This house was my grandmother's and now mine. No mortgage. It's 70 years old, in an economically depressed area, a 2-hour drive away from me, about 30 miles from the Gulf Coast in a hurricane zone, and worth maybe 45K. I rented it out once but my tenant left after being laid off for COVID. I was getting 800/mo but Zillow now says I could get 900. Finding renters in the area with decent credit and a clean record was a challenge. I planned to do more repairs and rent it out again but once COVID hit I was trying to keep social distance and ended up letting it sit empty a while. Now I am considering selling instead.
It's a cozy home but has issues. It has no working central heat and in the winter relies on space heaters (This is TX near the coast so not usually that cold). It will probably need a new roof in a couple of years. A big tree grew up directly under the power line to the house and needs to be cut down. The garage flooded in Harvey and we cut out some of the paneling. It has 40 year old steel siding that is starting to rust and it needs to be painted. A wheelchair deck that runs all the way around the house needs to be resurfaced or cut down. I worry some about the electricity lines in the walls being 70 years old. Some people have told me the type of renter in the area would not be deterred by such things but I would feel compelled to fix it up some before someone moved in again, and that would mean putting in up to 10-15K into a properly only worth 45K.
Strictly looking at money, rent still appears to be the better option. If I sold it outright and cleared after paying the agent and taxes, say, $35,000?, I could invest that money. But I would need a 17% return year over year to match even clearing $500 in net rental income.
Would you psych yourself up and get it rented, or just sell and avoid the trouble?
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/ota72s/rent_or_sell_a_70_year_old_house_wwyd/
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