To sell or not to sell

[Mark Pemberton]

I currently own a duplex in the Kittery, ME area that I have owned for the last 10 years. The idea from the start was to pay off the mortgage and collect the rents to supplement my income. Recently, I purchased my forever home (which is a fixer upper) and also had my first child. As a result of those things I'm finding that I don't have the time to keep up with the maintenance of my duplex. I'm considering selling the duplex and later investing the profits on a property that I can manage without personally doing all the maintenance. However, now that I'm preparing to sell it I'm having second thoughts on whether I should, or just refinance and pull all the equity out of the property. Since the rent in my area is capped by the quality of the area I'm finding that I only see about .7% rent to value. Is selling the best option here or should I refinance and use that equity to purchase another property?