Should You Sell Your Home Or Rent It Out? Answering These Questions Should Help You Decide
Posted on: 31 January 2017
Having trouble figuring out whether you should sell your home and be done with it or become a landlord and rent it out? Here are a few questions to answer that should help you make your final decision:
Are You a Handy Person?
It's important to consider how handy you are when it comes to home maintenance or repairs because you'll be responsible for handling these things for your tenants as a landlord. If you don't have the time or skills to do maintenance and repairs yourself, you must pay out of pocket to have various tasks completed throughout the year, which may cut in on your profits and make it tougher for you to pay your mortgage every month.
Sit down and make a list of maintenance tasks you know the home will need throughout each year as well as any possible repairs you may be faced with. You can then determine whether you have the skills and time or financial means to handle each thing on the list as a landlord. If you can't take care of most of the things on your list as a landlord, selling is probably a better option for you.
Can You Afford a Missed Rent Payment?
You also need to think about how you'll financially handle a missed rent payment or two because there is always a chance that this will happen while you are a landlord. How will you pay the mortgage if a tenant misses two rent payments and you end up having to have them evicted? It's essential that you don't get behind on your mortgage payments just because your tenants are behind on rent because there is no guarantee that you'll recover the rent money owed to you when all is said and done. If you decide to rent your home out, make sure you have at least three months' worth of mortgage payments set aside for a rainy day.
How Will You Make Money Between Occupants?
There may come a time when your home sits empty after tenants move out and while you're advertising for new ones. Because of this possibility, it's a good idea to consider how you will make money to help tide you over while your home is unoccupied. You could sell homemade goods at local farmer's markets, clean homes, or do oil changes in your area in your spare time, or even deliver newspapers in the morning. Use your imagination and make a list of income-producing possibilities, then try one or two out for a few weeks at a time to determine which option fits your lifestyle the best.
If you decide to sell your home instead of renting it out, contact a real estate agent in your area for professional assistance.
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