Rental Property vs Capital Gain

[Charles Hetrick]

We have rental that we have been renting for over seven years and she’s moving to a senior complex. We have a discussion to make

A-Rent the house at almost double what we have been charging

B sell the house and receive almost 80000 capital gain and re invest in more rental properties. How long can you wait to re invest money

C house will be re done and re invest about 7000

D house is paid for

Open for options

[Scott P.]

It sounds like you know your options.

If I knew for sure I wanted to reinvest closer to  home, I'd try very, very, very hard to do a 1031 exchange.  

With that said, I've sold before in order to reinvest closer to home.  The first check I wrote after the sale was to the US Treasury for $18,000 for capital gains.  

First decide if you want to remain a long distance landlord, keeping in mind that the next tenant may not be for 7 years again.

I think if I could increase the rent by as much as you say, I'd do the work to bring the place up to date and re-rent at that new rate.  If you find that you have trouble getting a good tenant, you can always sell later.  In the meantime, I'd begin looking into like-kind-exchange properties.