Newbie Investor (looking for advice on my situation)

[Katie Deskins]

Hello everyone! I am a Realtor and new investor in the Savannah, GA area looking for advice. Here's a brief rundown of my situation:

I have owned/lived in my home for almost 5 years. I have a 3.25% interest rate and my monthly mortgage payment is about $800/month (including taxes, insurance, etc). I have about $40,000 equity in it. I am trying to decide what my best option is in terms of moving forward with investing. My husband and I and my two stepchildren currently live in this home, and we are looking to possibly expand our family and need a bigger place in order to do so. Our first choice is to be able to find a live-in flip that my husband can buy (without me being on the loan) that accommodates the needs of our growing family that we can turn for a profit in a handful of years, and rent out our current home at $1200/month. However, the market here is extremely hot and even foreclosures and worse-for-wear properties are going for top-market prices. We only have about $15,000 cash saved up so far to use for down payment assistance, closing costs, repairs, etc. If we are unable to find a live-in flip option that makes sense for our financial picture, what is our best bet? Do we:

a) Sell our current home and use the proceeds to purchase our next home (that we intend to BRRR or flip) and miss out on the passive income I could get from renting out my current home?

b) My husband purchases a similar or smaller home, we rent out our current place and get that passive income rolling in, and we put our family needs on hold?

c) HELOC in order to purchase another property?

d) Stay put and my husband purchase a cheaper rental property?

Are there other options that I am missing? We want to do what is best for our family but we are also eager to start on our investing journey. Any advice would be most appreciated!