Paid off my house hacked duplex... What are my options now?

[Wade B.]

Greetings everyone! 

A little bit about myself: I'm 32, live in north-western Wisconsin, single and have a reliable job.

As the title suggests, I recently paid off my house-hacked duplex and I'm looking for my next move. Over the last 8ish years or so, I've been so focused on paying down my mortgage, I haven't put nearly enough time into figuring out what my next move would be after it was officially paid off. Well here I am... 

In addition to paying off my mortgage, I've also been able to accumulate some cash along the way. I currently have about 40k to invest in real estate but I'm at a standstill as to what my next move should be. Should I move out, put down 20% for a SFH to live in for myself and then start purchasing more investment proprieties? Or should I continue living in the duplex that I'm in now and start investing in additional proprieties? If I moved out of my side of the duplex, I could easily rent it out for 1,200 per month.

[Lorenzo Wright]

@Wade B.

Sounds like the world is your real estate investing oyster!!

If I was in your shoes right now I'd be looking into going into my next house hack.

Whether that's another duplex, SFH, or a quad. Your w-2 on top of your rental income should set you up pretty nicely for the dtr. If you do the hack, financing is a no brainer and rates are ridiculously awesome for primary residences right now.

My recent experience has been that banks are a little skiddish on rental lending. Whatever you do good luck man!!