I recently purchased a new home and found myself debating whether to sell or rent out my existing one. I’ve never had a strong desire to be a landlord, but with the housing market cooling off here in Florida, I figured it might be worth exploring the rental option for a while. It's also tough to walk away from my current low interest rate, especially considering where rates are now.
If I do decide to rent it out, there are a few key questions I need to answer. Do I want to handle finding tenants and managing the property myself, or should I hire a property manager? Given that the house is about an hour away from where I live now, I’d likely go with a property manager.
From what I’ve found so far, the typical setup is to pay about half of the first month’s rent to the manager for finding and screening a tenant, followed by a monthly management fee of around 5–10% of the rent. It's also important to factor in potential maintenance costs—budgeting at least one month’s rent per year for repairs seems like a safe estimate.
Overall, I see this as an opportunity to cover the mortgage and maybe earn a bit extra on top. That said, if I go this route, I don’t envision doing it for more than a year or two. While I like the idea of holding diversified assets, I think I’d ultimately prefer to use the proceeds from a sale to put toward the new house and invest a portion in the stock market.
I’d love to hear from others who’ve rented out their homes—what’s your experience been like?
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly. Economic forecasts set forth may not develop as predicted