Rent or Shortsale

[Maxwell Hunter]

My wife and I will be relocating to a new area in metro Atlanta from Lawrenceville GA.  Our current town-home is still underwater by approximately 10-15k (Still fall-out from the last bubble and market drop).  Our options at this point are to either short-sale or rent it out.

A few years ago we were in a similar situation and decided to rent it out.  We pretty much broke even but at the time I knew nothing about investing and landlording the proper way, I'm certain we could have gotten some positive cash flow from the property given what I know now.

Our overall goal is to buy-and-hold so it seems like a good opportunity to jump start the career, but I'm still a little apprehensive.

Right now, the mortgage on the home is 900 and the HOA is an additional 200. The property was built in 2006 and we given that we have kept the property well maintained, I wouldn't anticipate any big capital expenditures.

I have been debating the right approach on this for a while and wanted to reach out to the investor community for thoughts.

[Howard Abell]

I understand all the replies to your problem and do agree but I have an alternative approach here. You already are carrying a loss on the townhome and waiting to what appears to be a break even in both cash flow and in two years a sale may not be your only option. The 10 to 15% loss is not earth shattering and there is much to be said for getting out of this situation and moving on. You can clean up your balance sheet, start saving money over the next two years and be in a position to begin a profitable investment program. Sometimes taking a loss is more psychological and emotional and prevents people from viewing all their options. Just a thought.