Should I Sell or Rent it?

Hi,

I would kindly ask for opinions regarding my current situation, I'm 35M, single.

Purchased my 1st property (PPOR) with the intention as IP, a townhouse in Canberra one of the newer Gungahlin suburb Moncrieff, i've been living there for almost 2 years now.

Location wise, the unit is very close to local school, and 5min drive gungahlin town center, 5m to the light rail station, ~15km to city center.

and i paid 500k for it with 3/2/2, i think i've made a wrong choice of purchasing a townhouse as body corp cost, rate & land tax is too high of cost to managed.

Few weeks ago my neighbour sold his place for 485k, not only it didn't made any capital gain in past 2 years but the value of the place has depreciated too.

the current rental price can fetch around $550 - $570 per wk.

Currently i'm paying $1800 per month on my mortgage.

what would you do if you were in my position?

1) do you move out and rent the townhouse out, and hoping in about 2 - 3 years it might gain some values? and gain some benefit from tax claim?
2) sell it and absorb large losses now?

 

What would you do with the proceeds? Whats the plan here?

 

I'm not quite sure yet.

if I move out and rent, I will be looking 1 bedroom decent apartment close to cbd they all starting from 400ish price range, and i probably looking at ~$1700 per month on rental which no any lesser than what i'm currently paying for my mortgage.
Is it wiser?

 

The problem, op, is that you are basing a decision only on how the property has performed in the last two years. Thats not a good reason to sell.

 

psychologically i'm freaking out, that I've made a wrong decision and better to loss less now than more later if i hold it for longer.

 

Personally I'd think about selling only because I view CBR as a place where you invest in house and land. Same goes for Brisbane, same goes for Perth, Adelaide etc. It's unlike Syd and Melbourne in that way - I would buy and have bought/got units there.

 

body corp is about $3200 per year, and and the holding expense approx $3000.
yes, the property in my suburb is easy to rent and I've checked that with real estate agent due to it is newer property and close to amenities, school, and shops.
from my complex I've seen within 1 - 2 weeks the place will be rented out.

why you think i should get another place if I'm financially concern with this the current unit.

 

it is my 1st property and lack of research, I've learnt an expensive lesson.
now i understand apartment & townshouses is bad investment choice.

 

currently i owned them around ~2000, i request to put me into payment plan and paying it on monthly basis, and I'm getting charged for interest too

 

I dont know the suburbs you are referring to however, generally 1bdr apartments capital growth wise are very low

You might be faced with the same dilemma in 2years time again!

 

I'm not saying its a bad investment choice but I would've gone for an old house/land if I was buying in CBR.

 

Seems you will pay more on selling than holding.

I would say hold. You are not going to find anything better unless you know what you are doing.

Regards

 

dont understand this. Ppor should be exempt from land tax?

if you owe body corp 2k and cant pay it back, thats a different problem if you really cant afford this property. Save more, cut expenses?

put it another way. Say the property had gone up 10% in the last 2 years. What would you be thinking?

 

that's my fear too