Hi Laura ,
That will depend on you overall financial picture and investment goals, and the market conditions in the area. Based on the numbers you gave , you really wont have any cash flow if you deduct for repairs, vacancies and management. Then later you will be putting in quite a bit of cash if it needs all the things you say.The only benefit to holding would be the monthly equity buildup thru principal reduction on your mortgage, which is a slow, (and some depreciation) but fairly sure way to amass equity, a free house in 15 to 30 years is a great thing., but 30 years is a long time...however you have to be prepared for the possibility that the rents could go down and not cover the mortgage (not too likely in my opinion) or the vacancy factor could go up and you again may not be able to cover the mortgage.Lastly if we have another crash in values and it goes down under what you owe then your $35k equity could disappear.These scenarios could cause you to end up giving it back to the bank and ruin you credit thru no fault of your own. Its all about YOUR risk vs. reward tolerance, and personal goals.I personally would say unless you have already amassed some equity and cash reserves sell now and go do the same thing again then you will have $70k then again and have $105k and so on...keep doing what you know how to do until you have enough cash reserves to get into the long term buy and hold game and can afford to weather any storm that may come along.Good luck.
