What should I do with this property?

[Chris Ayers]

I need advice of whether or not I should sell, refinance, or HELOC this one rental property. Given that real estate isn't my full time profession, I decided to ask the pros to see what you would do in this situation.

I bought this townhouse in Northern Virginia (hot market) in 2010 as an owner occupied for 306K with a down payment of 3K thanks to a desperate bank who paid closing costs and the first time homeowner tax credit (8K) and a FHA loan at 3.5% down. Lived in it a few years, then decide to buy a new home and convert this to a student rental for a university nearby.

Fast forward to today and what was worth 306K is now worth 400K with a mortgage balance of ~280K.  Mortgage is ~$2000/mo with rent ~$2500 after expenses nets ~$250-300/mo. 

Since this is a student rental, I can't afford to have a PM due to the yearly turnover bc they would essentially eat all my profits so I manage the property which is not too bad, but can be a pain at times. Conversely I have never had a single day of vacancy so there is a trade off to having student housing. 

I do have 2 other homes in North Carolina which are doing very well. I bought these for under 100K and they each pull in ~$300 per month after expenses. This has begun to make me start thinking if I need to change my strategy and use the money in this VA home to purchase more homes in NC. I plan on purchasing many more homes in the NC area in the future.

Options:

1. Should I sell this to net around ~90K after realtors and such and get rid of the landlord lifestyle for a more passive investor role?  Feel like I'm throwing away a gem if I do this since with the university nearby, this should always have renters and appreciate very well. 

2. Should I refinance this home to net ~40K to pull money out of it for purchases. If I do this then I might have a negative cash flow producing property.  Isn't that a big NO NO?  I would also lose my great mortgage terms @ 30yr 3.5% interest rate. 

3. Should I get a HELOC? Since HELOC's are normally 75% LTV I would need to wait a few years to do this since I'm just slightly below that.

4. Am I missing any options? 

[Kristopher Hanks]

@Chris Ayers Sell, and deploy the cash in a higher ROI market. Turn the new property over to a PM and enjoy the time that is now freed up to find more properties to invest in.