Jud,

Hay, I think you know us and our story. We have a house in Southern California. We bought it a LONG time ago. During my working life I was transferred (on a temporary, long term basis) to other areas of the world/USA. I knew that I would be returning to SoCal, so kept the house. So, I got used to having it rented out. We still have it and I would NOT hesitate to recommend you KEEP THE HOUSE!

I once worked in Iran for 4 years. I worked with about 70 other guys, older than myself. Many of them sold their home so they could bank the $$, save more money and get a much nicer home when they came back to the USA. We all talked about it a LOT. After working and saving big $ for the 4 years, NOT ONE of them could afford to purchase there old house back!*cry

I'm not a teenager and can learn from other! :D

Having said that, I have to say that we have had some very good results and some VERY bad ones!

Over the years I have gone through more than 5 rental agents. One I had to fire with malice. I had many good years of renting where the rent payed for the mortgage and all upkeep. Once, with the bad manager, I did not get any rent for about 4months, then when I had the renters removed they striped the house! They even took the plumbing fixtures and light cover plates!*yks ;{ I had to refinance to get $ out to fix it. EVEN after that I say, KEEP THE HOUSE.

I now have, and have had, the same rental management agency for over 13 years. THEY ARE GREAT!!! They took over the property after I fired that last guy and the house was stripped. I can not express how happy I am with them.

Example, I had them manage the rebuild, I priced carpet at 3 different places, not asking for the best, just something suitable for renters. The quotes I got (if I remember correctly) were between $1,200.00 and $3,000.00. Our company called to apologize about the high bid they got, he broke it to me easy. His quote, $600.00. And it was better carpet than my $1,200 bid. Our agency does NOTHING except manage rental property, residential and commercial. They have worker of ALL kinds that are on call all the time.

I am still active in the rental, as in giving the OK on any non emergency repairs and rent increases or in a recent case, a small decrease (due to the economy).

They suggest items that they feel are needed or required. They suggested the rent (more than I would have asked). They collect the rent and do a direct deposit into my bank account. I never hear about the tenants being short and asking for extra time.

One of the BIG problems I had was trying to be “nice”. I tried to keep the rent low, or ad items to make the house better. I would try to help out the tenant, and only got screwed for my effort.

Now that the house has been rented out for quite some time, it's a profit center for us. During our last 4 years cruising, we made money (after keeping maintenance $ out each month). On our taxes, it's a business and we payed for our Sailmail account to make sure we could stay in contact with the rental agency. During our cruising, we had NO problems at all.

Our plan is that at some time, we will move back to land, where ever we decide to set down roots, we can use that house as seed money for the new place.

So..... KEEP THE HOUSE.

ANY questions, just PM me direct.

Greg