To Sell or Rent? My first real estate dilemma

[Alessandro Grandjacquet]

Hello - this is my first post on this forum and I am hoping for some advice for a newcomer.

In 2016 I purchased my first piece of real estate, a condo in Clearwater, FL for $222k.

In early 2018 I relocated to LA for work and was able to rent this condo on short notice to a Tenant for a 3 year term. Two weeks ago I received notice from him that he would be returning home to Japan and breaking his lease at the end of September with 6 months left on the term. I was able to negotiate a 4 month term fee.

My question is do I sell this home (estimated current value of $255-260k with around $160k left that I owe on the mortgage) or do I look to re-rent the property to another tenant. Estimated rent would be $2,100-$2,300/month.

A few things to consider:

1. The HVAC on the unit, although still functioning, is a ticking time bomb and will need to be replaced ASAP ($5-6k cost). Everything else in the unit is less than 4 years old.

2. I am not sure if it matters in this context, but I rented this unit furnished in 2018 and would do so again if I was to re-rent.

3. My wife and I are in the process of leaving LA for upstate NY (where we are from) before moving overseas to Europe for the next few years in December. The conservative part of my brain tells me to get rid of this property as it is one less thing to worry about with all these other things going on.

Basically, I am contemplating whether it is worth holding on to this property with hopes it's value increases like it has over the past 2-3 years or if I sell it for cash flow to put to better use in other real estate ventures. I am interested in trying my first BRRRR but any other tips/ideas for where I can get started would also be highly appreciated!

Thank you!

Alex