If you rent, it's likely your renters will not care about your home as much as you do. So if you choose to rent, you will need to make peace with the fact that things are going to likely get broken, beat up, etc...

What happens if your renters stop paying their rent? Are you prepared to deal with that battle?

What if the plumbing breaks and is spewing water in the middle of the night? Or the HVAC system stops working? Are you prepared to take those phone calls (or would you hire a property management company to take those calls?).

I had to make a similar assessment a few years ago. At first I was leaning towards renting the house. But then I started talking to people who had actually rented their home and I heard too many horror stories. One person said she thought the people seemed "decent" and she didn't have any problems until they moved out - and that's when she found out they had literally never hauled any garbage away - there was a year's worth of trash rotting in the basement. Including dirty diapers. Another person told me she lost about 6 months of rent and it cost a ton to get bad tenants evicted. And of course those tenants trashed her house in the process. She spent thousands cleaning up the damage.

Renting is one of those things that IF it goes well, it can be a nice stream of income. But man, when it goes wrong it can really go to hell on you. So I chose to take the lump sum and sold the house. Looking back I know I made the right decision for me, but there was also zero chance I'd ever live in it again either.

I had rental property in the past and never will have any again. Most people just don't respect rental homes anymore. Now a days their thinking is that it is not theirs so why should they care. Usually the security deposit doesn't cover the renters neglect. There are a few good renters, but they are getting fewer and far between. Plus not living in the area poses another set of problems.

We have rentals and after 10 years of it, I am ready to get out of the business. We rent nice homes and it is so disheartening that almost every tenant has left the properties filthy. I am talking 1 full weekend of just cleaning plus the usual complete paint job/carpet cleaning etc for every turnover.

As far as screening-My husband and I are nice people and seem to be a magnet to people that know how to work the system. We swear we have an invisible S for sucker tattooed on our foreheads. If you are tough and organized, then you will have better luck dealing with people who always are trying to pull a fast one. I live in a very landlord unfriendly state and the tenants know it. My neighbor (landlord also) has a strict policy of filing for eviction on day 5 of lateness and she gets them out in 6 weeks. She also has found a specific clause put in the lease that allows the security deposit to be used as the rent during the eviction so she is not losing as much during the eviction.

So...in a nutshell...

You should expect your house to be abused/left filthy. Some people literally don't ever clean baseboards, refrigerators etc.

Spend the money on a well executed lease. Make sure specifics are spelled out such as landscaping, leaving stuff outside etc.

Do not tolerate lateness as that sets a precedence for the courts. One day late needs a notice of violation and a late fee tacked on. 5 days late, go to the courthouse to file. Do not listen to any sob stories. This is your business.

Make the tenants get renters insurance in case your own insurance company has to sue them for damages. (Our tenants went away without filling the oil for the heat causing a pipe to burst with $42K in damage. Our lease covered us and the insurance company sued the tenants for damages). Renters insurance typically is only $200 a year.

Study your state rental laws closely to make sure you don't violate them as tenants can recover triple damages for violations (in NJ).

My parents rented several homes when I was growing up. Dad was very handy so he did all the house repairs and maintenance. When you rent, good tenants are hard to find and very special. Bad tenants are a dime a dozen and can cause a lot of headaches and damage. After all my experiences growing up, I'd never rent. I'd sell the house, invest the money in even a fixed income security if I needed a steady income, and be happy. It's not like you ever have to bug bonds to get payments or take them to court to defend your security deposit. And if you don't like your investment, they're a lot easier to get rid of than a bad tenant...and a whole lot less work to maintain.

If you rent the house, it is no longer your primary residence and you will have to pay capital gains if you sell it in the future.

If you want a good tenant than you should rent below market, screen the tenant well. In most cases, tenants appreciate what they have and are not abusive.

You can put a clause in the lease that they pay for any repairs up to $300.00 that occurs while they are leasing. This prevents you from having to take care of any little misc.repair that might occur.

If you have a lawn and garden, you should have a contractor maintain the exterior and try to have it in the lease that the tenant pays for it.

You will need renters insurance as cleo mentioned. I agree with many of her points.

Since your sons live nearby, can they help out if you rent?

You are right in that it is easy to leave but hard to return especially when the area appreciates rapidly.

ETA: We have multiple rental properties from single family to multiple for over 40 years, so I disagree that is hard to find good tenants. There are good people who wind up "sob" stories, yes. We have a multifamily upstate NY and the tenant has to pay in two installments. These are people who have lost good jobs and were replaced with bad ones. So, there are ways to be kind, be in business and work with people.

Also, DH does something that I"m sure most landlords don't. We have ACH to collect rent. For those not familiar, it means we can go to the individuals account and transfer the rent ourselves. This goes like clockwork for the majority. But, there a few that he will text and say, Can I take the rent today." There are one or two that need to wait for the 5th of the months and DH works with them.

Renting may be more beneficial financially, but it can take a toll on your nerves/mental health. A real estate agency may manage rentals for a fee. That reduces some of the aggravation. It's a tough call, because there is no definitive answer, too many variables.

We have a rental house we will probably sell in a few years or so. The house is on property very near my dad, and that is my main reason for not selling it at this point. I want to control who is in the house. My main focus at this point is to have someone in the house who is a good neighbor to my dad, or at the very least, causes no problems for him. I had a young couple living there who just moved out-of-state and will be looking for new renters very soon. My husband is very handy and we have a good friend who is a realtor and has recommended painters, someone to clean, etc. so we have done well so far. But, it is not something I want to do long-term. Our contract is very specific/detailed. If I were you, I might rent the house for a year and give yourself time to see if you want to come back to the area or not. Good luck!

Totally agree with eld6161. I am sounding very negative right now after we lost $4000 last year with a woman that planned to mess with us. I would say, yes, you can be sympathetic to people but only after they have proven themselves to be good tenants. Don’t begin your landlord/tenant relationship by listening to sob stories because it will set a precedent.

My worst tenant ever, I actually was buying food for the kids and other necessities. She was selling her food card for cash to pay for her cell phone. Another bad tenant didn’t pay her last 3 months rent...I found hundreds of heroin syringes tossed above the kitchen cabinets after she left. No wonder...the rent was going in her veins. And these were nice people with kids that I knew from schools/ sports etc.

If you have any doubts rent for the year, then evaluate. I have two friends that were sorry they moved out of our area as they could not afford to move back so I would err on the side of being able to return.

Forgot to mention I would definitely have a reputable property management firm handle everything for you.

Thank you all for your input. I forgot to mention that on the advice of a friend who did rentals for a number of years, we would try to rent to a military family. She said they make great tenants....pay on time because they have a housing stipend and a steady income and are respectful of the property. If they trash the house and word gets back to their CO, it could affect their career.

I had not considered some of the aspects posted, such as capital gains tax. Lots to still ponder. Thanks again, i really appreciate it.

I have a rental apartment and it has been a good experience thus far, but I have a built-in "management company" in that the building's management and super handle all of the emergency "my toilet broke" kind of calls. The fridge pooped out on my last tenants and after the super tried to fix it and couldn't, I had to call an appliance repair place and set that up, but for the most part the super does everything.

I don't think I would have been willing to rent a house and manage the property myself. With a house, there are so many systems that can be abused, a yard that can be left to rot, etc. The apartment is a 1BR and I'm only responsible for what's within the four walls, so there's a limit to the amount of damage a renter can do.

My renters also have to pass the co-op board's approval process, which means they have to submit several years' worth of salary info, tax returns, etc. and have a near-perfect credit score. Makes it a little harder to find a tenant but thus far it has resulted in tenants who keep the place up very well. I have had many people come and look at the place and start with sob stories about why their credit is bad or why they can't submit XYZ documentation and I just tell them that it's not up to me, the co-op makes the rules!

I think it's different keeping a house as a rental investment than it is to keep your home and rent it with the possibility of moving there again. Most people probably don't want to be landlords with all the possible headaches, but good tenants are out there and if you do your research about your state's landlord tenant laws and use some of the hints given here, you might not have any problems. A hefty damage deposit is a good idea. If you rent to military who might not be able to come up with it all at once, maybe take 1/3 for 3 months or something.

Good luck!

As for having a military tenant...I'm not sure that's as fool-proof as it used to be. We moved from a house because the USAF pilot who was renting the house next door was incredibly loud and obnoxious. Marijuana smoke wafted in the air, music played at all hours loud enough to vibrate the walls and a motorcycle revved its engine in the late night and early morning. We called the police many times, but the tenants wouldn't answer the door. There were lots of male and female visitors...some may have been roommates. All in all, it was a horrible experience.

Yikes! DH and I have always known we would not care to be landlords, but your stories are worse than we imagined. Having said that, we were renters for a very long time, in a HCOL SF Bay Area city where 60 percent of residents are tenants. I can't imagine any of the people we know who are landlords or renters going through problems like this. It's horrible. How on earth do people manage to rent out property under circumstances like this?

We have been renting out a modest house in another state for a few decades. The secret to doing this successfully is, I believe, having a good property management company handle everything. Our company charges 10% of the rent to do all the work - selecting good renters, keeping up the place, managing all legal work. It's been well worth it for me not to have to worry about anything.

One nice benefit is that the property taxes, insurance, all repairs, and all other fees are tax deductible; in fact, so are the losses in rent if the place is empty. I don't know if this all will continue with the new tax laws in effect.

We are also facing the possibility of moving out-of-state to be near our children and haven't decided whether to sell our home here - which we've worked hard on and love - or rent it out. I'd prefer to rent it.

I'm glad you'll have a management company and not rely on your kids -- like my parents did. We were both working full time, they were retired, went to FL for the winter and we were stuck with the landlord responsibilities 6 mos of the year on top of our own busy lives.

Note that you won't always make money on a rental property...you may if house prices are rising, but if house prices are falling, you can still lose.

I have 2 rental properties that I manage myself-one is a house we inherited that I cleaned up/fixed up and the other is my MIL's house that is rented to defray the cost of her assisted living; she will not be returning to live there as she has dementia. My husband isn't involved at all in the rentals-they are my side gig :). I also work FT so being a landlord isn't necessarily an incredibly tough or draining situation.

I'd say that people tend to overemphasize the risks but in our case both houses are in the same upper middle class neighborhood in which we live so the quality of renters tends to be fairly high. It also helps greatly that they are literally almost next door to us, one house is 2 blocks away, the other 8. For both properties we used a local realtor who lives in the same neighborhood as our listing agent. She did a good job of screening and also handled credit checks, setting up and executing the lease etc. She charged one month's rent and it was well worth it.

The house we own is rented to 2 women who are divorced and have partial custody of I think 3 kids between them. My MIL' s tenants are a couple in their late 50s-he is an engineer, she is a SAH wife. No kids but their kids/grandkids live locally. The ladies sometimes pay rent during the 5 day grace period but have never been formally late. The MIL's tenants pay by check to my SIL who handles finances and she says they are never late. I have gotten a few calls for plumbing issues and minor repairs but after remodeling my house and the inherited place I've got good plumbers and a handyman on file who know me, so I just call them and they take care of things. We have a good accountant who handles the financial end including depreciation, deductions and filing the correct tax paperwork annually.

So far it's been a positive experience overall, and the rent on our property almost exactly covers the mortgage for our vacation house which is great. When we retire we'll have to decide if we want to also rent out our home, or sell it outright. I think it's going to be a challenge to transition into considering this house as an investment property since we've lived her 30 years, raised our kids here etc, and there are capital gains to consider. OTOH the more time we spend down there the less there is holding us here, and if we sell our house we could retire that mortgage and bank a nice chunk to boot.

If we keep our house and I have 3 rental properties to deal with depending on the aggravation factor I may consider a manager. Our kids think we should keep the rentals as steady income, but we will have to see when the time comes how I feel. Right now being a landlord could be my PT 'job' that will help me with my plan to retire early and hang out on the boat every day ;).

We have several rentals, but none that were our home. I haven't read all the responses, but keep in mind that your insurance for non-owner -occupied will go wayyyy up.

When we retire in a couple of years, we will turn them over to a property manager. I don't even want anyone to know I exist, just send money.

I am retired military and rented my primary residence twice to military families (both officers). The first time, they left the house SO FILTHY that the carpet cleaning company said they had never seen such dirty water coming from the carpet. Had to paint whole house and still there was a smell. The next go-round was text book perfect. They helped show the house when we decided to sell and definitely helped it show well. As mentioned, you also need to look at tax implications for primary residence and how long you can rent before you incur capital gains. Good luck with your move. I know you are getting excited.

My parents and my brother both rented homes and after handling everything themselves for the first 2 or 3 years finally turned it all over to a management company and they were much happier.

How is the new place coming - do you have a moving date yet?

I rented my house for the very reasons you stated. Fantastic renters I found from work. And I did move back in. But then eventually sold when my life situation changed. I am very good friends with my former landlady. It's a mixed bag from horrible nightmare to great. You have to mentally commit to the game.

Thanks again for the latest input.

Maire.....house is scheduled to be ready the last week of April, beginning May. That jolted us as we thought it would be June/July. At least we won’t be moving in sticky hot weather.

You are in crunch time. Now is the time to either sell or rent as the young families want to be in before school starts.

The across the street house is a rental. The landlord missed out on the season letting the previous young couple stay longer than expected. The house has been empty since September. So, in this town timing is critical.

I'd never want to be a landlord. Friend of mine rented her place when she moved out of state for a new job - market wasn't great for selling and she wanted to be able to move back if the job didn't work out. She paid someone she knew a monthly retainer to deal with repairs, etc. The tenant was a constant PITA. He disabled a leak detection device and something leaked/flooded and ruined her wood floors. She ended up paying out of pocket to replace. He damaged some other things as well. The only good thing was that she did end up moving back so it was good she didn't sell.

BIL rented out a property he inherited. Wasn't particular enough about the renters and got deadbeats who didn't pay. Finally ended up with someone who literally blew up the garage - explosion and fire burned it to the ground. Insurance coverage on the garage was insufficient to rebuild.

thanks guys!

Well, that's certainly a fishy resurrection of an old thread!

Especially since the vast majority of us aren't guys.

Midwestern for "y'all." Everyone is a guy here in Michigan. I even tried to be more gender inclusive and say "guys and gals" but I just end up sounding anachronistic.

I am not HU-97 and did not resurrect this thread—-haha.

But in case I never updated, we did end up selling, deciding we did not want to be landlords and, even if we moved back, we would probably not want to be in the old neighborhood for various reasons and the layout of the house was not conducive to aging with all the stairs.

Thanks Joannie - when I first read the title I thought 'oh no - Joannie's moving again' but quickly realized that this was an old post.

Thanks for the update. I thought that was what happened, and I didn’t even notice it was 2 years ago, so was totally confused at first.

Time flies!

these posts were interesting to read even if they were older. I am on a two year potential moving plan and am trying to decide if I want to sell or rent my current home. It is a great layout if I want to move back here in my older years and in a convenient location. Just not sure where the neighborhood is going. I am on the suburban edge of a mid sized city that isn’t experiencing any revival and many of my neighbors are boomers or older. my other option is to keep theses as a primary residence and purchase another part-time residence which I could rent out.

"SophieHarris" is a spammer. Please flag.

Flagged. What a pathetic way to "advertise", @SophieHarris. You're no pro.

Interesting to see this thread again! I read over the responses and see this was when we had lost our first renters. We had an absolutely wonderful family after that - BEST RENTERS EVER - and no problems whatsoever. It probably is in part due to the fact they had owned a home for several years and were looking to move to a specific area and having a very hard time finding a home. Our rental house was close to a direct path to the husband's workplace. I think because of them owning a home, they were very mindful of our they treated our house. My dad enjoy seeing them out and about. They moved out end of November. We are planning to sell the house soon. We have a little touch-up painting and a couple of rooms that will need to be repainted (they home-schooled in one room). This past year we put in a new heat/air system. Rental money is in an account and has not been used as income. It's not a huge profit at this point, but it has been a help on our taxes! Here's hoping to a nice profit when we sell!!

"Montana Lolly" post marked as spam. Pathetic.

In my opinion, this is not the easiest decision possible, but selling the house completely is the most unprofitable decision in my opinion. If you rent a house in good hands, your house will not only be lived in, but your house will be in order because you will know that there will be people who pay rent and take care of it. Personally, I would 100% choose to rent out the house as it is a really good solution. However, very often people who move to a new place have problems with moving things from the old place to the new one. Although most likely this is not your problem, but I will still recommend the service to you https://getremovals.co.uk/camden-nw1-wc1/ , because in my opinion, the people to whom you will rent an apartment will really appreciate the help from your side!

AAAAAAAND, there it is. A post from a so-called "pro" who has never once posted in this forum before, who suddenly has a driving need to share his/her/its opinion with us. Or maybe just wants to draw attention to his/her/its page ... ya think? Gah. World's worst marketing ploy.