Young, motivated, new... and maybe on the right path?

[Travis W.]

Hey there, just making my first forum post.

So I'll cut to the chase. (I am kind of a go-getter lol).

Some background:

I am 24, have been passively following real estate investing forums/topics for about 2 years.. Last year I bought my first Single family house for about 126K. 0 money down using a VA home loan. I am not married, I have no debt ( I had a student loan but paid it off in the military). I was going to get my real estate license but now I work full time to help pay for my house.

So, now that, that is all said. I am facing a dilemma. I need to get to the next step.. the next rental. I am highly unsure of what that step may be. Maybe I am fearful of the unknown lol. I got this far, finding the decent property, buying it, managing it on my own a bit (and its kind of hard doing it alone with a full time job heh), so I thought, "maybe i'll look at property managers" and wasn't sure that's a good first step. I don't have that 3-6 months savings quite yet, but I can attain that if I save the next month or so. 

What are my options for the next house? Save 20% more and use an FHA (making me wait even longer to purchase which I really want to get this ball rolling)? Partner to fund the next one (is partnering ever a good idea)? I will lose a tax benefit on the current house if I no longer live in it so I guess there is that consideration. Then I am conflicted on getting another SFH or a Multi. There is a decent multi that's nearby I was considering, maybe I could have a family member fund some of that, and I live in one side for a bit?? IDK, bleh.

All-in-all, I'm conflicted about paying off the house I have, and getting another one and rightly driving my costs up... but, I guess that is why rentals are such a hard thing for the majority to get into.. because the debt is so big, but not bad per se.  

Anyhow, nice to get any replies, and glad to meet other people with similar mindsets :)