Rent or sell my home in 78739 (Austin, Avery: 2014, rentals, HOA)

[AustinTX1990]

Hello folks,

I get a job in CA and plan to relocate there in late January 2020. Now I am hesitating whether to sell or rent my home in Austin. It is a tough decision and I would like to hear your opinions.

Basic facts of my family: My wife and I are around 30. We both work in tech industry. There are more and more tech companies coming to Austin. But most of them are satellite offices. We want to explore more opportunities in bay area (especially when we are young).

Basic facts of my home: My home is in circle C (Greyrock Ridge community). It is built in 2014 and slightly larger than 3000 sqf.

My questions:
1. Is it easy for us to rent our home out for $2500 - $3000? We need to pay several hundred every month since we are taking a 15-year loan.
2. We plan to leave Austin in Jan 2020. When should we contact agent if we want to rent it or sell it? Do you have any recommended agents?
3. The new south west elementary school will open in Fall 2020. There are some constructions built in our community (senior living and day care facility). Can we sell the home for a better price when the new school rezoning and construction are finished? If so, probably we can rent it out for one or two years then sell it.

We are not sure whether we will return to Austin in near future. But we know we will miss Austin, especially the housing prices and nice people.

[Need4Camaro]

It's all a matter of preference in my opinion but in rentals, problems that can (and will) occur are generally exponentially more difficult when you're managing the property from a long distance.

You will need contractors that you can trust as it wont be easy for you to visually inspect any work or maintenance performed on the property first hand.

You will also need tenants you can trust (do thorough background screenings) otherwise if they up and decide to violate the lease, welcome back to Austin - you're heading to eviction court.

Other issues such as not adhering to HOA standards may fall back upon you rather than the tenant and you may or may not recieve said information before it's too late to correct it if such violation is one that should be resolved within a 7 day period.

With payments, you would do best to setup an online mechanism to make property payments. I dont know if PayPal can be used as a median in Texas (it was illegal in Georgia) .

Any maintenance issues of course can become more tedious and cumbersome or may even require you to return.

Not saying all this (or even any of this) will happen, as much as I'm stating it 'can' happen...

Basically dont look at it as just money coming in but more so a big responsibility you'll need to remain flexible enough to manage. It can be done though.

The advantage is, as prices here climb, you reap the benefits of a secondary income and can even return after a lease expires should things not work out in Californfia.

The disadvantage is, you're still on the hook for resolving problems within the same time frame as if you were there in person.

[Austin97]

I would sell as the bay area is a market that appreciates faster than the austin market so you wont get priced out of austin. If you were doing the opposite move I would recommend you not sell a bay area house.

Once you hire a property manager it is unlikely that you will make much money at all. My parents are renting a house in avery ranch that is worth about 550K for about 2500/month. After taxes, mortgage, and maintenance the owners are just breaking even.

[ashbeeigh]

You could just sell the house to the next person here who posts a new thread about wanting to be in a good area, with good schools, within a 30 minute commute of downtown and walkable. You’ll sell it in a week at the latest.

[Aquitaine]

Unless you really want to be a landlord, sell.

[AustinTX1990]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

It's all a matter of preference in my opinion but in rentals, problems that can (and will) occur are generally exponentially more difficult when you're managing the property from a long distance.

You will need contractors that you can trust as it wont be easy for you to visually inspect any work or maintenance performed on the property first hand.

You will also need tenants you can trust (do thorough background screenings) otherwise if they up and decide to violate the lease, welcome back to Austin - you're heading to eviction court.

Other issues such as not adhering to HOA standards may fall back upon you rather than the tenant and you may or may not recieve said information before it's too late to correct it if such violation is one that should be resolved within a 7 day period.

With payments, you would do best to setup an online mechanism to make property payments. I dont know if PayPal can be used as a median in Texas (it was illegal in Georgia) .

Any maintenance issues of course can become more tedious and cumbersome or may even require you to return.

Not saying all this (or even any of this) will happen, as much as I'm stating it 'can' happen...

Basically dont look at it as just money coming in but more so a big responsibility you'll need to remain flexible enough to manage. It can be done though.

The advantage is, as prices here climb, you reap the benefits of a secondary income and can even return after a lease expires should things not work out in Californfia.

The disadvantage is, you're still on the hook for resolving problems within the same time frame as if you were there in person.

Thanks Need4Camaro. We have never been a landlord. Based on your comments, it is not easy to maintain a rent home in long distance. We probably need to hire a property manager which would further cut the return. Renting homes is not an easy business.

I think we will not return Austin in next 3-5 years. The biggest motivation to return Austin in future would be children's education. We feel public schools in Austin are much better than CA.

[AustinTX1990]

Originally Posted by Austin97

I would sell as the bay area is a market that appreciates faster than the austin market so you wont get priced out of austin. If you were doing the opposite move I would recommend you not sell a bay area house.

Once you hire a property manager it is unlikely that you will make much money at all. My parents are renting a house in avery ranch that is worth about 550K for about 2500/month. After taxes, mortgage, and maintenance the owners are just breaking even.

Thanks Austin97. I agree with you that it is difficult to earn money by renting out a home in Austin. The gain your parents are still getting is when the mortgage is paid off, they will fully own the house in Avery Ranch. The housing prices in north west Austin would also go up due to Apple's new campus.

[AustinTX1990]

Originally Posted by ashbeeigh

You could just sell the house to the next person here who posts a new thread about wanting to be in a good area, with good schools, within a 30 minute commute of downtown and walkable. You’ll sell it in a week at the latest.

Thanks ashbeeigh. Which post? I will be happy if somebody in this forum would like to buy our home in Circle C

[AustinTX1990]

Originally Posted by Aquitaine

Unless you really want to be a landlord, sell.

Not motivated to be a landlord. But selling it would cost us 6% commission fee. TOUGH...

[El Chingaso]

Originally Posted by AustinTX1990

Not motivated to be a landlord. But selling it would cost us 6% commission fee. TOUGH...

Bad math.