First rental property - Bremerton WA or Bloomington IN?

[Abby Peng]

Hello BP! I'm new to real estate investment and BP, looking forward to connecting with more people here. I'm trying to get some suggestions for my first rental property investment. I currently live in Bremerton WA with my husband, we don't own a property here and we will be staying in Bremerton till May 2022 (we don't know where we are going next). My in-laws live in Bloomington IN and my husband and I both went to college there, so we are familiar with the area. We were thinking of investing in Indiana since the demand for rentals will be high in a college town and my in-laws can help take care of the property for us, but the mortgage rate for investment property is higher and we will be paying for a lot more property tax due to the 1-2-3 tax rule in Indiana which doesn't leave us much cash flow. We could also invest in Bremerton, live in it for a year to qualify for an owner-occupied mortgage rate, but property management could be a problem after we leave and we don't know how likely we can rent it out. Appreciate any suggestions!