All Forum Posts by: Sarah Murphy

Thanks Russell. It's a 2br 2 ba in east Capitol hill (Potomac ave metro), built 2007. 

Hi all- Thanks in advance for reading this. I don't consider myself a property investor, and as a busy new mom can't find the time to educate myself as much as I know I should about this complicated topic.

We bought our condo in 2016 about a year before we (unexpectedly) moved overseas so it was not intended to be a rental or investment property for us. We have been renting it out since then, but are not making any money (in fact, we lose money each month with all the various fees, etc.). We thought that owning in a pretty good market (DC) might mean it makes sense to hold on to the property anyways in the hope of longer term appreciation, but now I'm wondering if we should just sell and move on. Would welcome your thoughts.

Purchased for 500k, outstanding balance 376k . Mortgage monthly payments: 2240 (including tax, insurance). Condo fee: About 600/month (*OUCH!) Property manager fee: 232/month (8%). 

=Total monthly running costs: $3072 (*not including repairs, etc. Luckily the condo is pretty new so issues have been minor so far, but not non-existant). + annual $250 business tax

Total rent we receive per month: $2950

So yeah, I know, not good. I've been telling myself that it's basically like we are just out of pocket $125 a month towards our mortgage principal which we would get back when we sell. Our neighborhood has had tons of development in the past couple years and more is on the way. We are optimistic that values will continue to rise.

I'm wondering if we should sell now. I would hope we could get around 540-550. With realtor fees, that would get us almost what we paid for it, plus taxes on gains and we might not even break even. So I feel like we are losing either way really. 

Better to just move on now, sell it, say lesson learned and go on, or keep holding it as a rental with hopes that rents might rise (probably wont for this next year at least with COVID, plus we will have it vacant in November and that's a crappy time of year to get a renter) and the property would further appreciate?

What else do I need to look at to do a good evaluation of my options?

Hi all,

First time poster. I'm not a real estate investor, but my husband and I bought our condo in DC (Capitol Hill) a couple years ago and then moved long-distance so we decided to keep it and rent it out. First year was great- found tenants within days and have had no issues, but they are leaving DC and so we're looking for new tenants. One prospective tenant is a housing choice program participant. We are aware of DC laws regarding source of income discrimination and have no problem with being paid by the voucher program, but there's a lot we don't understand about the program and the implications of being involved.  Most of the information on the web seems to be for tenants rather than landlords, and so I would love to connect with any other landlord participant in the program that might be willing to help me understand a bit more. Any takers? Thanks.