Starting out Single or Multi fam????

[Mark Bascetta]

Hi im trying to start my real estate investing career and my first house all in one. Have been studying and looking at the mls. Would love everyones insight and advice. I live in central ct looking most likely in New Britain for my first house and trying to figure out single vs multi fam (leaning towards multi so i can start investing as well.) 2 units or 3 units? Fha loan or other type. Putting minimum down payment etc. Figured i can move from this in a few years to my next prop. Please as a new investor looking for the seasoned vets to share their experiences and knowledge. Thank you!

[Michael Noto]

@Mark Bascetta Always great seeing others from the local market here in Connecticut on the forums. 

Starting out with a live in (house hack) 2-3 family purchase as your first home makes a lot of sense to me and here is why:

- You only get that 3.5%-5% loan down once and it will be the lowest amount you will likely come out of pocket for a down payment in your investing career buying something with a traditional 30-year loan. It will be the quickest you will make your money back from a cash on cash perspective as a result. If you buy your first multi after you buy a single family using FHA you will have to put 25% down and a lot of people never get started because they can't wrap their heads around putting that much money down with no experience

- You can see if you like being a landlord. This is a big one for me.  Yes it is sort of baptism by fire, but you will see right away if this business is for you when you are living with your tenants. You will also get experience managing the day to day which will help you later in your investing career. 

There are more reasons why I like this strategy and to be honest I could go on and on all day about this. If you do not mind living in the same building as your tenants and there is no other life situation that makes in non-practical then I think this strategy is a no brainer for someone who has done some research and thinks real estate investing is a fit for them.