Not sure what my next step should be.....help.

[Cory Heim]

I bought my first house about 4 years ago with the intention of living it for quite a long time (3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, aprox 1600 sq ft, 2 car attached garage). I got a great deal when I bought the house because it was in need of some serious updating. PLUS my lending bank made a mistake when they did the paperwork leading up to closing the deal and they did not calculate PMI into the final paperwokr. So I pay no PMI on my house for the life of my loan which equates to about $130 savings each month. In the time that I've owned my home I've updated nearly every square foot of the house. All new paint, new 6 pannel doors throughout the house, new trim and molding, all new light fixtures, completely gutted and updated both the main and master bathrooms, new carpet, sanded and refinished the kithcen cabinets, new laminate wood flooring in the kitchen and dinning room, new stainless steel kitchen sink, new stainless steel appliances, new garage door, and a new roof in 2016. This has mostly been DIY work so I've saved a ton by putting in the sweat equity myself. My house is essentially done at this point and now I'm not sure what my nest step should be. My mortgage is currently about $925/month and my loan payoff is approximately $105k give or take a few. Houses in my neighborhood are selling between $1335k-$155k depending on the updates. Based on what I've seen in the other houses sold in my neighborhood my house is more updated and much nicer so I feel my house would sell on the higher end of that range.

1) I could sell the house and probably profit somewhere in the neighborhood of $30-40k.

2) I cound rent it out for around $1400-$1500 a month which would put me in a +$400-$500 cash flow situation.

3) I could continue to live in this house at around $925/month and pursue other real estate investment opportunities.

Any recommendations?

Thanks and have a great day.

[Michael Beeman]

@Cory Heim

Have you considered the possibility of selling the house, taking the 30-40k in profit and putting it as a down payment on a 3 or 4 plex. Living in one portion of the multi-family unit. Then using the BRRR strategy to really catapult you into the Real Estate industry. This is essentially House Hacking, the nice benefits are, that as a "home owner" of this property, you should be able to get in with low initial investment. It is just an idea, but it solves the issue of where you would live, how to get into the business without a large amount of money, and gets your feet wet at landlording instead of putting tenants into a house that you have put so much effort into yourself, only to possibly make a mistake in your tenant screening process and have them possibly destroy all of your hard work.