Two Directions To Go

[Zachary Beland]

Hey guys!

I have two directions I can take to get my foot in the door of real estate. My first is to buy the house I am renting from family right now. It is a 3 bedroom 1 bath single family house built in the 1940s worth about $260,000. I have done about $5000 in renovations to the home just to make it more comfortable to live in. It has inherently made the home more valuable. I know I could get a really good price to buy it and I already know some people who want to rent it really bad if we decide to move out. I would have immediate equity in the home $20k range but I would never sell it because of sentimental value. Also, I could probably make this transaction happen in the next few months.

Option 2 would be to continue to rent this place and buy a duplex. The issue with that is this crazy high market in NH right now. Also, I just started a new career and my debt to income ratio isn't ideal. So I would have to wait probably 6 months to a year to have healthy savings and lower my DTI.

Should I wait to buy a duplex or should I buy the home I live in currently? Also, my goal is to build a portfolio of multi family long term rental properties.

Thank you for the advice in advance fam!