hello everybody,

this is my first post! my husband and i are in our late 20's and do not have much knowledge about finance, investing or the real estate market. we are trying to plan for our future and are in need of some good advice. please allow us to describe our situation. we would be very appreciative of any advice we can get. please excuse any possible mistakes in this post, english is not my first language. i apologize for the length of this post, i am a woman and do not know how to be brief... here we go:

my husband and i currently live in a home that is worth less than we owe on it. we want to move because the house has gotten too small for our family. we have tried to sell it for the amount we owe on it, without success. we did however find a person who is willing to rent it for the amount of our monthly mortgage and HOA payment. if we rent it out, we would break even, as long as nothing breaks, needs to be replaced, the HOA raises their dues or our interest rate goes up. we have an adjustable rate mortgage. if we refinanced, our interest rate would be a lot higher (right now it is only 3.5%). in order to refinance, we would also have to pay the difference between the value of our house and our loan, which we would like to avoid. we would like to sell the house as soon as possible without losing money.

would you sell the house for a loss?
would you refinance and rent it out?
would you not refinance and rent it out?

next concern is the bigger house we would like to purchase. we are expecting a gift of approximately $180K from a family member from europe. this would be enough money to buy the kind of home we are looking for in cash.

would you use the entire $180K to purchase a new home?
would you invest it otherwise and get a mortgage?
would you use part of it and invest the remainder?
if you would not spend it all on the house, what would you invest it in?

thank you in advance for taking the time to respond and share your opinion!