To hold or to sell our house???

[Chase Webster]

My wife and I bought our house in 2012 for $175K on a VA loan with 0 down. With the funding fee we ended up financing $178. We currently owe $136 and could probably sell somewhere between $200 and $210 in our current market, meaning that we might be able to walk away with a $50K check at least. The other option is to keep it. A conservative NOI is around $820 (accounting for CAPEX and maint/repairs) with a debt service of $825. The absolute max we could probably rent for is $1700, meaning we will be very close to breaking even. The house was built in 1994 and has the original AC, water heater, furnace (worried about that stuff in the next 5 years or so as well as a paint job on the outside eventually). Has a new roof that insurance put on in 2012. We are at a point that we would make around $5,000 per year in equity and $5,000 in depreciation. However, especially in the first couple of years, I don't think we will make much in cash flow at all (after setting aside $150 per month for CAPEX and maint/repairs). So, I guess my question is whether I should keep the house and rent it or if I should sell it, take the cash, and maybe buy something else. I feel like we are just barely on the line of this being a good decision, but I wanted to get other opinions. We are moving to Japan this summer, so anything I would buy would likely be purchased from out of state.

[Mike Flora]

Sell it. All the profit you make is tax free since you have lived in it for over 2 years. So think about how long it would take to get that back while renting it. Second thing to look at is your VA loan is tied up as well. VA loan is best conventional loan out there in the fact that you don't need any money down. So you could sell your home, reinvest that 50K profit for a down payment on a rental and buy yourself another property with no money down using your VA loan.