Sell or rent out your original house?

• “Ask yourself if you will be able to tolerate the stress that comes with being responsible for the home you’re living in, as well as a rental, particularly if it is long-distance.” And before you become a landlord, you need to conduct your due diligence: A decent amount of upfront research is needed on the licensing and other laws that pertain to rentals in your city, county and state.
• Check into local rental rates and see if there is a viable tenant stream, says Koki Adasi, team leader and founder of Koki & Associates at Long & Foster in Washington, D.C. If you are depending on the rental income to cover the mortgage on your new home, you’ll need to be able to charge enough to cover that and then some.
• “If the total monthly amount that you need supersedes rental market value, you may end up taking a monthly loss,” Lazenby says.
• You also might want to keep the home if you’ve recently purchased it and it has not yet increased enough in value to cover costs associated with selling, such as closing costs, transfer taxes and other fees, says Adasi.
• In most states these expenses are tax write- offs; you also might be able to deduct fees associated with running the rental, including property management, attorneys and cleaning services.
• “If you purchased the home at a good price and its value is rising steadily, you may want to hang on to it and accept any potential monthly loss in exchange for keeping your investment,” Lazenby says.

Source: Florida Realtors