Next steps for newbie? Your thoughts/suggestions appreciated!

[Megan S.]

Hi BPers!

I'm pretty new to BP and REI - thought I would share some information about where I'm at and what my goals are, and ask you all: what would you do next if you were me?

About me:

I own one SF home in Portland, OR that I rent out as two units (there is a separate basement apartment, but it's not technically an ADU. Utilities are not separate). My mortgage/taxes/insurance payment is around $1666/mo and I net $1815/mo on the property.

I purchased the home in 2013 for $335k with 10% down (+ a mortgage interest lump-sum payout of around $4k) at 3.75%. I'd estimate the house is worth about $470k now and, according to my lender, I have approx $194k of equity in it.

I also have about $60k in savings to put toward the purchase of an additional property (or, hopefully, properties!).

I have no W-2 income right now (living off my earnings from the one rental unit while my partner and I travel).

I've been pre-approved for a loan up to $400k for the purchase of my next investment property, at 4.5% interest (but haven't shopped that around - I was surprised I qualified at all given I've had zero W2 income for the past year!).

My Goals:

I'd like to eventually own 5-10 properties, and net around $6500/mo on rental income.

Some ideas for next steps:

1. Buy another (cheap) house in a promising spot, preferably something with two rentable units at ~200k. This would, however, swallow the bulk of my savings between a 20% down payment and closing costs, etc. I'd find something that I can put some sweat equity into, but hold it for the short or long term.

2. Build on to my existing house and add another rentable unit. Rents are pretty high in Portland - might make sense to take advantage of that.

3. Buy a fix n flip, hopefully earning me some more money to invest in additional properties.

4. Pool money from friends/investors for down payments on additional properties.

I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!

Thank you!