Evaluating 1st rental property - rental numbers vs. selling

[Dravus Myrscha]

First time poster and first time real estate investor. Thank you all so much for all of the information. It is a bit overwhelming but I am working through it!

In October 2019 we moved into our first home. Bought for $495,000 with a 3.625% mortgage, 10% down. We put another $60,000 down a year later and refinanced at 2.125%. We are thrilled with this as we have a very cheap mortgage for the area of $2050 at the cheapest rate we may likely ever see.

Now we are considering renting the home (just bought another fixer view property). When I look at the 1% rule it states I should be renting for $4900/month, but rents are at $3000 for a 3bdrm, 1.5bath, 1620sqft home with 1200sqft finished. We finished a kitchen remodel while we lived in it, all the appliances are new, and the plumbing and electrical were redone before we bought it. Can't foresee the future, but the property is pretty solid.

The breakdown is:
+ $3000 rent
- $2050 mortgage
- $260 property management
- $70 yard maintenance
--> $650/month cash flow

On the other hand, we put in $110,000 and now have a property that was comped at $800,000-$860,000. So we are looking at $318,00-$378,00 in equity.

We are comfortable with keeping the property, meaning we don't need the equity today, but we are not sure how to evaluate if this is a good time to sell and pick up something closer to where we moved.

My thinking is that an equivalent property at current rates would not be as good of an investment. That seems clear. What I don't really know is how to evaluate if this cash flow is good enough to keep the money tied up in equity. 

Any thoughts, insights, or ways to look at this would be most helpful. Thanks!

[Sherief Elbassuoni]

@Dravus Myrscha, the 1% rules doesnot typically work in the Seattle market unless you do STR, have high downpayment, or be creative like rent by room, or split level homes, .....

If you wanted to use the equity, you can think about doing HELOC. Interest rates are pretty high right now, and the market is a little volatile. If you are not in a hurry to sell, keep the property for the next 2-3 years then think about selling it if you want