Rent or Sell

[Brianna H.]

Purchase Price: $86.5k

Renovations: $15k (included in loan)

Total Investment: $31k cash (loan balance of $75k)

Sell Price: Homes in neighborhood are on market/pending for $0.85/sqft, so we listed the house for the same price. ($150k). The appraisal (considering updates, but before they were done) came back at $125k so I am not confident that we could actually get the house to appraise for this high unless the market has gone up in 3 months (inventory is low in the area). 

Rent Price: $1500/mo 

Taxes:  $3000/yr

Insurance: $1100/yr

Including vacancy, management fee, realtor's fee, etc I am assuming I will make a profit of $350/mo. 

What is the best deal? Our long term goal is to buy and hold, but the cash out upfront could afford us the ability to buy two properties. What are the tax implications of both options?