First Home or First Investment Property?1

[Jared Ortega]

Im new to bigger pockets and I am loving what I am seeing and learning so far! I have a question and would love to hear y'all opinion! So I am finally in the position to purchase my first home. I have good credit, making enough at my 9-5 finally saved enough for the down payment etc. My dream is to get started in investing in real estate and being able to leave my Job that i hate. For all y'all investors, agents, homeowners, etc what would your recommendation be, should i purchase my 1st home or should I purchase my first investment property instead. And if the answer/opinion is an investment property should it be a flip or rental?

[Daniel A.]

Hello Jared,

Welcome to the world of real estate. There are so many options, so many possibilities. While everyone has their ideas, here is mine.

If you are interested in getting into real estate  and you're looking for a place to live, don't settle on one or the other. Settle on house hacking. Find yourself a duplex, a triplex, heck, even a fourplex. Get it. You live in one unit and you rent out the others. Doing this gives you experience in managing tenants, it gives you "street cred," and it gives you a place to live - rent free … if the numbers work.

As to choosing whether to do a flip or not, consider your personal position on the matter. Are you good at keeping costs down? Have you done any renovation projects before? Are you good at managing people? Unless you hire and pay for a general contractor, you'll have to coordinate electricians, plumbers, drywallers. While it's not impossible, it can work away at your spirits when things don't go smooth.

But if you have a passion and a drive, then whatever route you choose will great. So long as you actually get out there and do something. You can educate yourself by reading books, but nothing quite compares to actually getting out there and doing it. I've read books and blogs and forum posts about loans, but I learned the most from sitting down in front of a lender with my personal information for them to scrutinize.

Get out there and learn and enjoy yourself.