help analyzing a rental property in renton, WA

[Brandon Saimo]

Hey folks I'm brand new here.  I've recently inherited a house with my siblings and have found bigger pockets in my research as I try to decide whether to rent or sell it.  Since then I have been immersing myself in the podcast and have become interested in the idea of buy and hold real estate as a path to income replacement.  The house was built in the 80's and hasn't seen many updates since then.  It is located on the west side of the lake on a quiet street.  Any tips on how I can approach thinking about whether this would make a good rental to hold on to or should I think about selling and investing somewhere else?  Thanks in advance.

[Josh Dillingham]

ask yourself the following questions:

-if it was a rental what would it rent for (check craigslist for similar rentals in your area)?  what would all your expenses be?  rent - expenses = monthly cashflow

-if you sold it how much do you think it would sell for (check Zillow to see what similar properties in your area have sold for)? how much would you get after real estate agent fees, taxes etc? 

as an example, lets say that if you rented the property you would get $400 per month in cashflow, and if you sold it you would get a lump sum of $150,000. 

the question then becomes would you rather have $400 per month and a property you could possibly sell later, or would you rather have the $150,000 to invest however you want right now?