Getting into REI: Renting Out Currently Owned Home?

[Leslie Heimer]

I am new to real estate, my only experience being buying my first home (3 bed, 1.5 bath) in Portland, OR in 2016. I'd like to get into real estate small time REI to supplement my full time work. We recently moved out of the home and are living in my MIL's second home for free for as long as we would like (we are thinking of living her for a couple of years before buying something else). We have been getting our home ready to sell at the end of the month, but are starting to think of renting it out as a long term rental instead.

Since 2016 the house has already gone up at $125k and will definitely continue to go up in value. We payed about $250k for the house and have a $170k left on our mortgage. We were planning to sell the house for $375 and were expecting a bidding war based on the current market. If we instead decide to rent our house we could easily get $2000 for it, but we are aware that Portland's rental laws are very strict and not landlord friendly. Our current PMI is $1320 and rate is 4.25%.

I have been doing some research, but since our situation is somewhat unique, I haven't found a lot of advice. Would it be better to sell our house and try to do a house hack in a future home to get started in REI? Is our house a good opportunity for starting out? If we do keep the house as a rental, what would be the best way to put together a down payment for our next primary residence?