Trying to decide which way to go

[Steven Mirabile]

Good Evening Everyone,

My wife and I are trying to figure out which is the best route to take for our first time home buying. We live in an apartment in NYC with our 2 children paying $1820 per month in rent. We hate living here and desperately want to move out to our own place but the prices here in NY are astronomical.  We were thinking of buying a multifamily home so it would pay for itself mostly since we both work here and want to stay in the city. We were pre approved for $820,000. If we buy a home here we do not see a way we could cash flow since everything is close to or over a million dollars. We would still have to come out of pocket for at least half the mortgage plus bills and are afraid if anything should happen in the future (one of us getting sick, losing job, etc...) we would not be able to afford the payments. We also were contemplating maybe buying an investment property out of state instead where the prices are drastically lower and we could pay off most of the home up front since we have about $100,000 saved up so far. The only thing with that is property management and we would still be living in this dump paying rent and a mortgage.  What should we do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks for reading!!

[Travis Biziorek]

Oh man, you're in an interesting spot Steven.

Ultimately, you need to decide what's most important to you... getting out of the "dump" and into something of your own or investing in something that will cash flow.

I'd guess securing a primary is the most important thing, but I'm just extrapolating on what you've written here. If true, the next question you need to ask is will the $820,000 place be enough of an upgrade from what you're in now to keep you happy for at least he mid-term?

If not, and you end up in a place you don't really love, well we're back to square one.

If the answer is yes, it would be a big upgrade I'd probably secure that primary residence. Do the duplex if you can and don't get too hung up in making sure it cashflows for you. If you'd be paying less than you are now in rent then that's a massive win.

Why?

Tax benefits from your mortgage interest, principal principal pay down so you're building equity, and potential appreciation that you can later leverage to invest in more RE.

The other options is to continue renting and use that $100k to BRRRR properties out of state. I've done it and I help others do it. But it's a completely different path.