[pig4bill]

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I was planning on just paying off the loan in a year but some people have told me I should just refinance because now I am a very low risk candidate with my business income (high 6 figures not including poker money) and should be able to get a good rate (has this changed in the last month?).

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Err, yeah. You might be leveling, but this is front page news. Do some checking around. If you have a very high FICO score you can probably get a decent loan, since it would probably be a conforming loan. Go to a money center bank like Wells Fargo or B of A. As much as I hate those banks and hate recommending them, an independent mortgage company like Countrywide might not be able to do your loan, or worse, grant you a lock, take your application fee and whatnot, and go belly up before they can fund your loan.

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2. My options in a year: A) buyout my roommate, B) sell the place or C) I move out and we try to rent the place to a family or 3 people looking to rent.

If I choose A), i'd rather move out and find people to rent (if the numbers work) because i don't think i'll be able to find 2 roommate friends that can afford to rent here that i'd want to live with.

I'm worried that selling at this time/in this market is a bad idea - so that's why I'm hesitant about B.

C) seems like it would be ideal as my roommate is going to be renting in LA no matter what and his share of the condo is completely paid off. the money was gifted to him and i'm not sure if we sold what exactly he could/would do with the money.

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If you do refi, which is a good idea if you can get a reasonable FIXED rate loan, be sure to do it while you still live there. Terms are much better on owner occupied than non-owner occupied.

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I'd just like to develop a thought process to get started in here so I can spend the next 4-6 months doing some research before I make a move. FWIW, I think I could EASILY get 2500/mo and probably closer to 3000 or 3500 for this place, but i just don't know (does anyone know how I can figure out what I could get)?

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Since you're not an experienced landlord, I would hire a management company and pay them the 10% (typical) which a good management company will certainly earn. They can tell you what the market rent is for your place.

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If someone could just help me get started with what I should be doing to explore my options, plus any experiences with doing something like this. I figure there should be some sort of analysis I should run on the situation as well -- if i rent this place out obviously i'm going to ahve to live somewhere else. I could buy another place but would honestly rather rent for now because owning this place turned out to be a lot more work than I thought and i have no idea where i will be living in 2-3 years. My rent would probably run between 1000-2000/mo, depending on how nice i wanted to go.

Any sort of help would be appreciated. If someone does a bang up job helping me out i'd be glad to talk poker for a little while or help out in any way i can (not sure if i can but i'd try!).

Thanks,
tc

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The other thing to consider are the tax implications to rental real estate. There are both good and bad implications. Talk to an accountant with EXPERIENCE in this area. The property management company also can probably go over the basics with you.