Renter vacated my townhome. Rent again or sell?

[David Shank]

I own a beautiful 2,400 square foot townhome in a nice neighborhood in central phoenix. The previous renter left early because of Covid. Now that it's empty, I'm faced with a dilemma because of my fears that the market will crash later this year/early next year as a result of a virus resurgence causing high unemployment and associated economic woes, plus the cyclical downturn that was predicted even pre-covid. Or maybe i'm wrong...

I've owned the home for four years and have a good amount of equity. It's not hard to rent now for about $2,800 a month, which pays all fees and nets me about $800. As a new RE investor, I don't really have the proper tools to analyze this decision, other than thinking that the potential upside of renting is small compared to the potential downsides of a RE crash, future vacancy between tenants, falling rental prices, falling home prices, etc. I've played with the rent vs buy calculators online and the result is so dependent on so many factors, so it's hard to know. I can change values in the calculator and make the outcome look however I want. But based on my best guesses, it says selling will net me more in five years than renting. Also, I have sufficient cash reserves to purchase more RE if the opportunity arises, and don't really have an immediate need for the equity in this property, and being generally risk-averse, I'm not likely to immediately reinvest the funds if I sell. 

Can anyone chime in on how to best assess this situation? I always wanted to hold real estate as part of a retirement plan, but maybe I need to move to multi-unit instead of single family...or at least sell while the market is good and buy again later?

Thanks.