Sell or Rent at PCS
Should you sell your house or rent it out when you PCS from Hampton Roads?
It depends on three things you can check before you go.The tax clock on a home sale, your Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) home loan benefit, and the cost of owning a home from far away.
This page shows how each one works, so you can test your own numbers. You decide. Hampton Roads is the example here. The tax and VA rules apply to every Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move, at every base. Virginia adds its own rules for owners who rent or sell, shown further down.
Start Here
The tax clock starts when you move out
If you sell, the IRS may let you keep up to $250,000 of profit tax free, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly when both of you lived there.
To get it, you must have owned the home and lived in it as your main home for at least 2 of the 5 years before the sale. You can use it only once in any 2 year period. Short of 2 years? If you sell mainly because your work location moved at least 50 miles farther from the home, the IRS may allow part of it.
Once you move out, the 5 years keep moving. Wait too long to sell, and your time living there can fall outside the window.
Service members can get more time. If you or your spouse are on qualified official extended duty, you can choose to pause the 5 year window for one home at a time, for up to 10 years. The IRS counts someone as on that duty when they are ordered to active duty for more than 90 days or with no end date. Their duty station must also be at least 50 miles from the home, or they live in government quarters under orders.
Renting it out changes the math. A rental can earn a yearly tax deduction for wear on the home, called depreciation. When you sell, the part of your profit equal to that depreciation cannot be tax free. The IRS counts the depreciation you were allowed to take, even if you did not take it. Ask a tax professional before you rent.
Source: Publication 523, Selling Your Home, IRS, for 2025 returns. Retrieved 22 October 2026.
Your Situation
Start with what actually describes your situation
Not every question below will matter to you. Start with the ones that do.
Will you come back?
Orders to a new base, a last move before you retire, or a plan to return to this area. Each one points a different way.
How long have you lived in the home?
Count the time you lived there as your main home. It decides whether the tax window above can apply to you.
Will the rent cover the costs?
The mortgage, taxes, insurance and repairs stay yours, rented or empty. Compare them with the rent the home can bring, not a hoped for number.
Will you need your VA home loan benefit at the next base?
If the house has a VA loan, keeping it can leave less benefit for the next home. The comparison below shows why.
Who will look after the house?
You from far away, someone you trust nearby, or a manager you hire. A repair call still comes, wherever you are stationed.
Side by Side
Sell before you go, or keep it and rent it out
The same house, two choices. Here is what changes with each.
Sell
Before you goYou may owe none
If you owned it and lived there 2 of the 5 years before the sale: up to $250,000, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly when both lived there.
Can come back once the loan is paid in full
If the buyer takes over your VA loan instead, your benefit stays tied to it, unless that buyer is a veteran who swaps in their own.
End at closing
The buyer, after closing
Keep
And rent it outThe clock keeps running
If you or your spouse are on qualified official extended duty, you can pause it for one home at a time, for up to 10 years. Depreciation from the rental years cannot be tax free.
Stays tied to this loan
What is left for the next home depends on the county loan limit where you buy next. Your lender may ask for a down payment if it is not enough.
Still yours
Mortgage, taxes, insurance and repairs, rented or empty.
You, or someone you pay
Selling ends the costs and the clock now. Keeping it keeps the house and any rent, along with the costs and the clock.
Not sure how much VA home loan benefit you have, or what it means? Our definition of VA loan entitlement explains it, and our guide Can you use a VA loan more than once? covers how it comes back. VA's loan limits page shows how to work out what is left, and VA's eligibility page lists when it comes back.
In Hampton Roads
Virginia rules for a Hampton Roads home
Three Virginia rules to check before you choose.
Virginia can tax the rent
Virginia Tax says that if Virginia is not your state of residence, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) can protect your active duty pay from Virginia income tax. Rent from property in Virginia is not protected, and is generally taxable. You file Form 763, Virginia's nonresident return, to pay tax on it. Read Virginia Tax's military page.
A nonresident owner who rents out or sells a home in Virginia must also register with Virginia Tax. A sale that is exempt from federal and state income tax is exempt from registering too, but you still fill out an exemption form, Form R-5E. See how to register.
Virginia's landlord law covers your house
The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act applies to single-family homes. You must offer a renter a written lease, with the state's Statement of Tenant Rights and Responsibilities. The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development publishes it.
The same law lets a renter in the armed forces, or a National Guard member on full-time duty, end a lease early. It applies after PCS orders, temporary duty orders longer than three months or other orders the law names, or when they leave active duty. The end date must be at least 30 days after the next rent due date, and you cannot charge a set fee for ending early. Plan for a lease that can end before its date. Read the Virginia rule. Federal law gives a similar right: read the SCRA rule.
Homes near a military air base
In a Virginia city or county with a military air installation, the local zoning map can show noise zones and accident potential zones. An owner who sells must tell the buyer in writing whether the home is in one, and which. A landlord must tell a renter in writing, before the lease is signed, if the home is in one, and which. It applies whether you sell or rent. A renter who did not get the notice can end the lease in its first 30 days. The City of Virginia Beach explains the zones around Naval Air Station Oceana on its air installation zoning page.
HOMES.mil is the Defense Department's official rental housing site for service members. Property managers register, and the local base housing office approves their accounts. To see the monthly housing allowance near a base by pay grade, use the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) calculator with the base's ZIP code.
The Limits
What this page does not decide
This page is not tax or legal advice, and it does not tell you whether to sell or rent. The IRS, Virginia Tax and your home state decide what is taxed. Your lender and VA decide your loan benefit. Bring your own numbers to a tax professional before you choose.
Tax questions go to a tax professional.A local agent can help with the house.
Dani Brinson is a Mission Ready Operator who helps military homeowners in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Suffolk and Portsmouth decide whether to sell or keep a home before a PCS, including whether keeping it as a rental makes sense, and runs the sale when selling is the choice.
Last reviewed October 2026 · Maintained by My Military HQ
Common Questions
Questions military homeowners ask before a PCS
Should I sell my house or rent it out when I PCS?
It depends on three things you can check. Can you still sell inside the IRS window for a tax free profit? Will you need your VA home loan benefit for the next home? Will the rent cover the costs of owning from far away? Check each one with your own numbers before you choose. This is not tax advice.
How long do I have to sell my house after I move out and not pay tax on the profit?
The IRS rule is that you must have owned the home and lived in it as your main home for at least 2 of the 5 years before the sale. Once you move out, those 5 years keep moving. If you or your spouse are on qualified official extended duty, you can choose to pause the 5 year window for one home at a time, for up to 10 years. Ask a tax professional how it applies to you.
If I rent out my house, can I still sell it tax free later?
Possibly. For the full tax break, you need 2 of the 5 years before the sale living there, and if you or your spouse are on qualified official extended duty, you can pause the 5 year window for one home at a time, for up to 10 years. But the part of your profit equal to the depreciation from the rental years cannot be tax free. The IRS counts the depreciation you were allowed to take, even if you did not take it. Ask a tax professional.
Does keeping my house affect my VA home loan benefit at the next base?
It can. Until the VA loan on the house is paid in full, the benefit you used stays tied to it. What is left for the next home depends on the county loan limit where you buy, and your lender may ask for a down payment if it is not enough. VA's loan limits page shows how to work it out.
Do I pay Virginia tax on rent from my house if I PCS out of Virginia?
Generally, yes. Virginia Tax says that if Virginia is not your state of residence, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act can protect your active duty pay, but not rent from property in Virginia. That rent is generally taxable, and you file Form 763, Virginia's nonresident return, to pay tax on it. Ask a tax professional or Virginia Tax how it applies to you.
Can a military renter end a lease early in Virginia?
Yes, in the cases Virginia law lists. A renter in the armed forces, or a National Guard member on full-time duty, can end a lease after PCS orders, temporary duty orders longer than three months, or other orders the law names, or when they leave active duty. They give the landlord written notice, and before that end date, a copy of the orders or a letter from their commanding officer. The end date must be at least 30 days after the next rent due date. The landlord cannot charge a set fee for ending early. Read Section 55.1-1235 of the Code of Virginia for the full rule.
Sources
Where every rule came from
Every rule on this page comes from the agency or law that sets it. We link each one so you can check it.
- The tax free amount, the 2 of 5 years, the pause for service members and depreciation. Publication 523, Selling Your Home, IRS, for 2025 returns. Retrieved 22 October 2026.
- Your VA home loan benefit after you keep or sell. VA home loan limits and eligibility for a VA home loan, VA. Retrieved 22 October 2026.
- When a buyer takes over a VA loan. VA Form 26-10291, Assumption Entitlement Acknowledgment, VA. Retrieved 22 October 2026.
- Virginia tax on rent, and registering as a nonresident owner. Military tax tips and registration of nonresident property owners, Virginia Department of Taxation. Retrieved 22 October 2026.
- Virginia's landlord law, the written lease and the tenant statement. Code of Virginia Section 55.1-1201 and Section 55.1-1204, and tenant and landlord resources, Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Retrieved 22 October 2026.
- Ending a lease after orders. Code of Virginia Section 55.1-1235, and 50 U.S.C. 3955, Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, U.S. Code. Retrieved 22 October 2026.
- Noise and accident potential zones. Code of Virginia Section 55.1-704 (selling) and Section 55.1-1217 (renting), and Air Installation Compatible Use Zone, City of Virginia Beach. Retrieved 22 October 2026.
- Rental listings for service members. HOMES.mil, Defense Department, and Housing made simple for service members: meet HOMES.mil, U.S. Army, 12 March 2025.
- Housing allowance. BAH rate lookup, Defense Travel Management Office.
What we left out on purpose. We give no rents, home prices, housing allowance rates, tax rates or interest rates, because they change. Use the linked tools. VA's rule about living in a home you buy with a VA loan has its own guide: What are the VA loan occupancy requirements? We do not cover flood risk, the rest of Virginia's landlord law, or property management.
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