Would you live in the market before you buy?

[Henrik Arnroed]

Hey all.

I have my eyes set on Atlanta (and eventually a few other areas in GA) to invest in. This will be my first property and I plan on house-hacking (hopefully a multifamily) and applying the MTR strategy. I am currently based in Boston but can move to Atlanta and keep my job from October onwards. The other option, however, is that I can live more or less for free for the rest of the year between a few family members and friends and save that bit of extra cash towards the purchase.

The extra cash could either help me jump on a deal sooner or it could be a buffer/money for potential renovation when I move in. However, the time I could spend in Atlanta before buying might help me avoid headaches by getting to know the market even better than my research.

I currently do not have an investor-friendly agent there, but I do have a real-estate contact here in Boston who lived there for 20 years.

I am interested to hear your thoughts and what you'd do, if you were in my shoes.