A contractor left a back door open one day and someone walked into the house and stole $2000 worth of tools.

@Derick Jennings Without knowing more about your situation, I'd likely recommend a house hack, a strategy I wish I would have known about when I got started.

I had a client use one for their house hack in salt lake city area and it worked out well!

I have a seller who wants to sell a house that is worth roughly $830K. 

Your realtor will be able to give you a much more detailed market specific answer but with house hacking and a VA loan it should be possible to get 0 out of pocket.

Im also interested in starting to invest in housing whether that be flipping, BRRR, etcMy wife, 54, is newly positioned social worker and climbing to what she feels is her max with clients.

Try looking into cities in with stable economies, strong renter populations, and where housing is below the US median value.

Perhaps you have coverage for the replacement value BUT the insurance company when calculating the replacement property uses modern building materials like drywall but your original house had plaster which is much more expensive.

I'm speaking of co-living in a typical A or B level neighborhood house, so instead of a 20-25% down payment, we are speaking of a 1-5% down payment. 

You can use this property to hedge any others that you add that may only cover themselves, or require supplement until they are paid off.HOWEVER, if you have decided that your goal is to use Real Estate as a stepping stone to build wealth by upgrading the property you hold each time (condo to house, house to 4-plex, 4-plex to 8 unit, etc) then I think you are right to sell now while you think the property is at the top of it's appreciation.It will be hard for anyone on BP to tell you what to do as we don't know your goal.You are right.