Bought Lake House. Looking to buy another, need advice!

[Jamie Nason]

Hey all,

First post here. I just bought a Lake House in Maine this past summer. Got a very good off market deal and have quite a bit of equity ($250k+) in it. I bought under a secondary mortgage (don’t have a primary mortgage but 3 hours from where I live) and I put 10% down at 6.25%. It’s a nice place and I hope to rent it out weekly from time to time to help cover the mortgage ($1,850/mo w/ taxes, etc.)

I just found out from a personal conversation with the owner that a Lake House down the road will be going for sale and I was given the option to buy it off market. Haven’t discussed pricing yet but probably won’t get as great of a deal on this one but it is a beautiful log cabin with big windows and fireplace overlooking the water. Much nicer than the lake house I just bought. It will likely still be a great deal and I don’t want to pass this up. 

I was looking for advice on what to do to be able to afford both. Not sure how the STR is in the area yet, also have only had the current house for 4 months and still getting the property looking nice. Will likely have it for a year before the other deal would happen. I'm not sure if I can sell it and do a 1031 on it to avoid taxes, or would it be better to try and rent it out as much as possible and buy the other one too and try and rent them both out.…

Wife and I make around $200-225k/yr. Investing about 25% of our income in the market though. Don’t really want to stop that, but just looking for someone to coach or assist me through my options here so I make an informed decision! 

Wife and I would prefer the lake house we haven’t bought yet as it checks all the boxes, but might be worth having 2 properties right next to each other. 

Thanks for your time!