Keep paid off property or do 1031

[Jordan Blanton]

Tenant is moving out of paid off property in August. The property was purchased seven years ago for 56k in a C- neighborhood, which is now paid off and worth approximately 170k. Light renovation of the kitchen and should be able to see increase of rent of $250-$300 month. After expenses, it will be cash flowing 1k/month.

My thought of doing a 1031 exchange seems like an option..trade in a 170k house for a few 250k homes and increase my portfolio by 600k. But that would decrease my cash flow significantly. In my local market, I can still find cash flowing properties in that price range, approx. 100-200 per SFH. Just tough to do in this market with mulitiple offers and a very tight window with the 1031. And before anyone asks, Multi-families are tough to get, as I've been outbid by cash offers three times now in the past two months. So to count on scoring one of those in the small window for a 1031 would be tough.

Should I just keep the property, do light reno's and increase rent and bank cash flow? Or get with an expierenced realtor, commit to 1031, and increase portfolio by considerable margin and sacrifice cash flow now? I'm 32 years old, with a good paying w-2 with an always abundance of overtime availability. Lastly, I do have enough cash reserve to acquire more property at the moment, which is my plan in the next 2-6 weeks. 

Thoughts are greatly appreciated.