True Story: Rent (or sell)?

True story. This happened last week.

A lady reached out to me looking to sell her house. She has a low rate (3.75%) and solid equity in her home. Life circumstances have changed and she needs a bigger place.

What should she do? She is in Step 2: RENT (or sell)? of the BUY RENT BUY strategy. Let’s walk through it.

We started with her goals.

1. She wanted to pay off debt

2. Have the ability to travel

3. Have peace of mind about work and finances

We crunched the numbers. Her all-in monthly payment was $3,200. To cover her expenses each month, the rent at $3,200 would be top dollar.

Best case scenario she breaks even each month. Worst case she loses a couple hundred bucks each month.

Still, at this point renting is not off the table because if you can afford a couple hundred dollars loss each month it could still be worth keeping it considering home appreciation, tax benefits, etc.

Another important decision is whether she wants to self-manage the property or hire a property manager? She doesn’t have the time or energy to self manage and there’s no room in the budget to hire a property manager.

Considering her goals, what do you think she should do?

The answer became apparent pretty quickly.

Renting for her would be a headache. The operating costs would be too tight and not free up the cash needed to pay off debt, travel, and provide the financial security she desires.

So we are going to sell her house allowing her to immediately reach all three goals.

Here’s the takeaway: as someone who preaches BUY RENT BUY, as someone who has opted to rent vs. sell his homes, everyone’s situation is different and sometimes it’s best to sell.

I just want to make sure people know their options and don’t assume they have to sell when it could work out to keep it, and buy again.

BUY RENT BUY is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, think of it as a framework where everyone has a place with a tangible next step.

This newsletter community is small, but mighty. There are 31 subscribers and I know most of you personally.

Just in this group alone I know you all have different goals. Some don’t ever want to own 5 homes, they just want to add a second home in the mountains or near the beach. Others just want to get into this market and buy their first home.

There’s one person who told me they just want to have their primary residence in Sand Canyon (iykyk). And believe it or not, there’s a strategy for that!

The point is that it starts with a conversation. Let’s talk about your goals and from there we can align the best strategy to help you reach them.

2 easy ways to take that next step:

1. Obviously you can reach out to me to chat. Reply to this email, send me a DM on Instagram, call/text me.

2. The other option is to bypass me and go straight to my plan builder. It’s 100% free and will ask you a few questions specific to your situation to determine your best next step.

All in all, I hope you know I’m here to help you.

Thanks for being here. Thanks for reading. Thanks for sharing this post with a friend 😉 

See you next week 👋