Do I hold my property or set it and buy another?

[Jake Mires]

One and a half years ago I bought my first property. SFR in California for $235,000 owner occupied with an FHA loan at 3.65%. After some work, the house is now worth about $270,000 and I owe about $225,000. Should I sell the property to buy another one? Or hold it for the long run? I would like to eventually make real estate investing a full time career for me but I'm having trouble getting over this first deal. Half of the people I know tell me to keep it because it should be worth $400,000 in 30 years when it's all said and done. The other half of people tell me that renters will thrash it and to get the cash in my pocket by flipping it while I can and move on to the next. I keep flip flopping. Should I wait 2 years so I don't pay capital gains taxes if I do sell? Is it worth the profit from the deal or would it be better to just keep it and hold out for the long run? I'm 24 years old, just not sure if the best thing to do would be to sell it, I might make $30,000 when it's all said and done. But I'd have to go out and put that money back into a another deal, what if the market softens up in the next year or so? So many questions, please help, any insight would be appreciated!