Sell or Rent Your Home When You PCS From Virginia Beach

By Megan Luker  |  September 1, 2026

You just got orders out of Virginia Beach, and now you're staring at the biggest money question of your whole tour: do you sell this home, or rent it out? Three years ago you ran the math on buying here. Almost nobody runs the math on leaving — and that math, the real math and not the version the internet hands you, is worth tens of thousands of dollars in either direction.

So I pulled the actual numbers. What homes like yours sold for in spring 2023, what they're worth today, and what those same homes rent for right now. Below you'll see why renting out the home you bought three years ago can cost you $1,100 a month out of pocket, why selling still walks you away with about $20,000 in cash, and who the exception is — because there is one. I'm not going to sell you on either answer. I'm going to tell you the truth about both, and then I'll tell you exactly where I land so you're not left waiting on it.

The Case Study: A Real 2023 Ocean Lakes Purchase

Let's build this on real sales instead of a made-up example. I pulled every detached home that sold in Ocean Lakes in the spring market of 2023 — twenty-nine of them. The median was $408,000. So say that's you: three years ago you bought that home, zero down on your VA loan with the funding fee rolled in, so your loan started around $416,000 at 6.25%. To be fair to my own math, VA rates that spring ran roughly 5.9% to 6.25%, and I'm using the top of that range. If you locked lower, your numbers are a little kinder than mine.

Every figure in this post was verified in August 2026. Taxes are calculated at Virginia Beach's rate of $0.97 per $100, and insurance is estimated at $150 a month — get a real quote for your own address, because that number moves.

What Selling Actually Puts in Your Pocket

Last week I showed you what the median Ocean Lakes detached home sells for today: $455,000. Same neighborhood, same kind of home. That's $47,000 of appreciation in three years — not a projection, not a guess, just two MLS pulls. And for the record, the 20-year average in Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads is about 4.5% a year, so these three years ran right in the neighborhood of normal. See the full equity and closing-cost breakdown at 3:05.

Meanwhile you've paid your loan down to about $401,000. Worth $455,000, owe $401,000 — you're sitting on roughly $54,000 in equity. Not bad for three years of simply living in your home.

But selling is not free, and this is the part nobody mentions at the listing appointment. Between commissions and closing costs, you're typically looking at roughly 7% to 7.5% of the sale price. On this home that's about $34,000 of what I call closing friction. Take $54,000 in equity, subtract $34,000 in friction, and you walk away with roughly $20,000 in actual cash.

You also walk away with two things money can't quite measure. Your VA entitlement comes back 100% — a completely clean slate at the next duty station. And your stress level about this home drops to zero. Hold on to both of those, because they carry real price tags further down. If you have orders in hand right now, that $20,000 is your baseline. Everything else has to beat it.

What Renting This Home Out Actually Costs Every Month

Here's the truth: most service members don't set out to build a real estate empire. They hear "never sell real estate," they see that $34,000 in closing friction, and they back into becoming what I call a Second-Tour Landlord. Completely by accident. Jump to the rent-versus-mortgage numbers at 6:00.

The internet will tell you the rent covers the mortgage and you pocket the difference. So let me show you what these homes actually rent for. I pulled every active rental listing in Ocean Lakes — there are six. Three-bedroom homes, built in the late 1980s, 1,400 to 1,700 square feet. The same homes from that 2023 sold list. The cheapest is $2,250. The most expensive is $2,550. The median is $2,400 a month.

Now put that against your payment. Principal and interest on that 6.25% loan is about $2,565. Add taxes, insurance, and the HOA and you're at roughly $3,120 all in, every month. So $2,400 coming in against $3,120 going out. You are more than $700 underwater before a single thing breaks. The internet's math is dead on arrival for a 2023 buyer.

The Hidden Landlord Expenses: My 15% Rule

I did property management for over eighteen years, and I told every single owner the same thing, no exceptions: budget 15% of your gross rent, every single month. Hear the hidden landlord costs at 7:40.

Ten percent goes to management, because you are not fixing a garbage disposal from San Diego — that's $240 on this home. The other 5% goes into a repair reserve for the water heater that will fail, another $120. That's $360 a month in operational drag.

Run the whole thing. $2,400 in, $3,120 out, minus $360. You are negative $1,080 a month — call it $1,100. That's about $13,000 a year, out of your pocket, to keep a home you don't live in anymore.

And I want you to feel what that looks like, because for eighteen years I was the one making this phone call. It's two in the morning in Yokosuka. You're on watch. Your phone lights up: the main water line backed up into the hallway of your rental, thirteen time zones away in Virginia Beach. Now you're approving a $3,500 emergency repair over the ship's wi-fi, on a home that already costs you $1,100 a month to keep. That is the version of landlording nobody puts in the thumbnail.

The Other Side of the Ledger: The Long-Term Wealth Bet

So it's settled, right? Sell. Almost. But while you're carrying that $1,100, your tenant is covering most of a mortgage that's building your balance sheet. On this loan, about $475 a month is principal — call it $5,700 a year in paydown. And the appreciation is not theoretical either: this exact home just gained $47,000 in three years. That's more than $15,000 a year, in a market that has averaged 4.5% for two decades. See the long-term wealth bet at 9:27.

So here's the real bet, with no makeup on it. Thirteen thousand dollars a year out of your pocket, against $5,700 in paydown plus what this market has historically added in appreciation. Over time, that bet has paid. But hear what it is not. It is not passive income. It is not cash flow. It's buying wealth on layaway with an $1,100-a-month payment, and it only works if your budget at the next duty station can carry that without flinching. For a lot of families at a 2023 rate, it can't — and that is nothing to be ashamed of.

If You Bought in 2020 or 2021, Your Math Is Different

I know somebody's yelling at the screen right now. If you bought in 2020 or 2021 and you're sitting on a note in the 3s, your math is completely different. Your payment might sit under that rent, and you might be holding a keeper rather than a monthly drain. See the pre-2022 rate breakdown at 10:52.

And if you're a year or two out from rotation rather than holding orders today, this is the section for you: start pressure-testing your budget against that number now, and get a real rent analysis on your home this year — not the week your orders drop.

The Number Everybody Forgets: Your VA Loan Entitlement

One more price tag, and it's the one everybody forgets. Keep this home, and part of your VA loan entitlement stays tied up in Virginia Beach with it. See the bonus entitlement explanation at 11:30.

Hear me clearly: that does not mean you can't buy at your next duty station. Many military families can use their bonus entitlement to buy again, zero down, while renting this one out. But it does limit your purchasing power, and the exact math depends on what you borrowed here and the loan limits where you're headed. Read up on this year's VA loan changes before you sit down with a lender — the subsequent-use funding fee dropped to 3.3%, which matters if you keep this home and buy again.

My Verdict: When to Sell vs. When to Become a Landlord

No hedging. If you bought around 2023, for most of you: sell. If you're headed somewhere expensive — San Diego, D.C., Hawaii — if you need every dollar of cash and every dollar of entitlement working for you there, or if carrying $1,100 a month plus surprises would strain your family, then $20,000 and a clean slate is a win. Take it and don't look back. Hear the full verdict at 12:25.

Rent, and only rent, if this is you:

1. Your finances are genuinely strong. You can carry $1,100 a month without stress, and you have real reserves sitting on top of that for the 2 a.m. water line.
2. You want to keep a piece of this market. You're leaving Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads but want to still own in a market that just handed this home $47,000 in three years, while a tenant pays down $5,700 a year of your loan.
3. You're treating it as a wealth play, not income. This is a specific strategy for a specific kind of family. It is not a default setting, and it is not passive income.

What you don't get to do is decide by rewatching somebody's passive-income video. Run your numbers — your rent, your rate, your reserves. Not mine, and definitely not the internet's.

If You Do Rent: Hire the Property Manager the Right Way

If you run the math and you're one of the families who can make the Second-Tour Landlord play, one piece of advice from my eighteen years on that side of the business: interview at least three property managers before you hand anyone your keys, and make every single fee show up in writing. Get the property manager interview tips at 14:50.

The Questions I Hear Most About Selling vs Renting During a PCS

Should you sell or rent out your Virginia Beach home when you get PCS orders?

For most families who bought around 2023, sell. On a median Ocean Lakes home bought in spring 2023 at $408,000 and worth about $455,000 today, selling nets roughly $20,000 in cash after about $34,000 in closing costs — and it returns 100% of your VA loan entitlement. Renting it out at the current $2,400 median rent against roughly $3,120 in monthly costs, plus a 15% management-and-reserve budget, leaves you about $1,100 a month out of pocket, or about $13,000 a year. Rent only if you can carry that without stress, have real reserves on top of it, and want to keep a piece of a market that added $47,000 to this home in three years.

How much does it actually cost to rent out a Virginia Beach home you bought in 2023?

On a median Ocean Lakes home, about $1,100 a month out of pocket — roughly $13,000 a year. Rent on those homes runs a $2,400 median while the all-in payment with taxes, insurance, and HOA is about $3,120, and you should budget another 15% of gross rent for management and repairs. That's $360 a month before anything breaks.

How much cash do you actually walk away with when you sell?

Less than your equity, and the gap surprises people. On a home worth about $455,000 you're sitting on roughly $54,000 in equity — but commissions and closing costs typically run 7% to 7.5% of the sale price, about $34,000 on that home. You walk away with roughly $20,000 in actual cash.

Does renting out my home use up my VA loan entitlement at my next duty station?

Part of it stays tied up in Virginia Beach with the home, but that does not mean you can't buy again. Many military families use their bonus entitlement to buy at the next duty station with zero down while renting the first home out. It does limit your purchasing power, and the exact math depends on what you borrowed here and the loan limits where you're headed — so talk to a lender before you commit either way.

I bought in 2020 or 2021 with a rate in the 3s — does this math change?

Completely. A note in the 3s can put your payment under what the home rents for, which flips the whole equation. If that's you, you may be holding a keeper rather than a monthly drain, and it's worth running your own numbers rather than assuming the 2023 answer applies to you.

For the full breakdown of what these homes are worth today — the $455,000 median and the price spread behind it — read Moving to Virginia Beach: The Truth About Ocean Lakes Home Prices.

If you want a second set of eyes on your specific home and your specific orders, book a Zoom call with me. We'll pull the real rent comps for your address, just like I did for this post, and run both columns side by side — whether you ever sell with me or not. And if you want your next PCS move to be truly seamless, download my free Military Relocation Guide.

Welcome home. This is real-life Virginia Beach.