Make sure you get the insurance changed into a vacant house policy if the house will be vacant. If people won't love the house on looks, sell it on price. Also, be sure to factor in the cost of keeping the house another year- taxes and insurance for DH's grandfather's house were $3000 per year- if we waited five years to sell, it's a crapshoot on whether prices will recover, and it's unlikely the price will increase $15,000 in that time.

Hey, all. I thought I would give you an update. We have had one "low ball" offer ~$675,000 since reducing our house price to $749,000. We couldn't get that low so they offered on a higher priced home that had a pool (they really wanted a pool, so I think they preferred our home, but were trying to get us down, so that they could put in a pool). However, I think things are really picking up in the neighborhood. Four high end homes have gone under contract (2 at $799, $699 and $829) in the last couple of weeks, so I am no longer worried about comps. We are going to continue through May with it just "for sale" and then we'll offer it to rent, as well, beginning in June. I am at peace with either option, as I am just excited for us to get on with our lives together in Florida. I appreciate everyone's help, support, and positive energy.

Why not keep it on the market until it sells, regardless if it is fall or winter? I vote no for the renter. I am speaking as someone that previously was a landlord. Most landlords say never to rent to family or friends(coworkers included) or family of friends or friends or family. Else you might lose that friend forever when they move out leaving urine stains from pets that they say they never had. Then they badmouth you to others saying you are charging them for something unreasonable. Folks will take sides. If you decide to rent to this person anyway, make sure you have a written contract, security deposit and also do a credit check before agreeing to rent to this person, even if you trust them. If their credit is bad, don't do this. Also take pix of everything before they move in. Write up a list that describes the condition of everything(each appliance, carpet, cabinets, windows, doors, trim, faucets, lawn, driveway, etc) upon move in and have them sign it. This is a must. Don't consider renting if they have pets, no matter how clean. Don't allow pets to show up after the fact, or other folks that are staying there for months at a time. Some renters bring in 5 other people later and if there is no teeth in the rental contract, you can be stuck with a house full of people. Realize it is very easy to find renters - but the trick is to pick the good renters that will pay and will not destroy the place or cause issues. Rental history, background checks, employment verification, credit checks, and just plain talking to the prospective renter and their prior landlord will assist with weeding out the renters. tricky tennants have friends pose as prior landlords, and tricky tennants know the landlord tennant laws well - just enough to trick you. You need to know the landlord tennant laws in your area. Lastly, some potential buyers might think less of the home if it was used as a rental. And you likely will have to fix/clean/paint after the renter moves out. Go to mrlandlord dot com to read everything about being a landlord. That site is used daily by landlords. I suggest you post the same question there. They will give you good info. To see the forum area of that site, click on the area that says something like Landlord Q and A. Landlords post there often. It is some very intersting reading and is a must read for anyone that considers being a landlord, even for a month.

Thanks again, everyone, for all of the replies! To address some of things that have been mentioned... We will definitely talk to the landlord before making any final decisions. Our friends, the current tenants (who are wonderful people and a landlord's dream), are also planning to put in a good word for us. Our agreement would be contingent upon the rent remaining the same, the lease going month-to-month after one year, and the landlord not having any plans to sell the house. If any of those conditions are not met, we will not rent the house. The landlord does not know yet that the tenants plan to move out, so we have to wait for them to talk to him first. All of this is hinging on the deal for their new house, and they are currently still in negotiations. If their deal does not go through, which is certainly a possibility, then we will do nothing for now. I want to be ready with our decision as soon as they know for sure, though, which is why I am going through all the pros and cons now rather than waiting to see if the opportunity will actually materialize or not. If we do move into the rent house and put our current house on the market, we will not start looking for a new house until our house is sold and our lease is up or almost up, so there will be no issues with finding the perfect house and not being able to get out of our lease. Trust me, I remember how stressful house hunting was last summer, and I am not eager to begin the process again until we are completely ready. We were totally jumping the gun last summer (not even having our house ready to sell), and have learned a few lessons. Next time around, we plan to be ready to buy with no contingencies once we find a house we want. I'm prepared to be patient and just live in the rent house for at least a year while we get all of those things in order. We can't buy a new house now and just pay two mortgages until our current house sells because the monthly mortgage on a new house will most likely be higher than what we will be paying in rent. Also, we may need to dip into our savings to be able to pay for both rent and mortgage (especially if our house takes several months to sell), and if we bought a new house, we would deplete our savings for the down payment. Finally, we need to sell our house before we'll really know what we can afford and how much we'll have for a down payment. It may be that we need to save up for another couple of years, and I am OK with living in the rent house until then. Saving money will be pretty impossible while we're paying both rent and mortgage, but should be easy once our house sells and we're only paying rent. Thank you to those that suggested daily check-ins at our old house. If we do move, I'll make a checklist that my husband (or one of our neighbors) can quickly run through each day. That will be easy for us since the rent house is only a few minutes away from our current house. The more I think about this idea, and the more I talk with my husband about it, the more I like the idea. It would certainly not be right for everyone, but I think it might be the right decision for us. Of course, this all depends on whether or not our friends get their new house and whether or not the landlord agrees to rent the house to us at the same rate. We will see! We should know something next week. :)