I bought my starter home with the intention of one day renting it out, but when it came time to make that decision, I was nervous.
My husband and I were sitting in a cafe having breakfast, as our baby toddled around the mostly-empty space, long bored with our discussion. When the waitress passed by with a fresh pot of coffee we waved her over, and as she refilled our cups we studied — yet again — the page full of numbers between us.
When my husband and I bought our first home, I wasn't sure about the house, which was small and basic. But my husband thought it was perfect because of its: it would be an easy-to-rent and easy-to-maintain property. Although we were barely scraping together a down payment, he was already thinking about our future as landlords.
As my husband and I shopped for a new home, we continued to talk ourselves in circles about whether to rent out or sell our house. We had hoped that really analyzing the numbers over breakfast that morning would give us a clear answer, but it didn't.