My aunt died and left me a duplex in Macon and I have no idea if I should keep it or sell it
Rents are $875 and $850, so $1,725 a month gross. One tenant has been there since 2019, the other moved in eight months ago. The roof was replaced in 2021 according to the paperwork I found, HVAC on the back unit is original and the inspector I walked through with said maybe two years left on it. I am not a landlord and I have never wanted to be a landlord, but I also know that selling it right now just hands someone else the asset and I end up with cash I will probably park somewhere boring. The conventional wisdom I have always heard is that you hold residential rental in a mid-size southern city because it only goes one direction over time. That felt true to me until I started actually looking at what managing this thing from two states away would cost. The property manager I called quoted me 10 percent of collected rent plus a leasing fee of one month on any new tenant. That eats roughly $2,600 a year before I fix a single thing. HVAC replacement on that back unit is probably $5,000 to $6,000 in the next 24 months. Insurance came back at $2,100 annually. Taxes are $1,840. So I am somewhere around $11,500 in annual costs against $20,700 gross if both units stay full, which they will not always be. I came into this thinking hold it forever and I am no longer sure that is actually the right answer for me specifically.