Housing Market and Job questioin.

[Tmac813]

I have a question for some of you finance experts.  I'm getting ready to retire from the Active duty Navy and I'm considering moving back to Central Arkansas.  I have a job interview with a company home-based out of Illinois that would let me work in the Little Rock area.  My dilemma is this I have 2 houses here in Virginia one with about 50 thousand equity, and my primary residence has no equity,  in fact it might be slightly under market.   I have a house in Little Rock that I purchased in 2000 that currently is upside down(Market conditions, home improvements, crappy tenants etc).    Without disclosing to much of my liquid assets, I have about $25,000 in liquid assets(TSP, some stock).  What are my best options financially at this point.  I have consumer debt
that trumps my liquid assets.  The job offer I have on the table is mid-40s to low 50s with quarterly bonuses.   My retainer from uncle sam is close to 30,000 a year.   Should I sell my rent house here in VA?  Should I put both houses in some kind of LLC, or Corporation?  I'm not too well skilled in these areas?  Maybe purchase a home in Central Arkansas on the cheap?  I'm really feeling a little overwhelmed at the financial situation.  Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[cdhogfan]

I would personally sell the houses in Virginia and pay off your debt with any money that you may receive from those houses.

If you do move to LR I would just live in the house that you have there and hope the market gets better.

[ConwayHog]

I would try to sell both homes in Virginia and pay off your debt.  I think it would make things easier on you and then once your here and have some feel for the marketplace you could determine what to do with the house you purchased in 2000. 

I wouldn't buy another home and make it your 4th. 

[Biggus Piggus]

My guess is that two rental houses in Virginia would not justify the expense you would incur having to manage from long distance.  You would need some kind of local management to take care of your tenant relations and maintenance.  There are firms that do that for you, but the ideal concept here is to offset your rental income with depreciation and whatnot cash/noncash expense, use a book loss to offset other high-tax income.  Well, you won't have to worry about that.  Not yet anyway.

Are the houses in the Arlington area, or some less attractive market?  That matters too.  If you decide to sell those houses, focus on one at a time (primary residence first).  Get a lawn care service, hire someone to stage the house, do minor improvements to take care of obvious flaws.  Do these things and you will cut weeks off your time on market.  If you string out the process by not making a serious effort to sell, you'll lose your rent income and be stuck paying too many mortgages till it really hurts.

If one of the houses is an especially valuable asset, think about waiting out the market, otherwise don't bother.  Simplify your life and finances, reduce debt and payments.

That's the way I would play it, but it's hard to tell going on this little info.  Good luck.

[ConwayHog]

If one of the houses is an especially valuable asset, think about waiting out the market, otherwise don't bother.  Simplify your life and finances, reduce debt and payments.

I agree 100%.