mortgage help

[batmobile]

so i wanna rent out my house, find a cheap apartment, & eventually  :angry7:sell the damn thing. its getting expensive & the neighborhoods gone 2 hell.  but how bad is the real estate right now? 

[IceKittyNM]

so i wanna rent out my house, find a cheap apartment, & eventually  :angry7:sell the damn thing. its getting expensive & the neighborhoods gone 2 hell.  but how bad is the real estate right now? 

Personally, I would stay in the house until you can sell it. What if you can't find decent renters that you know won't trash it? And what about the times in between renters...you would then be paying your mortgage payment (if you have one) AND rent on an apartment. The real estate market is not very good, but I think some places are better than others. I'm planning on moving in about a year and a half and I'm going to have a hard time selling where I am!!

[Tresbn00]

I am not sure where you are from but I live in Colorado and value appreciation/depreciation levels vary in different areas.  On the bad side of town the values couldn't get much lower.  Luxury areas have stagnated as has new construction.  I would take about a five percent loss on the value of my house if I were to sell it right now.  If the neighborhood, that your home is located in, has gone bad it will take a while for the value to rebound if it ever does.  May be a good time to cut your losses.

[SmartyTru]

not as bad as say 3 months ago but still NOT GOOD

[kapeh12]

For what it's worth - if you want to get rid of the house, it would be better to just put it on the market and cut your losses.  I wouldn't recommend renting it out, as if you do, and you get some bad tenants, that would devalue your house even more.  When I was house shopping a year and a half ago, I found the houses I looked that were the cheapest prices were all either foreclosures or rental units.  If you are trying to maximize your return on the house - go straight to sale.

If you are going to do that, you may want to wait to put it on the market after the holidays (Feb/March) - more people will probably be thinking about house hunting closer to spring vs thinking about moving during the holidays or in winter (the later particularly if you are in a colder climate state).

Good luck!