First move in my REI adventure

[Brian Ricard]

I wish I would have learned more about REI before I bought my current which is a 5br 3ba. I would have house hacked out the gate if I could go back in time. So here is my dilemma, I am a veteran so with a few moves I could possibly use a VA loan to purchase duplex and house hack. I have about 80k in equity in my current home. Do I refi my current house and rent it out while house hacking in the duplex or sell the house and put some money down and use some to start working on the next property? My main concern is finding tenants for my 5br 3ba with it being my first rental and if it is harder to rent a larger SFH. Any advice would be awesome I am super excited because this is also my first post on BP.