Investing in my first rental vs buying my first home - thoughts?

[Jim Rohman]

Hey BP,

I am new to this community, a little bit about me.

Live in Denver, CO and work in Boulder, CO. I work in energy consulting in Boulder, and am looking to get my feet wet with a turnkey provider. Denver and Boulder are difficult buyer's markets, and are not affordable at this point in my life. I want to get into RE investing for buy & hold purposes. 

Do you think it might be worth it to buy an investment property before buying my own home? My thoughts are that I can look elsewhere in CO as well as OOS, and start putting my money to good use. Currently have $46K in savings that I can put to good use in investment properties. My rent is reasonable, I commute for free, WFH 1-2 days/week, and live fairly frugally outside of my rent payment.

Love your thoughts - as well as any feedback.

Thanks,

Jim Rohman