Selling primary residence to start real estate investing.. HELP!

[Mike Villela]

Hello, first time posting here! 

I have a 2/2 condo in the Dunwoody area of Atlanta that  I bought in foreclosure 7 years ago for around $165k, comps are selling for around $300k. I am a single guy in his 30s with a great job that requires heavy travel, so I am usually only at home a couple days per week. I want to cash in on the equity in this unit and use that to start building a real estate portfolio. 

Some ideas I have considered:

• buying a new home on the "westside" of town, where they are rapidly developing around the Beltline  project, where I will live until the development occurs and then look to sell the house for profit (currently selling for $450-525k).
• buying a multi-family home, duplex, triplex or quad, and living in one unit while I rent the others (having a hard time locating such a property that I would enjoy living in today)
• buying a home that needs work on the beltline and finding a contractor to renovate it while the beltline gets extended through some rougher parts of the city.

I would like to try to make money  off of  my primary residence somehow, either through renting or appreciation, but I dont want to live in a dump. 

Additionally, I am not personally a "handy" person and have no experience in real estate investing. But, I have tremendous experience with marketing (online and off). 

It has been difficult to connect with a realtor that has the patience and time to  devote to  helping me  find the right fit. 

If you were in my situation, what would  you do? 

Any advice is tremendously appreciated.

[Dave Foster]

@Mike Villela, All of your post-sale options are valid and good to pursue.  I'd also add that you could just not purchase another house to live in. Use the proceeds for strictly income producing property.  Rent a primary, look into a long term hotel situation if you travel that much, or locate a house sitting gig or take part of a nice house owned by another mobile individual.  

It sounds like you're particular about where you live.  This is a good when shopping for a primary residence.  But perfect primary residences rarely make the best rentals.  So you may be frustrating yourself looking for a unicorn that doesn't exist - The perfect place for you to live that is the best rental situation.

Selling your primary now does make a lot of sense because right now you've lived in it long enough that all that profit would be tax free because of the primary residence exclusion of sec 121.  Time to get some chips off the table whether or not you buy another primary.