What will NYC RE market be like in a year?

Once you're done with an apartment, you're done. Bite the bullet, go for a quick sale, and focus on the new city/job. That's how I'd do it, but you may be more stress-tolerant, or may think the market will perk up enough to offset a year's worth of monthly loss.

Just curious what the advice would be for this situation if the rental WAS covering costs and maybe even making a profit?

Sell
Your gonna wish you sold it now at what ever $ you can get. There is some pent up demand that is expressing itself for the moment. Price aggressivly and fly the coop! Wait till next summer and suffer the consequences.

i'm with falco on this call. good luck, whatever you decide.

Agree. Discount steeply and sell. There is a much greater chance that the market will be down from current levels next year rather than up. Even if the stock market has bottomed, RE usually lags and the City is in for some tough times.

list it now. it'll take a year to get sold anyways

Assuming you find a tenant, by the time you get them through your board it would hardly be worth it -especially if they're not covering your costs. Then you have to deal with returning, doing a mini refurb and selling remotely. The summer will be tough, price accordingly or it could be sitting for a while. Its anybody's guess how much uglier things will get next year.

I would hate to be a landlord in this city if it weren't my prime occupation. The laws favor tenants and if you get a tenant who knows how to get around the system (7 months to evict), they could make your life difficult. There are some landlords on the board and they undoubtably know more than I do on this, but for me I'd take NWT's advice.

"Due to building rules, I can only rent out the place for a year."

Is this because you have already rented it out before? If not, you may be misreading the rules: very few only allow 1 year subletting total: many say 1 year max lease so that they get the right to reject a renewal if the subtenant is a problem, but they let you submit a renewal.

I think selling right now is a bit of a toss up. Prices aren't set. There is a bit of pent up demand, so you could get lucky. Not clear if current trades are indicative of a window or bottom.

What is your price point? Small or big apartment? I understand efficiencies and one beds are only doing okay. Reasonable 2 beds seeing more action. Big price points getting slaughtered.

I know someone who has had their place on the market since fall of '08 and just decided to rent it for a year. Rented to someone who is a likely purchaser. Also, selling an empty apartment is super hard and a staged apartment seems desperate.

I think comps will settle close to where they are trading today.....25%-30% off peaks (not talking about super expensive properties or new condos). Don't think you will have much price recovery in the next year, but it MAY be more liquid in a year.

Good luck!

"You could get lucky" is not an investment strategy, it's a gambling strategy. You're an investor now.

What you have is an investment that is guaranteed to lose money in the short term, and you rather hope that your investment will make a profit in the longer term, and that term is limited to 1 year.

For that to happen, the future sales price will have to cover your losses during the rental time. Take a look at that number, and how likely do you think it is that this will happen given the current economic climate?

Keeping it isn't investing, this is speculating, and if it were my investment I would sell now.

When you write "Unfortunately, I have to move" you reveal where your emotions lie. Hanging onto your little bit of Manhattan might be comforting and obscuring a hard look at the numbers.

Only you can decide if the emotional solice is worth the price.

you dont have to cover your mortgage + maintenance you just have to cover your tax cost which can be much lower. figure out what your tax cost is and rent it for that, if you can.