My long-term tenant is finally moving out of my rental house and I am again faced with the decision of keeping it or selling it. I have decided to turn to the fine minds of MIFP for advice. Here are the salient numbers.
The Zestimate on the house is $428,692. I think this is pretty reasonable. The rent Zestimate is $2,225 per month, but I currently rent it out for $2,050. I intentionally charge below-market rent to attract more potential tenants.
1st mortgage Balance: $273,350.96 Interest rate: 3.375% (fixed) Maturity date: 02/27 Last payment: $2,805.85 Principal: $1,583.38 Interest: $773.25 Escrow: $449.222nd mortgage Balance: $29,316.45 Interest rate: 6.125% (fixed) Maturity date: 03/25 Last payment: $329.11 Principal: $175.84 Interest: $153.27
The house is in decent shape and managing it isn't too difficult because I literally live next door. I've had problem tenants in the past (one of whom still owes me ~$8k). But once I got a good, long-term tenant, things were fine. The house is in a nice neighborhood. Of course no one really knows where housing prices are going. If I had to guess, I'd say that I expect prices in my neighborhood to remain relatively steady.
The first observation is that I'm leaking money like a sieve. The total monthly payment is $3,134.96 and I'm only collecting $2,050 in rent. So I pay $1,084.96 per month to cover the difference. But the rent covers 100% of the interest and escrow, plus 1/3 of the principal payment. So at least that money is coming back to me, albeit in an illiquid way.
Financially speaking, everything else is good. Retirement accounts are fully-funded. Emergency savings are in place. Cash flow is fine. I have considered paying off the 2nd mortgage, but I haven't been able to convince myself one way or the other on that.
Thanks in advance, Bill