i own a house in San Antonio. I still owe $60,000 on. I'm getting married this summer and moving to California where my future husband lives. He rents a house. If I weren't getting married I would still be moving somewhere else. My question is should i hold on to the house and rent it or just sell it, i can probably walk away with $22,000 put $10,000 towards student loans, put 2,000 towards credit card debit which would pretty much cover it which would leave me $10,000 to do something with. We want to buy another home at some point but we don't know where yet. I guess my big question is is it wiser to sell or try and rent even though i will be out of state. Thanks

How much do you think you could rent the house for? What would your expense be if you paid a management company to handle everything for you?

You basically have a choice. Option 1 is to sell the house and convert your equity to cash. Option 2 is to let your equity stay in the house as an investment in return for the cash flow generated by the rent.

If you can rent for $1000 a month and your expenses including mortgage interest are $800 then you are clearing $200 per month or $2400 per year. That would be a 10.9% return on your investment which is pretty good. But you really need to do your own math.

You also have to factor in whether you want to be a landlord and what you foresee as the long term prospects for San Antonio and the neighborhood where you have your house.

I'd sell it, pay the debts you mentioned, get married, & move to California. It's difficult to be a landlord when you're a thousand miles away.

Did you ask you soon-to-be if he's interested in keeping the home? After all California & Texas are both community property states.

They are. But only assets accumulated during the marriage are community assets so that status would not necessarily apply to the house.

It would be a great idea to include him in the decision though since he will be living with it as well.

I agree with Tightwad. Depending on what sort of tenants you get - renting can be quite stressful. Especially when you're not close enough to keep watch over the property.

And if you do decide to have a management company do the oversight, that's of course an additional expense.

Just looks like to me that selling is your best bet. That way you can clear off some debt and have a bit left over as well.

Yes he and I have been talking about it, he wasn't sure about the best move either

You should only rent out a house if you want to be a landlord. It not just passive income; it's a job that takes work on an ongoing basis, even if you hire out part of it to a management company.