Help me decide: Sell and Reinvest or Hold?

[Timothy Sparrow]

Hello BP'ers,

I wanted to get some of your opinions on my current situation. I purchased a foreclosure townhome in Alexandria VA in May of last year for $190k ($20k down). It was a fixer upper that I lived in for 6 months and did a lot of the reno work myself. I ended up dropping another $20k for repairs/upgrades.

I moved to Tulsa, OK for my job in Feb of this year and decided to hold and rent my Alexandria, VA property. Currently it is cash flowing about $450 per month (would be more but I am paying a PM). The DC market has been pretty hot this past year and recently a couple identical units have sold in my development for around $270k. Therefore, if I sold now I could potentially walk away with around $100k to reinvest.

Here is my dilemma:

1. I really like the stability of the DC market (lots of jobs) so I know the rent will continue to be consistent as well as increase over time. I also like having the "safety net" of owning a property there in case I ever want to move back.

2. If I sold I would need to reinvest so I am not penalized by capital gains. I really only feel comfortable in buying and renovating in markets that I live in (I'm ok holding properties after I leave however). This would mean I need to purchase in Tulsa, OK. To be honest it's a decent market for cash flow but I won't be in Tulsa for more than a couple years. It's also not a place I really want to come back to after I move away ;).

3. $100k is a lot of money. I could probably buy 3 properties in Tulsa for that kind of money. I could also probably double my cash flow from the $450 it is now to about $900 per month. 

I want to make sure I don't act on impulse here. It is easy to be greedy in this situation and sell but I was always told "slow and steady wins the race" as a kid :).

What are everybody's thoughts? Thanks in advance for your comments!