Moving, keep current property or sell to buy multiple?

[Chris Hardwick]

My wife and I just purchased what we see as our "forever home" (5.5 acres in town at the back of a quiet cul-de-sac) and we're moving to that property in roughly 75-90 days. We have owned our current home since 04/2003 and the current plan is to keep this home as our first rental.

Basic details on the property in question:

• SFH Built in 1986. 3 BR, 2 B, 1,694 SF
• Purchase price in 2003 was $124,900
• Tax value is $137k
• Appraised value (personal estimate) is $165k
• Loan balance is $57k (refi on 15-yr note in 02/2011, overpaid heavily to this point)
• Monthly P&I is $677
• Yearly taxes are $3,100
• Yearly H/O insurance is $1,000
• House is very nicely updated throughout (I've updated constantly since we moved in 13 years ago). Handscraped hardwoods in all public spaces, new carpet in bedrooms, new toilets, new light fixtures, kitchen redone with granite counters & new appliances, bathrooms redone with granite, new quality vinyl siding, etc.
• A colleague (local realtor) on BP sent me a CMA and we both feel the appropriate rent is $1,600 per month.

Here's the big question: does it make more sense to keep this house as our first foray into the rental market or sell the house and take the nearly $100k in equity and buy 3-4 more properties with that cash as down payments?

My opinion is to keep the current property since it's a low monthly payment and should generate good cashflow. We can "ease" into our first REI experience without worrying about "buying right" since we're essentially starting with a property that was purchased at prices from a 12 year old market, but we get to charge today's rent.

I input numbers into the BP Rental calculator to see what it looks like. I wasn't sure on some of the numbers since we're not technically buying this property, that part is already done. So the "cash needed" is essentially nil since we already own the property.

BiggerPockets Calculator Results

If it's worth anything, we are setting a goal of at least $100k/year net income from REI within the next 4-6 years. I own a small business and my income is great, but I work too many hours. I'm looking to build a solid REI income that would allow me to take my life back from a schedule standpoint. We have roughly $75k/year to commit towards this goal, maybe more on really good years.

Thanks in advance if you read this far... I look forward to your responses.