Selling your house or not selling your house to invest

[Eric Schlegel]

Hi everyone-

I recently joined bigger pockets to expand my education on the world of real estate investing since my wife and I purchased our first home two years ago in California and now are sitting on about a 30% increase in value.  I wanted to get your guys' thoughts on my situation and what you would possibly do.  

We only have $500k on the loan and the house could sell around the $1m - $1.1m mark.   I am thinking we sell within the next year, hold on to our cash, rent a comparable or slightly smaller house to live in still in the same area and then eventually buy a multi unit investment property.  Since there are emotional ties to our current home and where our 2 boys (2 yr old and 4 month old) live, its hard for her to want to sell.  I am not crazy money driven but I just want to be smart about it all.  Simply living in the house for the long run is doable as well and just saving more for a smaller investment play is an option too but just wanted to get your thoughts on it all.

I am excited to be involved within this community!  Thank you for taking the time help me out with suggestions.