Buy my first home to live in, or STR property first

[Brianna Gardner]

I live in LA and have super cheap rent. $400/month. I'm getting married in 2 years and when I move in with my future husband, whether it's a home we buy or an apartment we rent, my cost of living will increase significantly. He lives at home so I can't move in with him, and I live too far from his work.

I'm trying to decide if I should take a leap and buy a mountain/lake property for under $400k first to try and start earning extra money while I can take the risk with my cost of living so low. Is this a good strategy? I'm worried once I buy my own house I wont be able to save aggressively for future investment properties and I wouldn't be able to take the risk since I'll have my own mortgage to worry about.

In 2 years I would have about $60,000 cash to buy, renovate, and furnish a place in the mountains. I've done the AirDNA data analysis and according to their numbers I could make around $2k/month in profit.