Start now or wait for more cash for down payment?

[Grace Tansipek]

Hi, I am thinking very hard about diving into real estate investing for the first time, but my situation right now is that I currently still have a mortgage on my primary home which I plan to sell in 4 years when my son finishes high school (have about 200K of equity from this home). If I buy an investment propert now I will have to put in around 20 to 25% down payment, and I do have a bit of savings but feel like I can only risk letting go of around 50K from my savings, especially since we are new to this. With that amount, in my area, the choices of investment properties that I can afford is pretty limited. If I wait 4 yrs, I can sell my current home and either use the equity to purchase an investment property, or, if I want to keep the cash, I can house hack and purchase an investment property as “owner occupied” which can possibly lower the down payment to as low as 3.5%. Is it advisable to dive in now (as they say, the best time to start investing is now)? Or is it best to wait? Thank you in advance!