Should I buy or rent or invest?

[Tiya Khambadkone]

Hello All, 

I am new to this forum and hoping to get some advice from you. 

I am not a first time home buyer. 

I am moving to Atlanta, GA and hoping to live there for a long time unless I really do not like the place and wants to move back to Illinois. I have some amount that I can use for the downpayment. So here are few options that I have and I am finding difficult to choose: 

Option 1 : Rent my current home in IL. With the down payment amount that I have for the new house in Atlanta that I want to buy, I can instead buy a studio or a small 1 bed in Chicago. No mortgage needed. Will have to pay higher taxes and HOA but will be able to get ROI of 3 to 4% PLUS will be building an asset. Meanwhile, rent a house in Atlanta for 1 year with the hope that market will cool off and mortgage rate might do down.

Option 2 : Rent my current home in IL. With the down payment amount that I have for the new house in Atlanta, buy a  townhome in Atlanta immediately and move. Rent the townhome after couple of years and then try to buy a bigger house. 

Option 3 :  Sell my current home in IL. I will lose the good mortgage rate on the current home. Use the money to buy a house in Atlanta. This money won't be sufficient, so with the high mortgage rate and competitive housing market, buy a townhome or a house. 

Do you think any other option will be better? 

[Zack Karp]

@Tiya Khambadkone option 4...

Rent your current home here in IL, buy another investment property here in IL with cash, AND buy a primary home in ATL with just 5% down.

Assuming you have the funds for all that. Seems like you should based on your post, or very close.

That's your best outcome. 3 properties instead of 1 or 2. No need to tippy toe into investing, jump in, and in hindsight later on you will be glad you did.

Best of luck!