Should I keep my house?

[Beau Miles]

My wife and I currently live in a home that we bought in 2010 for $149,000.  The payoff right now is $126,000.  We just found a house for $235,000 that we want to buy and live in (we will have to do some remodeling...maybe 60 grand).  I need the money from my current house to pay for the down payment on the new house.  I know I could rent out my current house for between $1200-1400 a month.  I have repaired just about everything in the house and know what to expect from it.  I am considering getting a home equity loan and paying for the down payment with that...then renting out the house.  Is this smart?  I know that this is probably a basic question but we want to get into the rental world and this all kinda fell in our lap.  We thought it might be a good way to start with something we know.  Thoughts?

[Jeff Sheraton]

How much equity do you have in your home?  I know you pay $149k in 2010, but has the value increased or decreased?

Once you figure this out you can get an idea of how much you could get on an equity line.

From there you would just need to figure out what your monthly cashflow would be from your current home and how much cash you would need to put out to get into your new home.

About 5 years ago I moved out of my first home into my current home.  The cashflow from the first home just about covers both mortgages.