Looking For Guidance On First Investment

[Tanner Martillo]

Hey everyone! 

I’m looking to get started on my real estate investing journey and am having trouble deciding which route to go. I currently live and rent in San Diego and would very much like to try to lockdown a property down here by end of year if possible. I’m sure a lot of you know the market is booming here and it has been difficult to decide which route I should take that would make financial sense and put me in a good spot to build my portfolio moving forward.

Here are the current options I’m considering: 

• Option 1 House Hack: Purchase a multi-family, live in one and rent out the others. Due to the high costs in San Diego and current interest rates, I would most likely only be able to put up to 10% down. I would likely try to make at least 1 unit an STR to try and get a bigger return but conservatively I would be increasing my monthly living expenses pretty significantly. My thought process is that this would be an equity play but am worried that I would be handcuffing myself for future investments.

Option 2 House Hack with Partner: My friend/ potential partner is looking to do the same thing. We are considering finding a 3-4 unit, I would live in one unit with my girlfriend, he would live in another unit with his wife and we would rent out the rest. This would require a high down payment and I would be splitting equity with my partner.

Option 3 Don't Buy in San Diego: I am open to investing out of state but would likely not house hack and instead would setup a LTR or STR. I like the idea of fix and flip for additional capital but I'm a rookie and not sure if it is too much of a risk for my first investment to be a flip.

Aside from wanting to get in to San Diego, my priority is to get in the game and set myself up to be able to grow my portfolio.

Any feedback or advice would be much appreciated!!