First investment decision

[Kerry Triplett]

Hey everyone, I'm just starting out in the REI world and looking for some advice. I'm currently in the Army and stationed at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia. Right now me and my wife are living rent and utilities free because we live in on post housing. If we choose to move off post the army will give us an extra 1300 dollars a month to help pay for living costs. Im having a hard time deciding on what I should try to buy and what loan I should use to finance it. Im hoping to get in he best situation that will put me in the best position to keep acquiring property. Right now I've zeroed in on multi family so I can house hack and pocket that 1300 a month from the army or buy a single family at good price, put some work into it and build its value and then using that equity to finance another purchase. I'm open to all advice and ideas. Like I said I'm new and really just wanting to soak up as my info as I can. Thanks in advance!

[Joel C.]

@Derek Okahashi, we use one of the larger local companies to manage our properties at the moment, but we're in the process of taking it over ourselves.  There are some investor friendly companies, though - Auben Realty is probably the best turnkey, all around service (@Kenneth Mooney) that will do a better job managing those high cashflow properties.  Caveat that I haven't used them myself, but I've dealt with Kenneth enough to know he's a great investor agent and heard good things about their property management side. 

And without looking at the specifics of your numbers, it's probably not too good to be true.  You can get good cash flowing properties in either Columbia or Richmond Counties, usually higher in the latter.