Buying my first property/duplex or quadplex

[Jason Bigelow]

I'm beginning to look at homes for my first investment property and have a few questions..

I've liked 2 of the properties that I've looked at so far.. one is a duplex that could produce about ~1300ish in rental income and costs 120k and the other is a quadplex that could bring in 2300 and costs 154k(rental estimates are if all the units were rented.. I'm planning on living in one of the units.). The quadplex obviously looks like a much better property to invest in but if anything happened to the tenants I'd be very strapped for cash and it's at the VERY upper limit of my budget.

I feel like I'm just throwing away my money renting right now and want to get started ASAP but don't want to purchase a property that will set me back(duplex that can't produce enough income) or buy an expensive quadplex that could potentially bankrupt me if something happens. Would any seasoned investors care to offer me some advice? Thanks!