MTR or sell? I'm not sure our house is the right fit for rentals.

[Caren Magill]

Hey Ya'll,

I'm struggling with what to do with my primary home in the suburbs of Austin (about 25 mins outside of the city).  It's a big house with a view and pool - really nice, but I'm ready to move on from texas, so I'm debating selling it, or renting it out as a long term lease or MTR.  Here's the deets:

I've owned it for 5 years.

Bought it for $725, but it's worth about $1.2 or more now.

It's not a vacation area, so not interested in STR, but could be okay for MTR, although not super close to hospitals.

Mostly I'm hesitant to sell because I have a sweet mortgage rate (2.5%), I owe less than $500K on it, and I'm not planning to buy again soon.  The idea of renting is appealing, but it's a house that requires a lot of upkeep, so I worry about how to manage that (or the expense to have someone else do it).

Any insights or words of wisdom would be appreciated. 

[Mike Dymski]

One way or another, you will want to sell within 3 years after moving out so you do not lose the tax free gain on sale (up to 250k tax free gains for single and 500k for married).