Home prices are high here so I'm really leaning towards investing out of state or in a different part of Florida to create cash flow vs. buying a personal residence and starting my savings over from scratch to invest.Don't get me wrong, I really want to buy a place of my own that I can live in but the math is making a bit more sense to me if I invest first.

This isn't my specialty but just my high level understanding.

I highly recommend that you read The ABCs of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy.

Interest rates were high such as 8%, (80% of existing loans today are under 4%) and equity was low.

That means that I keep reserves of $10k to $20k and I make my deductible as high as possible (something like 5% of the RCV or $20,000).  

find markets with high barriers to entry like miami. 

I would definitely get another quote for the work as that sounds high but would be a permanent solution in place with peace of mind moving forward. 

I am currently in a very high interest hard money mortgage that balloons in September 2025.

Is it a basement apartment? 

AKA it is a way to access some of the money you've put into your home while also making sure you can still afford your mortgage payments and other debts.You will need a renter in place as rental income is apart of the calculations when underwriting these loans in addition to the other factors you mentioned like monthly housing expenses (PITIA: principle, interest, taxes, insurance, assocaited fees ARV, debt outstanding.