Sell or Rent - Help run the numbers - Northern VA

[Joshua M.]

I would love some objective outside opinion here.

I am new to the forum and I am getting a little confused as to what the best strategy would be for me. I am getting thrown off because lots of what I am reading is about purchasing to rent or rehabbing to rent and long term hold. My situation is not those. Here is what I have.

4 br 2.5 ba town home built in 2001
Currently owe $215K - recently appraised at $270K
Total monthly payment (mort, tax, hoa, ins) $1450
Comp rentals in area show - $1700-1850

Here is where I am confused - I don’t need to spend much to get the home rent ready (>2000 at most). I don’t plan to hold it longer than 2 years so that we can escape capital gains. In my head its a no brainer to hold the property, hopeful continue to get strong appreciation while having the mortgage paid down by someone else. Also shows a cash flow of ~200-300 a month.

If anyone has a more applicable formula or forecasting equation than the 50% rule I would love to see it.
As always, thanks for the support and advise!