New REI looking for some tips on getting started!

[Candace Buckstead]

Hi all! I'm brand new to this site and starting to integrate myself in this network. I currently have around 25k to invest, and in the next six months will likely have around at least ~50k. I'm 22 and living at home, and my mind is currently seeing a couple different paths...start with a duplex or triplex and house hack, or buy a duplex or triplex and stay at home while I Airbnb the whole place instead of living in one of the units. Of course I'd love to have my own place as soon as I can lol, but would it be smarter to stay at home and take advantage of my very low cost of living and start doing STRs? Or should I just move out and house hack? I'd love any wisdom :)

In terms of long term goals....solidifying my "why"! Long term, my goal is to be able to take several trips every year, and to only work at my job as an online coach maybe 5 hours a week, and spend no more than 5-10 hours a week on real estate too. 

[Leo R.]

@Candace Buckstead  I definitely recommend first house hacking a single fam home, or a duplex triplex or quadplex (since those are all eligible for owner occupant mortgages).

I would probably suggest not starting off with an STR (air bnb). The reason being: STRs are a bit more of an advanced strategy, and usually require quite a bit more effort and expertise than house hacking. Also, the STR market tends to be less reliable (when the economy is in recession--as it might be right now--travel is usually the first thing people cut from their budgets, and STRs can get hit hard with vacancy). In fact, there's evidence that this is already occurring. STRs that are not the absolute peak performers are already having issues with vacancy, and AirBnB recently changed their platform so that only the absolute cream of the crop units (five star resort-level luxury units with thousands of perfect guest ratings) are getting promoted.

In a nutshell, STRs are a lot more work, require a lot more expertise, and are a lot less reliable/secure than traditional long term rentals (all other things being equal).

Plus, house hacking a long term rental will give you invaluable experience in how to analyze, acquire, and a manage a property that you can then apply to doing a STR in the future (if you decide you want to go that route).

Start with the strategy that is the easiest, simplest, and most likely to succeed (house hacking), and then gradually build up to more advanced strategies (like STRs, BRRR's, etc.) as you gain experience.

Good luck out there!