Primary residence --> Rental: Sell in ~5 yrs or hold long term?

[Nabeel Qureshi]

My wife and I have lived in our condo for 17 months. We are moving across the country for a new job, and are converting the condo to a rental.  We don't intend to ever move back into it.

From a tax advantage and overall investment perspective, would it be better to: 

A) Hang on to the condo long term if it's doing well, and when needed do a 1031 exchange

B) Sell within 5 years - as I understand it, the 2 year/5 year tax rule for us would be 17/24 months x $500, 000 = 354166.67 of profits tax free advantage.  As I read IRS Publication 523 , I believe we qualify for a partial exclusion (not the full $500, 000 of tax exempt but at least for the time we were in the property): Work-Related Move You meet the requirements for a partial exclusion if any of the following events occurred during your time of owner- ship and residence in the home. You took or were transferred to a new job in a work lo- cation at least 50 miles farther from the home than your old work location. For example, your old work lo- cation was 15 miles from the home and your new work location is 65 miles from the home.