Rent vs sell a high cap gain property

[Billy Bey]

Hey all. First time poster here. Been listening to the podcasts as I hope to get into investing soon. Question for the group. 

I bought my current place, a 3BR Santa Monica condo back in 2010 when I was single. Have a wife now, a little one and hope to have another and we've started to look into new homes in the orange county area to give us more space and get me closer to my new job. 

Anyway, here's the question. Do I sell my condo or rent it out? I've been looking to get into real estate investing, so this could be a good entry point. But I also have seen significant appreciation (>$500k), so am wondering if it makes sense to sell and realize the appreciation and avoid taxes on the gain. I could then just invest somewhere else when the socal market moves. 

I would be able to cash flow the property, but the 2 year primary residence rule means I couldn't rent it out for more than 3 years before losing the tax avoidance. 

Any thoughts? I'm leaning to selling and avoiding taxes on the big gain. Any reason why I should convert this to a rental?  Thank you!!

[Sean Tarpenning]

I would sell!  Capture your profits. You can find much higher returns in other markets if you are looking to be a property manager...which is another thing to think about!