AIBU to ask if you'd keep or sell the house?

[Sunflowers095]

Partner and I moved to a new city. We have a 3 bed house in old city that we bought as our first property a few years ago. We won't be moving back to old city for at least 10 years if ever.

Property prices are similar in both cities, although recently have gone up where we are now.

For now we are renting our home out, but we will probably run a small loss or break even when factoring in all the costs, tax, etc (repayment mortgage).

Our choice is:

• keep old house, be landlords, buy another place in new city for us but smaller (we don't mind being in a flat instead) - more hassle and occasionally having to pay out for repairs, extra costs, etc. Risk with bad tenants potentially. But after 20 years a paid off property towards retirement
• sell old house, buy nicer/bigger place in new city for us, become mortgage free a bit sooner (since we'd put all equity/money into new property). Easier, less risky, but also no extra property owned in 20 years, just our own one

We're not very wealthy by any means so additional costs might be somewhat stressful, but we could definitely manage. Just not sure which option is better - tempted to sell but don't want to regret it due to lost opportunity for an asset/investment. Also new city we'd prefer a flat but selling a house to get a flat seems somehow like a bad idea.

Any thoughts?

The financial benefit is the equity when you come to sell, you’re right op, and there is no rule saying you can’t sell in ten, or even five. The longer you have it the overwhelming chance is the more equity you make. If mortgage rates increase then so do rents, so don’t be concerned.

I’d stick if I was you

I'd keep it. I dont see being a landlord as has sell. View it as a part time job that is for your pension.

Keeping it 5, 10, 20years can only be a good thing. If it breaks even, you have asset that you only paid for in its early days. Even it is loses a bit each year, its still an asset to you, years later.

We kept ours and now the price has gone up by over double what we paid for it and the mortgage is paid off so the rent we get pays for our mortgage on the home we live in. As it's been mentioned we saw it as a retirement plan and will probably sell it when the time comes. We also thought we won't ever get the chance to be in the position of owning 2 homes again with the way prices are going but MN hates landlords anyway so you won't get an impartial view from people on here.