Novice advice

[Michael Rosado]

Hi all, 

I'm fairly new to the world of real estate investing but have been enamored with the idea for the past 4 years. Within those 4 years, I feel like I've dug through enough information to just slightly grasp what the heck is going on. 

So here is my dilemma. 

I want to jump right into investing but have a few things that are hanging me up. 

I have the choice to:

A) Do owner occupied first with a FHA loan.

B) Save up a little more to buy a 100k house somewhere further away that I'm familiar with. 

Here is the problem.

A) I live in the Washington DC area, which is pretty expensive. A 350k will likely get you a fixer upper or something you don't want to live in. 3.5% on a livable house in this area will be around $14k. 14k can be enough to buy a decent place somewhere else. 

-Even if I move a little further away (Falls Church, Alexandria, etc), I risk not only inconveniencing myself for a few out of my life, but there is no guarantee that anyone would want to rent that far away from the city. 

B) I've been eyeing Harrisburg, PA because it is pretty close to me (2 hours) and I am familiar with the area (I used to live in Lancaster, PA). 

I'm leaning toward just saving up what I would be spending on a downpayment for an FHA loan and starting off with a 100k in Harrisburg, PA which seems to have more than enough houses.

Another idea I have is doing an FHA loan on one of those cheapers houses and making the commute between PA and DC since I am remote. I could afford my rent and the mortgage but have roommates in PA to cover the cost. I believe mortgage would be around $600-$700, depending on final price.

Other details that may be helpful: 

-Great credit (750+)

- Salary $90k/ bonues $25K 

- Washington DC area

-PA native (Lancaster)

Sorry for the lengthy post which probably contains a lot of easy answers. I learn as I go!

[Russell Brazil]

With your salary and credit....you should really consider buying a primary residence in the DC area before you buy an investment property. You mention youve been considering this for about 4 years. To put it in perspective...a $400k property in the DC area was about $320k 4 years ago. It is also highly likely your mortgage would be lower than you rent, as just about anywhere in the metro area rents are higher than the mortgage payment on a property. Now where price can be a liiting factor, it might mean compromising on where in the metro area you will buy...but at $350k budget, there are still some nice areas where you can buy on both the MD and VA sides of the border.