Matt.  Of course it depends on a few things.

- What are your long term goals in real estate passive or active cash flow?

- How much do you like this rental house, do you want to keep it forever?

- You could also get a HELOC on the property and use the cash for your flips if you want to keep it.

- You should be able to double your cash on cash return by putting a loan on the property and I am sure you make a much higher rate on your flips.

Best of luck!

Brad