Cash flow neutral single family?

[Brendan L.]

So, I've got myself into a situation. I am in the final weeks of a contract to buy a single family house in my current town. I own 2 duplexes and this was intended to be my own place. However, now I may have a job opportunity 1.5 hours away, and I'm not going to commute that. Do I back out and loose $4000 in sunk deposit and closing costs, or do I stick with it and rent it out? Problem is, the numbers aren't that attractive.

It's a 15 year loan $950/mo PITI. I could see myself getting $1200/mo in rent. Monthly expenses, self-managed, $200-$300/mo. So I would be breaking even, conservatively down $100/mo not including the principal paydown aspect. If it was a 30 year loan, I would be looking at making maybe $100/mo after taxes not including the principal paydown.

I like the house, it would be a nice place to live when I'm financially independent, so the only saving grace is that it would be paid off in 15 years at the tenants' expense. I have 2 duplexes netting me about $1k/mo after taxes and expenses.

So coming at this not so much from an investor stand point, more of a practical small time investor/financial independence stand point, what advice do you have?