Need advice - sell at a loss or short term rental

[Mike Deemer]

I have a now beautiful home in the Fountain Square District of Indianapolis. I have $400k into the property and was assured that I could sell it for $500k. Of course, that was at the beginning of the year. My contractors were supposed to have the home completed in March and did not complete until August. The house sat on the market for two months and only had one person even look at it after 3 open houses and having dropped it to $450k. I have two lines of credit maxed out for a total of $330k. It took years to save up the money to begin this venture ($70k). So, I’m faced with the choice, sell at a deep loss, or try to make it a short term rental until the housing season opens back up in March. I have a bank willing to loan me $360,000 to pay off the credit lines and put some money aside as a slush fund in case rents don’t meet expenses on a monthly (pending appraisal of course). I have a professional that runs multiple properties in Indianapolis through multiple short term rental platforms and he has told me he could get me net $3500-$3000 a month in rent. Monthly overhead will run around $3500. Is it worth the risk to try and survive until March or just sell at a loss now, if I can find a buyer?

[Robin Simon]

Quote from @Mike Deemer:

I have a now beautiful home in the Fountain Square District of Indianapolis. I have $400k into the property and was assured that I could sell it for $500k. Of course, that was at the beginning of the year. My contractors were supposed to have the home completed in March and did not complete until August. The house sat on the market for two months and only had one person even look at it after 3 open houses and having dropped it to $450k. I have two lines of credit maxed out for a total of $330k. It took years to save up the money to begin this venture ($70k). So, I’m faced with the choice, sell at a deep loss, or try to make it a short term rental until the housing season opens back up in March. I have a bank willing to loan me $360,000 to pay off the credit lines and put some money aside as a slush fund in case rents don’t meet expenses on a monthly (pending appraisal of course). I have a professional that runs multiple properties in Indianapolis through multiple short term rental platforms and he has told me he could get me net $3500-$3000 a month in rent. Monthly overhead will run around $3500. Is it worth the risk to try and survive until March or just sell at a loss now, if I can find a buyer?

 Probably really depends on the rest of your financial situation.  If you are pretty comfortable and liquid and can absorb the months of breakeven or slight loss without a material harm to your personal financial situation, you should probably hold out.  On a long-term time horizon (5+ years), the property will probably make money and appreciate again in the aggregate