Keep as rental or sell with 275k cash to invest

[Chris McCormick]

Hello BiggerPockets gang,

Just wanted to start by saying hi, and reach out to hear from investors with more experience and creativity. 

I currently live with my wife in N Portland in our first house that I bought in 2006. I have done a lot of upgrades to this 1928 Portland house including new roof, new kitchen, new bathroom, refinished wood floors on the main, rebuilt garage and new deck with landscaping. All in the house should be worth about $540k in this market. We just bought a home in Carlton which is where we want to live. Portland is not the place we want to live anymore. 

Here is the question, should we keep the Portland house, it will no cash flow, we will be backwards about $250/mo and have no cash to move forward, or sell and cash out our equity which amounts to about $275k? I would like to invest in other parts of Oregon, NOT Multnomah County. The only hope for keeping the Portland house is a gamble on equity and rising home prices. We could take out a large heloc, but would have to figure that into the equation. Is the play long term or short term?

Thanks for your input.