Rent or Sell Primary home?

[Amanda Chandler]

Hi everyone. Looking for some feedback and help on this topic...

I own my personal residence that was purchased in December 2020 in Knoxville, TN. Used my real estate license and used the 2.5% commission + 2.5% of my own money for a 5% down payment. Builder paid all my closing costs. Mortgage insurance falls off off in the next couple months. Interest rate is 2.75%... We also have a HELOC through a credit union that is for 100K, interest only payments for 10 years if we use it with the ability to lock a rate.

Long story short, my husband and I are trying to decide if we should rent or sell. It's not designed to be a rental, this was our forever home but we are now moving out of state. Using the BP calculator with property management and all expenses factored in, my COC is 58% and my net monthly proceeds would be around $850. If we sold we would net about $150K.

What are your thoughts? I'm much more in favor of keeping the house. My husband is worried the market is going to dip too much that we won't be able to rent it long term and then we won't be able to sell either if prices go too low... I think we bought really well and smart, so the numbers work. I'm also worried we won't like the state we are moving to, and this would be reassuring for me to come back to.