Good decisions come from INFORMED decision making. 

Having a duplex gives you far more flexibility to make that move than owning a SFH.  

I am in the process of shopping for an insurance company for a rental property here in VA.

We would have preferred to work with them within reason to make it a quicker and easier process.

It's tough to work with corporate seller's.However, there is a TON of investable inventory in the Atlanta market right now that is institutionally owned where there process is very ridged.

In this case, they get equity but do not make decisions. 

I have been working in real estate for 2 years. I've closed more than 110 deals in the last 26 months (remotely). If you have complicated leads, you're looking for advice, or you just want to connect, please hit me up. 

It sounds like you've gotten some solid direction above, but a few flags stood out to me in the above discussions and I wanted to point them out to help make your decision.- You mentioned this sale is tax free 121 exclusion, which is great, and seems like a solid start to your goal.- The townhouse you're moving into is currently a rental, but you plan to live there two years for the 121 exclusion.

Granted, the real estate investing market was better in 2016 than it is now.Best of luck to you with whatever decision you make.

@Dutch Mendenhall Why is RADD making this such a painful process.