Sell orange county to invest in Austin Texas

[Di Lyu]

Hi guys, hope all is well. I've been thinking about my buy and hold strategy, and would like to spark a debate on where to invest.

I'm an out of state investor in Orange County, California. Currently I own a single family house in Lake Forest, CA, 2550 sqf, 4 beds 4 baths, the house is in a gated community and the current market value is $1.2mn, bought in 2017 for 900k, and the fair market rent is around $4500. The house is built in 2018 and quality is pretty good, so management should be pretty easy if I can get a good tenant. But since I live in the North East, and it seems that the long term demographic of LA is not very promising ( people are moving out to cheaper areas), I am considering to sell the house and move the proceeds to Austin, Texas and surrounding areas.

My questions are:

1) Is now a good time to sell since the market is so hot?

2) My long term goal in real estate is to build a portfolio of about $7-8mn in rental properties using my W2 income to get mortgages. Currently I am at ~$2mn, does it make sense to keep the house and let it appreciate more longer term and just keep buying in Austin?

3) If I decide to sell and move the proceeds, I will need to buy about 6 houses in the Austin area to meet the 1031 exchange rule, has anyone done something similar before? If so, I'd really appreciate your thoughts on how feasible it is to buy and close 6 houses in 180 days.

Thanks and I appreciate your help!