Are we stuck in our big giant house forever?!

[Andrew Hawkins]

We (wife + 3 small boys) are going to invest into a duplex property as a first investment property by the end of year and would like to get a little advice. We just purchased our new primary home (VA Loan) at $435k 2800sq ft, we owe $420k right now and the next payment is not until Aug 1, 2017 and I could sell it for around $470-480k now. We have no other debt. We have about $16k in savings, $17k in a roth IRA and I have a truck I can sell for about $22k once my work purchases my new vehicle (within about 2 weeks) which I can use as a personal vehicle. We live in Central California and what I have found for properties so far, as far as duplex's which are 1be/1ba, are $250k and rent for $700/each unit, a rehab may only gain about $100 extra a month based on the neighborhood. I currently have a sales job so I can generate good sized commissions within about 6 months to a year time frame. My questions are, should I sell my truck when able and look for an off market duplex now since everything on the MLS is priced so high? Or should I try to pay down my primary home loan to the low $300k's (should take about 18months-24months to accomplish with help of selling my vehicle) and take out a home equity loan? Or just pay the minimum on my house, stock pile as much cash as possible to put 20% down and wait until the Fall when the prices of homes come down a little bit and collect as much detail and network as much as possible until then? Im open to any suggestions anyone may have.

[Aaron Mazzrillo]

Originally posted by @Andrey Y.:

Originally posted by @Aaron Mazzrillo:

Wow, I'm so glad the first post I read said to get an education. Phew!

Paying down your house (that has a VA loan on it so I'm guess around 4% or less interest?) is the equivalent of investing that money at that same interest rate. If you are happy investing $120K at 4%, real estate is no place for you.

 Aaron, done any good fishing lately? I can see the newish profile pic. My first summer in Alaska coming up, looking to fly fish for the first time and try my hand at one of the 5 species of Salmon here :)

@Andrew, were you stationed in Ft. Erwin by chance? I heard that place is remote as heck.

Been chasing my 1.5 year old daughter around the house all day... every day, so fishing is on hold for the time being. Tried to hire a nanny, but I have trust issues. LOL That's OK though, cuz there will be lots of fishing with my girl in the years ahead and since I'm not a young man, by the time she's old enough to work a fly rod, I'll have a lot more interest in chasing fish than chasing dollars.