Hold or sell single family property?

[Michael Castania]

Hey guys, I'm looking for some advice. I'm not quite a newbie to the game because I've been renting out a single family property for almost 7 years now, however I'd still call myself a novice since I've never really focused on buying anything else. I only own this 1 property and now I am interested in starting to build a bigger portfolio. I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons of selling this property that basically breaks even month to month. The catch is that it's in a highly appreciating market. The home has appreciated over 60% in the almost 10 years I've owned it. A recent cash out refi has given me enough to buy 2-3 more SF homes that generate a decent amount of cash flow and keep the original property.  Or I could also sell this other property and have enough to either start a pretty good 5-6 SF portfolio with good cash flow or possibly even a couple multi-family units. If we remove the downside of capital gains tax, which I'd get around with a 1031, what are the main considerations I should be looking at in this scenario? Any help for a newbie is greatly appreciated! 

[Aaron K.]

Why is the property only breaking even if you've owned it for 7 years and you are in a high appreciation area?  It should be doing considerably better than that, especially if you have enough equity in it to fund down payments for 3-4 other properties.