Hi @Stephen Williams, if you have enough VA entitlement left to buy a house in Florida, there is really no reason to sell your property. Unless you want to invest that money somewhere else.
If you did, you would have to look at what your return on equity is.
After all the fees associated with selling your home, you will likely walk away with $225,000. You will have to put 20% down for each investment property. After closing costs, let's say you can buy $1,000,000 worth of real estate to keep the numbers simple.
A few considerations:
1. Will those properties bring in $1,000 per month before factoring in maintenance, cap ex, vacancy, and management expenses?
2. The interest rate will be higher so cash flow will be tougher.
3. Will you see more appreciation in Seattle with an $800k property or in Florida with $1,000,000 worth of property.
4. How much is your time, energy, and effort worth to find, acquire, manage, and eventually dispose of 4 properties compared to one.
You can also look into a HELOC so you can access some of your current equity to buy a property in Florida. Then, see which one performs better and invest accordingly.
Hope this helps! Let me know if I can be of any assistance.