<prompt> Human: Throwaway account for various reasons.My wife and I have decided its time to move to be closer to family. We currently own a 2 bedroom condo in Austin, TX in a good, central neighborhood. As you may have heard, Austin is currently in a boom cycle with real estate prices going up extremely quickly. One of the big questions before us is whether to sell the condo right now, hold it for at least a year before selling, or I suppose, attempt to hold it as long as possible.Details:Selling:We purchased the condo six years ago for 184k. Ive spoken with an agent who used to live in the complex and has sold both his own and another unit in here. He believes we would probably be able to sell at 265. Growth in condo values hasnt really matched that of houses unfortunately. The principal balance on the loan is approximately 130k. Given agents fees, etc, we could possibly walk away with 120k if we sold now.If we sold a year from now, I anticipate that the home value would increase at least 2.5 to around 272 trying to be conservative and the principal would be down to 126k. Accordingly, wed come away with about 130k.Renting:Based on comparables, the agent I spoke with believes that we could rent out our place for approximately 1450mo. Further, we will be moving over 1,000 miles away, thus, wed need a property manager. Best price Ive found so far is 80 of one months rent to find a tenant and 7 of monthly rent to manage.Breakdown of monthly rental costs:Mortgage: 1,080n-1HOA: 200Special Assessment: 200n-2Tenant finders fee: 100 one time fee of 118412Mgmt fee: 100Total: 1680n-Not sure if it matters, but the loan is at 3.5 and I believe has 22 more years on it.n-2For the next 18 months or so, we have to pay an additional 200mo to the HOA to pay down a loan the HOA look out to replace the roofs in the complex not my choice, wish theyd handled it as a normal special assessment, what can you do?.So with a monthly income of 1450, wed lose about 230 a month, or 2760 over the course of a one-year lease.If we were to lease for more than a year, then these costs would go down somewhat. In theory once the roof loan is repaid, wed only be losing about 30mo, but Im very nervous about our HOAs ability to handle money and fear they might take out another loan as soon as the current loan is repaid. Similarly, if we were able to keep a tenant, we wouldnt have to pay the 1184 again to find a new one. Thus, its at least plausible that in 18 months, we could be making a tiny profit of about 70mo.On the surface it might seem fairly obvious to sell now. A few additional wrinkles: I would really like to have an escape valve in case we decide that the move was a bad idea. This is a major reason why Id like to rent the place out for at least a year. Austin real estate has been booming for the last couple years and doesnt show signs of slowing down. Our area is one of the hottest in town. Im sure everyone living in Florida or Las Vegas once felt like this, but if we can afford to hold on to real estate here, it seems wise to do it. If we hold for a year and then sell, we would still be able to hold onto any gain tax free. I am a little hazy on the tax implications of rental income and how that might factor into overall costs though. If it was not our primary resident for more than 2 years though, I believe we would owe taxes on any gain not 100 sure on that part. If we did manage to hold long-term, we think itd be great to have this place as a place to live during the winter when the kids are grown were moving up north. The condo would need minimal work to get it into shape to sell or rent - minor paint touch ups, etc. However, the complex is fifteen years old and most of the appliances in the condo, internal systems are probably nearing the end of their life cycle. Im nervous if we rented it out and the HVAC went during that year, wed suddenly be on the hook for 10k for a new system. Other smaller repairs or replacements are plausible - new dishwasher, etc. I have concerns that tenants might beat the place up, creating headaches when we are ready to sell, plus the potential headaches of having to come back to Austin to get things in order for a sale after weve already moved. When we get to our new city, we plan to rent for a year, then, if all goes well, buy a house. If we then sold the condo, wed just plow the proceeds into the new places downpayment, etc. If we continued to rent out the condo, we do have sufficient money in non-retirement accounts that we could liquidate to cover a downpayment though we would incur capital gains tax in liquidating which would be less than ideal. If we had decided to buy a house here in Austin, I have no doubt that Id hold onto the condo as a rental and handle the managing of the property myself, but moving so far away requires a mgmt company and makes me much more nervous as I prefer to be hands on when money is involved.Having typed all my thoughts out, it does seem like selling outright might be the smarter move, but my gut really likes having the escape valve of the condo for at least a year just in case our move up north doesnt go as planned.Any thoughts on what you would do in this scenario? Any considerations Im overlooking? Let me know if additional information is necessary.TL:DR - Were moving out of town, should we sell our condo or hold on to it as a rental for at least a year?Sidebar - this subreddit is fantastic. Been an active reader for several years. It coupled with MMM have really helped put our family on a great financial footing.EDITED - formattingEDIT2 - Thanks everyone who took the time to post. I was leaning more towards lease for a year before I posted. Youve given me a lot more to chew on.  <response>: I say sell, rent in new town for a year, and your escape valve is the 120k sitting in a vanguard account. 