A bit of a Dilemma

[Jared Leggett]

Good evening everyone this is going to be a little long so I hope I am not a bother! I've decided to take the first few steps in my real estate journey but have already run into a bit of a dilemma. I have some solutions in mind but also want to see what the pros may have to say!! I'm super interested in purchasing my first house hack before July of 2025. I just recently got hired for DSNY (New York city department of sanitation) my base pay is 43,000 with alot of overtime opportunities so I do not see myself making any less than 60,000 for my first year. I am 22 Y/O with no bills aside from my car note/car insurance and my EZ pass tolls. I most definetely do not have the funds to hop into real estate just yet which is why I set the goal of July. I've been educating myself daily on the forums. Listening to podcasts and reading quite a few books. Now where my dilemma comes in. Working for DSNY we have residency limitations. We can only reside within the five boroughs, Suffolk county,Nassau county, westchester county, Orange County, Putnam county, Rockland county and pretty much any other county that is directly outside the five boroughs within NY. I've done some research on majority of these places and maybe I'm wrong, but the median price points of homes here just seem way to high and unrealistic. I started looking a bit into Rochester which has a way lower price point for multi families and single families but obviously I would be unable to house hack as it is 5 hours away from NYC which I will not be commuting lol. What do you guys think I should do. Am I overlooking more affordable markets that are close by that I CAN house hack in? Should I re evaluate what strategy I should use and maybe look further out in places such as Rochester and BRRR properties out there