Newbie Real Estate Investor

[Dustin Bang]

Hello everyone! I have been wanting to get into the real estate business for years and I am finally making that leap! I bought my first house on a FHA loan back in October 2020 and I currently have about 50-60k in equity. I have about 6k in savings and I am now renting out my current house for $1500 producing a $430 cash flow.

My bosses at my job are relocating me to the Columbia area soon so I decided this was a great opportunity to start my rental investment journey. They will be putting me up in a short term rental for 2-3 months while I get a house to buy so that will help me build some more savings. I project to be able to have about 10k in savings by the time I actually put an offer on a house.

I just have a few questions for everyone. How can I turn this situation to be even better? Should I take out a loan on my equity for a down payment or commit myself to a year in Columbia SC for a FHA loan and avoid the equity loan to have reduced interest rates? Maybe even a combination of both? I have thought about doing an FHA loan in Columbia and using some of my equity to buy another rental in GA as I want to eventually move back. I would love to hear everyone's ideas and make connections! I'm in this for the long haul! My ultimate goal is to be financially free and quit my job in less than 10 years!