90 day challenge. Flip or house hack? College rentals

[Jachob Johnson]

Finally ready to start investing in real estate by buying my first property. I want to start looking at deals and practice running numbers. I am still not sure though if I want my first property to be a live in flip - single family home that I would rent out in the future. Or a multi-family duplex that I would house hack and fix up while living in one of the units also with the plan to keep for a future rental. I live in Kalamazoo Michigan that has a decent sized college area so ultimately the student rental market would be my goal to get in to. I’ve worked with a carpenter doing remodels for a couple years now so I have the basic knowledge of kitchen/bath remodels. I’ve lived here my whole life so I know the area well and my girlfriend just got her real estate license and is with a broker. Realistically I may be looking at a little more than 90 days as I save some more money before pulling the trigger. We’ve got some learning to do but I want to buy something to get real experience and I’m tired of renting apartments. If anyone has advice for what they would start out with or even better yet for the area and college market that I want to reach in the future that would be great. 

[Robert Rogalski]

Hey Jachob, I am a newby investor in the Kzoo area and recently purchased my first property by Western Campus, knowing that I also wanted to focus on the college student rental space (3419/3421 W Michigan). Given that you don't currently own / rent an apartment, my personal opinion would be to find a duplex/multifamily that you can house hack to start off and and rent out after that 1 year mark and do it again (i.e. duplex BRRR). That would be my strategy if I didn't already have a very low interest homesteaded permeant residence and by far the easiest and fastest way to scale with minimal capital. Don't hesitate to reach out if you ever want to talk through my findings and lessons learned so far in my WMU college rental journey. Took me over 2.5 years to find one that the numbers worked for given this tough market for investors! Hope this helps.