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Updated almost 6 years ago on . Most recent reply

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Brian Harker
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Refi my own house to make it rentable?

Brian Harker
Posted

So my wife and I live in Northern Virginia (NOVA), and we are looking at moving out of the area in the near future. Due to the nature of our professions, we will very likely be back sometime in the future, and the way houses tend to appreciate in this area, it seems like a mistake to sell. We're committed to holding onto the house, so we'd like to rent it out after we move. The problem is that rental estimates show that we could expect to get $2400 a month for our place, and our monthly expenses on the house come to around $2500. We've been making payments on it for 5 years, and by now I have enough equity in the house to refinance and bring the monthly rate down to $1700. Considering that we're against selling it, it seems like a good move to me to turn the house into a cash-flowing asset by refinancing it rather than putting money into it every month just to hold onto it and build equity.

Is this a good idea in principle, or is there something that I'm not taking into consideration?

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Greg Scott
  • Rental Property Investor
  • SE Michigan
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Greg Scott
  • Rental Property Investor
  • SE Michigan
Replied

Brian:

It seems strange that your monthly payment would come down so much, so I'm going to have to make some educated guesses. I'm presuming you had a 15 year mortgage and were likely paying PMI. So, I suspect the $1700 number means you refi to a 30-year fixed rate. I'm also going to assume for now that your $1700 is PITI so includes taxes and insurance.

Adding an 8% factor for vacancy, about $200/mo for long-term repairs, plus more for property management, your cash flow would be about $150-200/mo.  I would say this is an OK, not great return on your equity.  Given you want to hold the property, that may not be the best purely financial decision but there are other factors in play

A word of warning, it is often very hard for people to rent out their personal residence.  The tenants will never care for it the way you want them too.  It will be doubly hard for you if you intend to move back and they have damaged or modified the property in a way you do not like.  It will drive you crazy but you need to keep your cool.  Be prepared for that.

Another factor you will need to consider is taxes.  If you sell the property now, you will likely not have to pay any capital gains.   On the other hand, if you decide to sell it 3 or 4 years from now after renting it, your situation will be very different.

  • Greg Scott
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