New to real estate investing - where to start

[Tim Alhanati]

My wife and I currently own and live in our townhome in OC. Estimated 300k in equity currently. Would like to dip my toe in investing in rental properties. We would like to move into a bigger, forever home in the very near future as well and keep current property as a long-term rental. I bought the townhome knowing I'd eventually turn it into a LTR. I'm guessing we'd be spending $1mm-1.5mm+ easily on our new home living in OC.

My parents live in Peoria, AZ so always thought of the idea of investing in AZ. Don't have a ton of capital currently on hand. Looking for ways and strategies to get started. Thought of a HELOC on current townhome to cover investment property down payment costs, but not sure how that would be affected if we moved out of the townhome in a couple years. Would love to hear some feedback!

[Patrick Drury]

@Tim Alhanati
You could keep living in the townhome and buy rentals out of state and build up a cash-flowing portfolio if the local market doesn't make sense or move out of the townhome and make it a long-term rental and buy another owner occ deal.