I just went through a divorce and I got our main home and rental home in the settlement. I have been managing the rental townhome for about 10 years and unfortunately it has never really been in the black. I think I’ve basically broken even with it b/c maintenance costs have been pretty high. (I also kept the rent under market value for a really great renters and to be a part of the solution to unaffordable housing) My renters of 7 years are moving out at the end of this month.

In a year and a half, I will have to refinance my current primary residence AND my rental (which I doubt I will be able to do because I was a stay at home mom for the past 4-5 years and am just now looking for jobs again).

My mortgage on my townhome is about 2100 a month. I can rent it out for probably $3800-4k per month I have $30,000 in repairs/maintenance that I have to do no matter which choice I make. It has definitely lost value recently due to neighborhood changes. In a year and a half I will have to either assume that mortgage, refinance or pay the mortgage of $250,000 off. The value of the house is estimated at $675,000 - $700,000. After repairs, I’ll hopefully walk away with about 350k. I have three children, and I have custody of two of them for the vast majority of time (one full time).
I’ve had a lot of health issues over the last few years and gone through a whole lot of personal stress that has led to being exhausted. My biggest problem is I’ve been so stressed. I feel like I can’t make any big decisions and feel confident in them. Even little decisions are hard for me to make right now. I can’t decide if I should just sell the townhouse to take the work off my plate and invest the money with my financial management company (which generally provides me 7 to 8% return annually average over the last 15 years). Or keep it, rent it out again and deal with this in a year or 5…it is definitely a property that would help me retire long term.

A part of me wants to simplify my life says that’s what I should do but the part of me that wants passive retirement income when I’m older knows that future me would likely regret it. I really can’t seem to decide whether making the right choice for myself now to alleviate stress is better or keeping a stressor in the long run because financially, it’s a better option. I have about 350 K of liquefiable assets in investments… In the long run if I had to, I can pay off the townhouse and use that as income for the future but I would have to sell my primary residence in a year because I doubt I’ll ever qualify to refinance it nor would I want to at 8% interest. I could use the money that I get from selling the townhouse and in a year and a half I can put that money down paying down the principle and stay in my primary residence with my kids.

Anyone have any insight?
Almost everyone says keep it except my mom & dad who say it’s been too much of a headache, it’s in too much of an unpredictable neighborhood and the cost of maintenance on it have made it a less desirable investment.

I know in the end you should almost always keep real estate, but I’m really torn on this decision. The problem is I know in 10 years I’ll have a lower stress life if I keep it, but right now, my life will be more stressful.