Rent and invest or buy and live?

[Joe Cisneros]

Hello,

I will admit that I'm pretty much just starting out in my research on real estate. Longer term, I would like to invest in real estate and build a property portfolio.

So far, I haven't seen how a rental property can product income in my area with rents being so low and property values being so high.

I'm trying to decide if I should continue renting and search for rental/income property or if my first real estate purchase should be my primary residence.

About me:
I'm single, no wife or kids.

I've been out of school for a little over 4 years. I'm a sales rep and so my salary has seen very steady increases. At this point in time I should make about $140k/yr. My only debt is my car ($50k). I currently rent for $1045/mo. About a year ago I paid off all of my debt so I've only been saving for about a year. I have roughly $15k in cash. Credit score of 793. I should be able to save about $2k/mo or so. I just started a new job so I'm still trying to get my budget and savings ability dialed in.

I live in Southern California and I want to stay in the general Long Beach area. I'm ok with staying where I am now and renting for another year or maybe two but I certainly would like to buy somewhere in the near future if it makes sense.

So that's me and I'm trying to do research so that I can decide what is best for me. I will continue saving money until it's time to invest but I want to put that money in the best place that I can.

Thanks for any help that you can offer! Also, I would appreciate, and use, any good internet resources that you can point me to.

Thanks!!