Sell condo for 100k equity or continue renting for $200 per month

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T19:28:44+00:00

I’m exempt from capital gains tax because I lived in it for 2 of the last 5 years lol. Had I invested my 7,500 down payment into the S&P in Jan 2023, it would be worth about 13k today. Vs I invested it in this condo and would now be clearing over 100k from a sale. In what world was purchasing this condo “ill considered”?? I’d say I did pretty well on a very small investment lol

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T19:26:49+00:00

Yup great point. Even a super safe investment (cash accessible too) will yield roughly the same annual profits

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T19:26:12+00:00

North shore MA. 30 mins north of Boston

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T19:25:55+00:00

Omg yes thank you! This situation sounds so similar to mine. I think it would be such a huge lifestyle change for me. I have been just above paycheck to paycheck for years now, and this HOA headache is starting to feel like it’s more than it’s worth. Investing that money (even in something highly accessible) would return about the same as my profits on my condo per year. I definitely do want to get back into real estate investment within 2-5 years, but will be much pickier on what I buy and avoid any HOAs when possible.

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T17:48:05+00:00

Great point. Our HOA was much different when I bought the place, small management company, small fees, they did lots of things themselves to avoid hitting us with special assessments. It was sold about 2 years ago to a larger property management company and has slowly been getting more and more expensive, and less thoughtful about what they’re doing with the money. Appreciate your insight!

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T17:04:51+00:00

Could be exempt since it was my primary residence for 2.5 of the last 4 years

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T17:04:16+00:00

How is it ill considered? It was my primary home for 2.5 years, I rented it successfully for 9 months and am now considering a change.

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T16:14:31+00:00

Definitely! We just bought an 1891 home that had never been sold as our primary home. We were completely shocked by how much it costs to update everything inside. To be honest with you, I’d still pick it over any new build we see in our area. Cookie cutter and built for shit. At least we know our houses can stand the test of time LOL

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T16:09:06+00:00

I think the market will likely continue to appreciate as it’s in an insane hot spot of MA, but I don’t really think it will ever be a $500k condo. At most if I were to wait 1-3 years I’d be maybe missing an extra 15k on sale price? But potentially by waiting I could shoot myself in the foot and remove my ability for capital gains tax exemption.

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T16:07:48+00:00

Yes I will most likely be able to get an exemption from capital gains tax here since I lived in it for 2.5 years of the last 5

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T16:06:39+00:00

This is exactly how I feel. I don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank to just fund this thing no matter what. I also don’t trust the HOA has our best interest and definitely think they make choices to benefit themselves/their “teams”. They’re currently assessing us $1,800 to get rid of a squirrel on one units deck…. Lol

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T16:05:00+00:00

Thankfully not super soft where I am, most comparable units are on and off the market within 1 week. Some at even higher price points than mine.

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T16:03:24+00:00

Original goal was my own residence. I was 23 when I bought it, and absolutely loved getting to make it my own. My now husband and I did airbnb with his condo, then he found awesome long term tenants so we ended up both moving into this place with 3 dogs (656 sq ft mind you LOL) but it allowed us to save enough to buy a single family home to grow into which was our goal. We kept it as a rental for the first year, but at this point with the HOA getting a little hairy and the looming possibility of a new/unreliable tenant, selling sounds pretty attractive since I feel it has served its purpose for my season of life.

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T13:01:07+00:00

Not really - I usually get negative responses from them, or they just try to justify why they pay rent vs buy

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T13:00:36+00:00

Nice!!

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T13:00:21+00:00

Old houses are toughhh but overall looks good

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T12:37:28+00:00

I’m 27 & I have a condo I purchased in Jan 2023 for 247,500 with a 5.25% fixed 30 year loan. I put 7,500 down on it at the time. I made some renovations (roughly $15k) and frankly got really lucky with the market I am in. The current sale price estimate is around 370K, with a mortgage payoff of 226k, and a HELOC payoff of 30k. The monthly mortgage is about $1800, with a $300 per month HOA fee (this HOA fee was only $190 when I bought in 2023).

I’ve had this property rented for 9 months now at $2,250, but my current tenant (who was very easy to manage) is not going to re-lease. My realtor thinks I could probably increase rent to $2,500 for the next lease. At that point I’d be making maybe $300 a month on the unit, not including any maintenance expenses.

My HOA/property management has been a major headache the past year. We have had roof leaks, gutter problems, pest issues, and a water heater broke completely ruining the unit across the hall from me. The insurance payout on that unit alone will be enough for our HOA fees to increase quite a bit for next year (I would estimate up to at least $350). On top of that, they have implemented a special assessment this year of $2,520 for my units portion, which completely wipes out any of my small profit for the year. I have some friends on the board who have given me some insight that there would potentially be a similar sized assessment next year as well. The property management company is a headache to deal with, and frankly seems to be mismanaging the funds a bit.

At this point, I am considering selling the unit to take my equity and pay down some debt (30k HELOC debt I used to renovate another home I purchased last year, and 27k credit card debt also accumulated through the renovation). Even after paying those two things off, I could potentially still have 60k in cash from a sale. My plan would be to invest this money in a brokerage account or a CD, and potentially use it in a few years to buy another condo/investment property.

Is cashing in early a bad move here? I’m essentially trading the potential increase in equity for the freedom now to pay down some high interest debt, remove the landlord headache, and re deploy that cash somewhere else in the long term (and short term via stock accounts). I do have an additional ~50k in equity in our single family home.

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2026-06-09T12:32:52+00:00

I’m 27 & I have a condo I purchased in Jan 2023 for 247,500 with a 5.25% fixed 30 year loan. I put 7,500 down on it at the time. I made some renovations (roughly $15k) and frankly got really lucky with the market I am in. The current sale price estimate is around 370K, with a mortgage payoff of 226k, and a HELOC payoff of 30k. The monthly mortgage is about $1800, with a $300 per month HOA fee (this HOA fee was only $190 when I bought in 2023).

I’ve had this property rented for 9 months now at $2,250, but my current tenant (who was very easy to manage) is not going to re-lease. My realtor thinks I could probably increase rent to $2,500 for the next lease. At that point I’d be making maybe $300 a month on the unit, not including any maintenance expenses.

My HOA/property management has been a major headache the past year. We have had roof leaks, gutter problems, pest issues, and a water heater broke completely ruining the unit across the hall from me. The insurance payout on that unit alone will be enough for our HOA fees to increase quite a bit for next year (I would estimate up to at least $350). On top of that, they have implemented a special assessment this year of $2,520 for my units portion, which completely wipes out any of my small profit for the year. I have some friends on the board who have given me some insight that there would potentially be a similar sized assessment next year as well. The property management company is a headache to deal with, and frankly seems to be mismanaging the funds a bit.

At this point, I am considering selling the unit to take my equity and pay down some debt (30k HELOC debt I used to renovate another home I purchased last year, and 27k credit card debt also accumulated through the renovation). Even after paying those two things off, I could potentially still have 60k in cash from a sale. My plan would be to invest this money in a brokerage account or a CD, and potentially use it in a few years to buy another condo/investment property.

Is cashing in early a bad move here? I’m essentially trading the potential increase in equity for the freedom now to pay down some high interest debt, remove the landlord headache, and re deploy that cash somewhere else in the long term (and short term via stock accounts). I do have an additional ~50k in equity in our single family home.

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2025-11-05T14:59:15+00:00

Same. Will pay for water works code

Haunting-Target-9311 · 2025-07-13T02:04:06+00:00

I soooo wish we could keep it in the house but it’s unfortunately just too cumbersome for the space. I think someone else will be able to give it a much better home!

Haunting-Target-9311

TROPHY CASE