Guidance on very first retail investment strategy

[Katie Bolt]

Hi there, I am very new to bigger pockets and I am an aspiring investor looking for some insight into our current situation. We currently live in an older home (1920s) that we purchased in December of 2018. We have two small children and would love to move to gain more space (it's a very vertical home - no playroom and only a 1 car garage. Basement is unfinished), but we're having trouble with that decision since our interest rate is only 3.6%. The home was purchased for 525k after getting into a bidding war, and we've put in about 150k of our own liquid (also using a loan) to do some renovations and updates. We live in a good area where homes appreciate, and we're within walking distance of the train that transports to downtown Chicago. The home has 3 baths and 4 beds. It's partially newly updated, with some areas that could use modernization but are not aesthetically unpleasing. Our son starts kindergarten next year, so we really want to plant our roots so he doesn't have to move schools!

Some ideas we've toyed with:

1. Keep the house and rent it out, take out a heloc and purchase a new home.
2. Keep the house and add a major addition + reno the basement, increasing value. Stay there or potentially sell in another 5-10 years.
3. Simply sell the house then buy a new one - also look into investing in a multi-family unit as an investment.

We have around 100k in liquid to use towards our next move, and open to using another loan.

Thank you so much for your insight!

[John Warren]

@Katie Bolt I feel like your primary residence is much more about how it impacts your family than it is about the investing side. I would focus on what is best for you guys. Do you need the bigger home to plant roots? Do it now. 

The investing side will come. I am not a fan of renting out your primary in a nice area. Most top tier school districts don't really support rentals based on price/rent ratios. For instance, I also am in a top school district where you can get maybe $2700-3200 per month for rent, but the PITI on most houses is more than that so it doesn't really work.

I never had the opportunity to house hack, but instead had to start out investing traditionally with 20-25% down right out of the gate. House hacking is amazing, but for those with a family I don't know that it is a great route.