Need some advice, new to the game

[Christopher Vu]

Hello all,

I am currently looking into getting my first property. I currently live in Orange County, California. The market here is kind of rough, but I am looking to establish at least a home base cause my work is nearby and possibly look to invest OOS in the near future. I have been preapproved for an FHA loan with max of $765,000(single family), $980,000 (duplex), $1,100,000 (Triplex), and $1,400,000(Quadplex). I am currently weighing out my options. I have money saved up to pay the 3.5% down payment for these purchases but have been struggling to have the numbers add up. I know that I eventually want to develop cash flow, but with these purchases I would have to put money in (which I don't mind paying because it is going towards the equity). I guess my main question is for my first property in my current location would it be better for me to look for a single family (preferably 500-600k) and rent out rooms or to try and get a duplex of quadplex and live in 1 of those units? When I do the math, even if I got a single family I would still end up paying up to $2000 to the mortgage and with a quadplex with 3 units rented out it would be the same (this is assuming no vacancies, if i get stuck with vacancies then i'd hope to have extra for a rainy day haha).

If anyone is an investor in the area or has any insights from past experiences I would love to talk. Please let me know if there is any additional information I can provide to further explain my situation.

Thanks,

Chris