Is It Better To Rent Or Sell?

Whether you are are looking to vacate the current home you own or have recently purchased a property, deciding whether to rent it out or sell it can be a difficult decision. Ideally, you want to get the best return on your time and money, but it is impossible to predict the housing market 100%. To help with your decision making we’ve put together some of the pros and cons of renting and selling to help you make the right choice according to your circumstances.

Assess the market

Having a second house can be beneficial as an asset with regular income coming in from tenants. However, you need to calculate whether over a certain period of time it will prove to be as profitable as selling your home outright. Predicting the future is impossible, nevertheless, with a bit of time and effort, you can investigate expert analysis and future forecasts in the housing market. You can also get a fairly accurate estimate of potential rent revenues by checking out postings in your neighbourhood. Also, consider historical rental trends for your region; if you’re in an area that’s experiencing rental price increases, your rental revenue may soon outpace your expenses.

Property value

If the value of your property is not what you wish to sell it for, then putting it up for rent while you wait for the value to rise could be a good idea. Also, if house prices are rising and this trend looks set to continue then you can ride this wave by renting until you get the estimate sale value you’re looking for. If you’re going away and planning to come back to the area then it may be cheaper to rent your house out and move back in when you return, instead of having to pay sales commission to sell your property and then purchasing another one when you get back.

Time and stress

Both renting and selling have their stresses and can be time-consuming and emotionally draining processes. However, as a landlord you have the extra responsibilities of getting the property advertised, showing the home and running background checks to get the home rented; and that’s before having to field calls from tenants, handle maintenance and repairs, and deal with any emergencies that may come up, not to mention dealing with difficult tenants. For many, these extra tasks are too much hassle and selling the property outright is the easier option.