Should you own a primary residence before investing?

[Nicholas Hoffman]

I’m 25 years old and I’m gaining ground in my real estate investing education. I’ve read several books, listen to numerous podcasts in BP and have read several articles on the forums. I’m looking for advice in the fact that I don’t currently own my own primary residence. I currently rent and am wondering what the opinion is on starting to invest in real estate before owning a primary residence.

Long story short, I’m torn between purchasing a primary residence for myself or use that same money to start to invest.

Thanks you!

[Chris Bernard]

I went through this same dilemma recently! For me, I looked at the numbers on owning vs renting. I ended up buying a 3 bedroom SFH and renting out 2 of the rooms to some friends. This option actually ended up cash flowing better than renting and I am also gaining equity in the property. I would look at how much cheaper renting is, and if you think that you could make more use of that extra cash flow each month to make it worth not gaining equity on your primary residence. Also you should be thinking about how much you have for a downpayment. If it is your primary residence you can usually get into it for 3.5% using an FHA loan, but if it an investment property it will be 20%+.