A Florida couple is facing a tough financial decision after deciding to relocate overseas: take a $70,000 hit to sell their home or become remote landlords and lose $400 a month while waiting for the housing market to recover.
Sell Or Rent
The original Reddit post came from a user whose wife recently got a job abroad after being fired by the Department of Government Efficiency. The original poster said he works remotely, but his wife’s climate science expertise was no longer welcome in the state.
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The couple bought a home on the coast near Orlando in 2021, but the market has since dropped dramatically. Selling now would result in a $70,000 loss, factoring in agent commissions, repairs and other selling costs. Renting it out would leave them down about $400 every month.
That prompted the question: Should they hold onto the house and rent it out from another country, or take the loss and move on?
Reddit commenters overwhelmingly warned against becoming a remote landlord. “Don’t landlord remotely,” one of the top-voted comments said, echoing many other similar replies. “Your rental scenario assumes occupancy and good renters.”
Others chimed in with personal horror stories: “I landlord'd for a few years before selling my condo and I was 2 miles away and absolutely hated it.”
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Many pointed out that $400 a month was the best-case scenario and didn’t factor in costly repairs, vacancies, and rising insurance rates. “Sell. You’re probably losing more than $400 a month,” one commenter wrote. “You need to rent it for enough money to cover updates that will be needed someday, like replacing appliances, repainting, the roof.”
Some urged the couple to think less about what they paid and more about what they could lose. “A $70k wound heals,” one commenter advised. “Tenants, repairs, hurricanes, insurance drama… becomes 10x worse when you're not physically there.”
Still, a minority argued that renting could make financial sense if they had the patience and cash flow. “It would take you 14 years to lose $70k at $400 a month,” one person pointed out.
However, the stress could outweigh the potential upside. “That stress alone is worth more than the $70k loss,” one person added. “Take the clean break and enjoy the new country.”
Ultimately, as another person said, “100% of the time a guaranteed, contained loss is always better than an open-ended problem sitting 8,000 miles away.”
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