New to REI and looking for advice

[Kirsten Kracke]

Hi all! I am new to real estate investing but have been researching, reading, and listening to everything real estate related for the past few months. I am dying to purchase my first investment property but I am not sure what my first step should be. My partner and I purchased our first house together June of 2021. It is a townhome in Eden Prairie and we have been completely renovating everything ourselves the past year. For background, he is in construction and is very handy, while I am in Data Analytics and love numbers. Months after buying our first house was when I got very interested in real estate investing. So after researching, I have realized that the best place to start may be house hacking. My thought right now is to buy a duplex and move into the duplex to house hack it, while also renting out our current townhome. I think the number 1 thing holding us back right now is how to finance. We have a fair amount saved up but not enough to put 20% down for a $250,000+ property and we do not want to sell our current home. We are obviously saving up but I would love to hear any thoughts about what you would do in this situation or would love to network with anyone around the Minneapolis/St. Paul area to get advice and learn more.