Stay In? Or Get Out?

[Jeremy Hart]

I'm toying with unloading my last property and figuring out what I want to do next. I've held on to this property the longest, as it was my first property, so admittedly there's likely some emotional attachment there. But the hangup is also the dollars and cents of it. Here's what I'm looking at:

Purchased a property in 2007 for $94000. Until July of this year it's been rented, most recently for $950 per month. After expenses each month, including management (I don't self-manage) net is ~ $250 per month; and until July of this year, it's really been rented consistently since 2009. It's currently vacant, and we're seeing renters for $850 since we're out of the traditional rental cycle for the area. I'm considering selling it as it's in an area of our region that's really seeing no positive growth. It's in a college town, but other than the college there's really nothing positive economically there, and I don't foresee that changing anytime soon. I would likely be looking at a sales price somewhere about 5% what I paid for the property 7 years ago, so appreciation has been small. 

I don't need the $250 net every month for anything in particular, and I have a suitable capital reserve for the property. I just feel like I've got roughly 30% equity in the property and it might be time to put that into something that gains and appreciates better. So ... sell it for basically what I paid 7 years ago and move on, or suck it up and keep it.

What do you think you would do?