About 10 years ago a girl I worked with was going to sell her house because she was getting married. It was a small place, maybe 900sq, on a slab, no basement, but she owned it free and clear. In 2010, in her area, she coulda got about $50k for it. I told her she could sell it, and have that 50k once, or rent it out for $1000.00/month and get 50k every 5 years (deducting a couple grand a year for taxes/ins/expenses).

She ended up keeping it, renting it out, and her and her new hubby have now flipped 3 or 4 houses themselves.

A house that's paid off is a cash register. Being out of state, you'd obviously have to use a maintenance service. Worst case scenario, rent it out for a year or two, if it's too big a hassle, sell it.

My wife and I are looking to move someplace with a pole barn. If we do we'll rent out our current house (been here 5 years) rather than selling, because we may move back here when we downsize (like that'll ever happen). We can renovate before we move back in and write that off as rental expenses. Incidentally, that's how we got our other 2 rentals, we used to live there, moved, and have rented them for 6 and 10 years respectively.