All Forum Posts by: Kelly McMahon

Hi everyone,

I have decided my small family and I dont fit into our 1258 sq ft home any more. We are looking into buying bigger in better school districts. I want to sell this house because renting seems like a nightmare to me. Here is my situation:

We have a beautifully maintained home built in 2004. We haven't upgraded hardly anything except solid wood window coverings, whole-home alarm system, lights in the closets and a new kitchen sink (big whoop) but we have a very expensive hot tub in the back yard and the location of our home in relation to the rest of the neighborhood is what attracted me to the home in the first place (corner lot, backed up to a wash, sunset in the backyard, sunrise in the front, no house facing our front door). The house came with some very nice features like a beautiful security gate and front door and an extended patio, irrigation system, landscaped low-maitenence yard.

My real estate agent ran the comps and says we probably cant get more than $135K for the house....we owe $158K left on the mortgage.

I dont expect to make a profit on this place, but I definitely dont want to sell it and owe the bank over $20K....$5K maybe, but we still have to buy a second home.

My question comes down to this: How much worth do I give those comps? Are they just based on homes with the same square footage and number of bedrooms? Because I'm sure my house is worth more than the other homes in this neighborhood for that square footage, but how do I know for sure?

(if your still reading, thank you!)

My other option, and one that my real estate agent thinks is a better idea, is to rent this place out, but I probably couldnt get more than $1000 a month for it, and the mortgage is $878. Is that a good deal?

Thank you all for your opinions/advice! I clearly have no idea what I'm doing and although I trust my real estate agent, I just want to be more informed.

Hi everyone,

I'm very new to the investment scene. I bought our current house in 2010 when the first time homebuyers credit was still available and knew at the time it was too small. Now we need a bigger place and I dont know if we can sell this one or if we want to take the plunge into investing and rent it out.

I've always dreamed of making a living flipping houses. I dont know anything about renovating houses either but it sounds like fun. I currently work as a nurse and I dont think there is a single job out there harder than that....I'd like something to fall back on when my back gives out.

Other than nursing I'm a full time masters student set to get my family nurse practitioner in 2 years. My lovely parents think its best to wait the 2 years when I have a better paying job to look into moving. But with the interest rates as low as they are and the houses as cheap as they are here, I want to do this now.

I look forward to getting to know the real estate scene and all of you. Thanks for reading!

Hi fellow newbie! I'm also a nurse interested in real estate investing starting out with our own home and seeing how it goes! Good luck to you!

Im no expert on the economy, or investing, and especially not the real estate market but I do know how to balance a budget and jump on bigger and better opportunities. Our current house is too small and not working for our situation any more. We need a bigger home, but do we rent or sell this home?

First of all, I know nothing about being a landlord, or hiring a property manager, but the little advice I have gotten on the subject tells me I'd rather do the work myself. According to the numbers my real estate agent gave me and what shows on Zillow, our house is worth about 25K less than we owe. Now that doesnt mean we cant sell it for more. That number is simply taking into account the square footage and number of bedrooms right?

We have a lot of attractive features I think would draw people to this home, but if we sell we run the risk of losing a lot of money. If we rent, we run the risk of someone destroying our home, making a ton more work for ourselves, and losing a lot of money. But we could also sell for what we owe or rent to lovely tenants and actually make a little money.

So how do you decide?

On a related note, another question is how does it work when you cant afford two mortgages, do you find someone to rent/buy then try like hell to find that perfect house and move out fast? Or do you find a small rental in between? Neither situation sounds that great.

Any help/advice as we enter into this journey would be much appreciated!!