Hold or Sell???

[Katrina Schmid]

Hello everyone!

I would love some advice on a situation we have with our first ever REI. We have a SFR in Lakewood Co that we were able to rent out last year and our current tenants have informed us they will be moving out at the end of the month. We have been trying to find replacement tenants but aren't trusting any of the prospects. One thing we are considering is getting rid of the property all together because according to sites like zillow and realtor the property has appreciated so much (as much as 100K) in the 6 years we have owned here- mainly because of the light rail opening and Denver's crazy market. We would then use the 1031 exchange and invest in another property.

The house needs some expensive updates, fixing the negative sloping and making some improvements on the inside of the house as well.  If we hold on to the property we could use next month (August) to make necessary repairs but these repairs would eat into our cash flow.  Another issue we have is because of Denver's crazy market - being new at this I'm worried that we won't be able to find another rental within the 45 days if we do use the 1031 exchange.  Is it better than to not utilize this tax break?

Any advice is welcome!!  Thanks for your help!!