If your rental is up and running, you have a safety net you're comfortable with, but don't want a bolus of money sitting unused, is it possible to put the funds into a brokerage that would allow the purchase of stocks, mutual funds, or something similar?

This Tuesday WSJ article on self storage being a rare rising stock in this market selloff gave me hope!   

Because it seems like from a strictly numerical approach the "better" strategy is to just buy stocks.

I’m not sure exactly how the rules on a VA loan would work, but if you sold you might be able to do a 1031 exchange to avoid paying cap gains then once your current VA loan is satisfied you can get another VA loan for 100% financing.

I love to say I am an investor, which I am (stocks, precious metals, real estate), but the reality now is that my wife and I also hold high paying jobs at $120K-$130K each, which enable me to purchase these good deals, but prevent me from doing the work myself and obtain "the best deals".

Negotiate really hard and get the deal that works for you.The other really important thing I would say is this; most catastrophic investment decisions, whether it be property, stocks or business decisions are made inside EXACTLY this type of crucible - the investor is excited and doesn't want to miss out on a great deal - the deal of a lifetime.

Finally, with the stock market and coronavirus and all, is now even a good time to sell? 

If you have liquid cash sitting in your account right now I would dump some on the stock market..

Also, markets with more appreciation allow you to scale quicker with cash out refis or exchanges.

We are in the middle of a once in a lifetime perfect storm where the stock market is crashing but will quickly recover after the virus dies down.