Need Advice For 1st Investment Property Wilmington, NC

[Loryn Casas]

Hello everyone! My husband and I recently paid off all of our student loans and have saved up some money. We are ready to invest into a rental property in our hometown of Wilmington, NC. Our plan is to buy a home in the next 3 months, live in the home/fix it up until July, and then we are moving to South Korea for a year to teach English abroad. While we are abroad, we would rent out the property and our housing in Korea will be paid for by the Korean gov't. 

We have witnessed our hometown grow rapidly throughout the last few years especially. Lot of new homes are popping up and this is also a college town. We have a couple homes we are going to look at soon, but we are still new to this and I wanted an opinion before committing to anything. Please let me know your thoughts! Prices of homes in this area are pretty high, but rental rates are also high in many areas. 

Both of these options are 3 bedroom, 2 bath on opposite ends of the town. Both homes seem to have little repairs from what I've gathered so far, but will be looking into more details. I used a spreadsheet to calculate some numbers for 2 properties we are looking at - here is the basic info. 

Option 1: $170,000 - would put down 20% 

Mortgage: $663

Rent: $1,800 per month

Annual Cash Flow Before Taxes -- $10,500 

Option 2: $154,000 - put down 20%

Mortgage: $601

Rent: $1,500 per month

Annual Cash Flow Before Taxes -- $5,300

From all the research that I've done, people keep saying that they buy low. These homes are below average price for many of the areas here in Wilmington -- would you think it wise to go with a property such as these for a first time investor? We want to make our move into real estate, but are pretty reserved - this will be our first big purchase besides attending university. 

Thanks for all of your help!