Moved from CA to FL, should I sell my duplex in CA or keep it?

[Vitaliy Merkulov]

I recently moved my family from CA to Florida. I’m 35, married and have 3 young kids who are not in school yet.

I’ve been thinking about what is the best strategy for me. So I hope someone can offer some advice.

I have a duplex that I owe $240k on that I can probably sell for $500-$525k right now. It’s cash flowing $1300 per month (after expenses).

However, I’m currently renting in FL for $1700 per month. And it’s becoming hard to manage the duplex by myself by being so far away.

My thinking is, if I sell my duplex for $500k, I can easily buy/build a primary residence here in FL for my family for $250k cash here and not have any mortgage to pay and not have to deal with the pain of managing a duplex from a different state.

My question is, would this be a wise move on my part?