Reluctant landlord, military base

[Clarissa Barks]

My husband is active duty military who recently received orders to move to Kentucky.

Two years ago, we bought a house not far outside Ft Leonard Wood Missouri, thinking the market had hit bottom.

Wrong call.

So that leaves us with either a possible short sale, foreclosure, extended family separation....or renting the place out. I am leaning toward renting it out, since this is our "home base" and we would not mind coming back when he retires in three years.

I am trying to do my homework now. We are thinking of allowing pets, mostly because our house is 2100 sf, 4 bedrooms, and older-- I imagine most people looking for such a big old house will have a few pets in tow, and I think allowing pets will help get and keep it rented.

Unfortunately I also know that pets can really tear a house up.

What are some good policies to help mitigate that damage? My main goal in renting it out is to minimize our losses while we are gone-- I'm under no illusions that this will make us rich.

Any other jaded thoughts from the School of Hard Knocks are welcome, even if you consider that we have no business becoming landlords and we should rip off the band-aid of financial bleeding fast.
:oops:

(cross-posted to the Renting forum.)