Northen Virginia Home Rent vs Sale?

[Aaron B.]

I am a new investor and am looking to invest in buy and hold out of State (turnkey). My work keeps me out of area  so we rented our primary residence in Great Falls, no not the swank part of Great Falls. I felt fortunate to have rented to one tenant for six years who left in June 2015.

We are currently trying to sell the house but are having some trouble. It has been on the market 65 days. I have dropped the price from 515k to 465k. I am conflicted at this point. I could refinance the house to lower the mortgage payment but it still would not cash flow. The rent (2300 - 2400h would only cover the mortgage, not taxes 5k, vacancy, PM, maintenance, or capex.  That means, I would be gambling on the NOVA/WDC appreciating, but never a gartunee.  Also prior to sale, we would then have to make the house retail ready to get a higher price point.  The home does not have an open floor plan.  The kitchen and master bedroom/bathroom are small.  To open it up we would need to take down some walls. 

On the flip side, if we keep plugging away and sell the house we could then save the mortgage payment and roll it into the down payment for an out-of-state property, which cash flows but likely will not appreciate. 

Any thoughts or previous experiences would be great to hear.