Owner Occupied or Investment Property in Maui

[Zasha Smith]

Aloha BP! My name is Zasha and interested in flipping a couple homes to build more capital to buy homes outright (refi in 6 months) then buy-and-hold properties but also wondering if I should buy an owner occupied home first. I know this is a common question, I've searched BP/google/etc, listened to podcasts, webinars for the past 10 months and see the pro's/con's for either way but wanted to get advice based on my particular situation. 

I'm 30 years old, married (both working full-time, combined income $100,000/yr) with 2 young kids and live in Maui, Hawaii where we rent an average 3bd/2bth SFH for $2,200 plus utilities/mth (avg comp rentals are $2600+). Our current savings is about $140,000 cash.

I've been working with a real estate agent to buy a house and decent homes on the MLS are $550,000-650,000 even when they are being bought back by the bank! I started exploring foreclosure auctions for the past year, found a rare opportunity for a house similar to what I'm renting now that needs minimal work, and am in the process of financing for purchase price of $413,000 (mortgage would be less than rent at $1800/month but could flip for $625,000).

Because our market is so high and these come by once or twice a year (so many investors here eating up the foreclosures), would you 1. flip right away 2. rent 6 months then refinance and keep 3. rent 1 year rental then sell or 4. live-in flip 2 years? 

*Tax incentives for 2 year live-in flip sound the most appeasing however that'd only leave us with financing a $200,000 investment property which is rare in our market (unless its a condo which rarely cash flows).

[Michael Borger]

I got it from my website. They just found me and reached out. // Isi Nau's assessment is a good -- it's up to you, the lifestyle you're willing to do and your tax situation. I don't know if there's a wrong decision..... it's just a matter of picking one and going with it. Such is real estate.