Offer accepted on first property. Having serious second thoughts.

[Amanda Black]

Hi all. I live in San Diego, CA where everything is expensive. I want to start investing in real estate, so I put an offer in on a 1/1 condo that I could afford (awesome location, good size, needs some aesthetic upgrades). I met with an investor today and he said I am on the slowest, worst road to owning more property quickly. He advised me to go find a multi-family home and explained all the reasons why. I can not afford anything like that in California, so I was looking in Ohio (where I have some family) instead where it is affordable. It looks like I could maybe break even or be a little under each month going this route. I don't want to buy something just to own my own home, I want to buy something to eventually make money and buy more properties. But buying in a state I don't want to be in also seems scary/risky. I would buy in Ohio and rent in San Diego. 

What are you thoughts? I know I didn't ask anything very specific, but I would like to hear your experiences especially if your first property was somewhere far away. 

[Twana Rasoul]

@Amanda Black If that is all you can afford there is nothing wrong with starting with condos and single family homes in San Diego.  

I started buying single family and condos initially with low money as it was all I could afford and I've been able to leverage those not so exciting initial purchases into multifamily property.  One of the condos I purchased, I eventually (4.5 years later) was able to 1031 exchange into a 4plex and between cash out refi and selling other SFRs I was able to purchase more multifamily.....the point being that if I didn't start with at least purchasing the Condos/SFRs then I wouldn't have had enough buying power to purchase multifamily.  

I also purchased in the midwest as well and I ended selling those off, I do not recommend OOS investing for most investors starting off as it is more complex than starting locally. There are some OOS investors that do extremely well so its possible but I'd still recommending starting locally for your first deal especially since you can leverage high LTV with owner an occupied purchase.