Purchasing out-of-state rental first or House-Hack here

[Parker Radford]

Hello,

This is my first post and interaction with the community. I currently live in Carlsbad, CA (North County San Diego) and am not quite sure what action to take. I have enough capital to invest out-of-state and buy my first rental property in the Midwest. The other option would be to continue saving and wait another year to buy a MF House-Hack here in SoCal. I don't have enough capital to do both. I currently rent and have no problem staying here but want to make the best decision. This has probably been talked about before and I might be overthinking things but any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks! 

[Alora Glaze]

Further expanding on the points above - for your first deal, being on the ground is invaluable. You'll have first-hand experience dealing with contractors, materials, crunching numbers and if you don't quite have that backing, it can be difficult to communicate your expectations to any teams/contacts you build OOS. REI is all about taking risks, and since you only have enough capital to try out one strategy right now (perfectly normal for someone starting out - no, you're not behind the curve) then I would start with your safest bet that is going to make you more profitable in the long run, either with knowledge or cash flow... ideally both!
If you can make it happen and have run your numbers and have vetted your team - go for it! Don't get stuck in analysis-paralysis, trust your, you're going to learn from every experience, and you can't buy that kind of know-how.

Best of luck!!