Can't Decide to Sell or Rent SFH

[David Ricci]

Hi forum, thank you in advance for your ideas, thoughts and perspective. I am new to RE investing and want to get started on the right foot. We are about to close on a new home and our original idea was to rent out our existing home and hope to cash flow a little bit while working to renovate the new home and sell in a year or two. This is our first baby step into real estate investing. I keep going back and forth on whether to rent out the current place or sell it, given it has some pretty good equity. If I sell, the plan would be to use the equity to buy 1-2 additional rentals with better cash flow. Current figures are below, and we live in the Phoenix metro so the market has been and (I believe) will continue to be strong. We have lived in the current home 2 years and the proceeds would be tax-free, approximately 70k cash we would receive after closing. I think we can get additional rentals for 100-150k in a different area and put 20% down with some improvements and increase cash flow. Please let me know your thoughts!

Current home estimated value: $330,000

Current mortgage amount owed: $242,000

Current mortgage monthly PITI: $1,477

Estimated Monthly Rent: $1,800 before all expenses (plan to manage the property as a landlord)

New (decent) homes in the Phoenix area: 100-150k, estimated rent on 150k home $1,150/month before all expenses

Esitmated PITI on 150k property: $765/home

Let me know if I missed any relevant information, any advice is appreciated, thank you!