On a good month I net $71 a month (previously $176 a month before 17% increase in property tax).  

You’ll lose any property tax caps they may have enjoyed and be increased to the non-owner occupant tax. 

Boosting your score doesn’t take long, and there are services that can review your credit history and help you increase it within a couple of months. 

Their services increase the odds of tenants renewing and staying longer.Handling Evictions & Problem Tenants: A good PM handles problems quickly and efficiently.

I personally don't mind cooking on electric but I will say that cooking on propane is different than what most people know which is natural gas.

Often, they don't need to be moved in by the time of the appraisal, but if you have a signed lease, first month's rent receipt, and a receipt of the security deposit then the lender will often treat the property as occupied which can help increase your max loan amount in some cases.

The rentals are scarce and rents have increased in recent years.

It’s a way to earn solid interest returns without owning property.Keep Riding the Stock Market – If your stock investments are performing well and you enjoy the passive nature of it, you could consider leveraging your equity via a HELOC or cash-out refi to invest more without selling the property.Alternative Asset Classes – If you want diversification, look into things like farmland investing (e.g., AcreTrader), fractional ownership in vacation rentals (e.g., Arrived), or even short-term storage units.It all comes down to your risk tolerance, liquidity needs, and how involved (or uninvolved) you want to be.

The increased cash flow would make such a substantial difference in your daily life that not paying it off would be foolish.Outside of that, I can't see many reasons I would take a 15% tax hit to save 4% on a mortgage, which is really only effectively about 3-3.5% depending on your tax bracket.

Last year was back to earth; a glut of available properties drove the rates down for everyone and a drop in visitors also increased vacancies.