Keep The House, Or Sell It?

It seems like most RV living families fall into one of two categories.  They buy an RV and plan to live in it for a year or so, keeping their traditional home for their return.  Then there are the families who sell everything, including the home, usually in an attempt to pay of debt, and/or just live with less life burden.

We are the latter, we are living in an RV to pay off our mortgage, but we have no other debt.  We bought our house when homes in Utah were cheap, so if we sell it now, our effective buying power to live in the same area in the future will be greatly reduced.  For this reason, we chose to continue the burden of home ownership in the hopes of one day being WAY ahead of the rat race and having a nice place to call home.

I perceive the pros and cons this way, but I'm no financial genius, and ultimately, the decision is highly personal.

Pros:

• Because we have a low interest, 15 year mortgage, our renters are paying quite a bit of equity for us each month.  Whether we stay in the house or not, it's ultimately a significant amount of extra earning potential.
• We have a home to move back to eventually, in a location we really like, and are familiar with.
• The rent covers the mortgage plus a little bit after the property manager takes her cut.

Cons:

• We have a good rental market, and it probably won't go unrented, but that's a risk.  Hard to save as much money if the home is not rented out.
• Maintenance costs are ever present, and inescapable, and quite annoying.
• Now that we've rented it out, we have to live in it for a bit to avoid the capital gains taxes from using it as a rental property.

That's about it really.  I'd love to sell the house, but financially I know we can do much better if we keep it.  We don't want to travel forever, so some patience and tolerance for the burden will pay off in a few years.