New to forum and potential first time renter

[Destin Hinton]

Greetings all.  I ended up here after watching several BP YouTube Videos.  My name is Destin Hinton, 41 years old, and we live about 30 minutes North of Salt Lake City.  Full time I am an Aviation Safety Inspector with the Federal Aviation Administration and also a supervisor in the Air Force Reserves.

We have zero experience with investment properties and are considering renting our primary residence. We are also in the middle of a VA IRRL refi down to 2.75%. Not sure if renting is best or selling and investing the equity.

After the refi we will have a balance of $183k on a 26 year note.  We had considered moving out of state last year and had an appraisal that came in at $359k.  The market in Northern Utah has been pretty hot.  My real estate agent has been keeping contact with me and would obviously like us to sell.   I feel pretty confident we could rent our house for $2,000 - $2,100 per month.  I just learned about he four square analysis and completed the first 3 squares.  All expenses with a renter comes out to $1369.92.  If we stay local this would be self managed otherwise I would absolutely pay for a property management company.

Traditionally I have been pretty bad with money. Being a federal employee last year during the furlough was a little bit of wake up call. I took $50k out of our TSP and am currently paying that back with a balance of $36k as of today. We have also stared a short term emergency savings and currently have a balance of right at $13k.

Glad to be here and excited to learn.

-Destin

[Elijah Rosett]

Hey Destin! I always suggest keeping properties as rentals if possible. As mentioned above, one of the best things you can do is pick up properties as you go, live there for at least a year, then convert into a rental. I'm a retired Marine myself and still hold onto a property in San Diego from when I was in. 

Dont let a realtor push you into selling! If you have any questions, let me know.